3. The Castle

Tudor was another architectural style that was popular for apartment house design between the world wars. Buildings such as The Castle, built in 1926, evoked an aristocratic air that was popular with middle class residents moving from more crowded parts of the City. If styles such as Beaux-Arts and Art Deco affected an urbane sophistication, Tudors like The Castle were channeling a rustic, simpler vibe.

The site of The Castle, at 1950 Andrews Avenue, seems to be particularly well suited to creating the apartment house as country estate aesthetic. The Castle, which measures about 250 by 250 feet, with several courtyards to break up the mass, sits on a 1.7-acre site, giving it a scale that seems appropriate to the ambitions of the Tudor style. The pastoral effect is further enhanced by the site’s sloped contours and the front lawn along Andrews Avenue.

Despite its attractive design and setting, however, this was another building that went through In Rem foreclosure and abandonment. After years of delays The Castle underwent a publicly subsidized gut renovation that enabled it to be reopened in 1991 with 227 units of low and moderate income housing.

One of The Castle’s several courtyards