2. Robert Fulton Court
Another Neville & Bagge product, Robert Fulton Court, at the northeast corner of Broadway and West 156th Street, provides an example of another common design element in early twentieth century pre-war buildings. It has several small balconies, better known as balconets (also spelt balconettes) or “Juliet balconies.”
Balconets are more design flourish than useful space, prompting Gothamist to describe balconets generally as “the worst architectural design in history.” In their defense, these and most pre-war balconets are located adjacent to windows and are not flush with floors; they are not intended to be walked on, think of them as a projecting window sill with a decorative railing.
“The (New York) World’s Loose Leaf Collection of Apartment Houses,” 1910, via Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library