George F. Pelham

Pelham was born in Ottawa, Ontario, coming to New York City when his father opened an architectural office there in 1875. The elder Pelham designed for the city's Department of Public Parks, and employed his son as a draftsman in his firm. The first building architected by George F. Pelham was NB 880-1889, at 200 West 99th Street, a 5-story brick and stone flat, 25×89, tin roof, built for Martin J. Barron. After being privately tutored in architecture, the younger Pelham opened his own office in 1890, specializing in apartment houses and hotels, row houses, and commercial buildings and utilizing the Renaissance Revival, Gothic Revival, Beaux-Arts, and Colonial Revival styles. His work is particularly represented on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He designed buildings for 43 years;. Over his career, George F. Pelham designed at least 1245 buildings in New York City per the Office for Metropolitan History, founded by Christopher Gray (architectural historian). George F. Pelham at one time provided typical drawings for tenements (24 apartments on 6 floors, on a lot 25-feet wide) for $25 a set. In 1905, he designed the Riverdale apartment building at 67 Riverside Drive for developer John Louis Miller. It opened on October 31, 1907. In 1905 he also designed a new synagogue building for Brooklyn's Beth Jacob Anshe Sholom, based on Arnold Brunner's West Side Synagogue building on Manhattan's West 88th Street. The synagogue is no longer extant. Pelham was the architect of the Chalfonte Hotel at 200 West 70th Street in Manhattan. Built in 1927, it was later converted to rental apartments and is still standing today. There are three buildings designed by George F. Pelham in the Sutton Place neighborhood, all located on East 58th Street: 444 East 58th Street, 422 East 58th Street, and Stonehenge 58 (400 East 58th Street). For many years, his office was at 200 West 72nd Street, originally built as a clubhouse for the Colonial Club of New-York. Pelham, like Rosario Candela, chose that address because a number of developers had their offices there, including Paterno & Son and Anthony Campagna. The last building architected by George F. Pelham was NB 66-1931, at 1082-1084 Amsterdam Avenue, a 19-story and penthouse apartment, 50×90, built for St. Johns House, Inc., Herman A. Axelrod, president. Pelham's son George Fred Pelham Jr. joined the firm in 1910 and continued the family tradition; he was the architect of a number of New York City buildings, such as Castle Village in 1938-1939, 411 West End Avenue in 1937, and 1150 Park Avenue in 1940.

• Building Name — Floors — Year • The Fanwood (112-114 East 17th Street) — 6 — 1890-91 • 331 W 84th Street — 5 — 1894 • 18 North Moore Street — 5 — 1894 • 93 Crosby Street — 6 — 1894-95 • 347 West Broadway — 7 — 1895-96 • 495 Broome Street — 7 — 1895-96 • 397 Washington Street — 6 — 1895-96 • 303-309 West 103rd Street (row houses) — 3 — 1895-96 • 42 Hudson Street — 6 — 1896 • 16-22 West 68th Street (row houses) — 5 — 1896 • 97 Wooster Street — 7 — 1896-97 • 34-42 West 96th Street (row houses) — 4 — 1897 • 616 West 113th Street (row house) — 4 + basement — 1897 • 32-36 West 85th Street (row houses) — 5 — 1897 • 526 West 114th Street — 5 — 1897 • 422-424 East 58th Street — 6 — 1900 • 237-241 East 53rd Street (NB 1289-1900, two 6-story and basement brick and stone flats, 27.2×86.4, Original owner: Jacob Kassewitz) — 6 — 1900 • 444-446 East 58th Street (NB 418-1901, 6-story brick flat and store, 41.6×84.5, Original owner: Levy & Haft) — 6 — 1901 • 234-236 East 58th Street (NB 774-1901, two 6-story brick tenements, 30×88.9, Original owner: Morris Jacobson) — 6 — 1901 • 125 Second Avenue — 7 — 1901 • Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun (117 East 85th Street) — 5 — 1902 • 441-461 East 140th Street, The Bronx (tenements) — 5 — 1902-03 • 226-228 East 53rd Street (NB 175-1903, 6-story brick tenement, 40×87.5, Original owner: Abraham Silverson, Germania Bank Building) — 6 — 1903 • Parc 77 (50 West 77th Street) — 13 — 1903 • 36 West 22nd Street — 7 — 1903 • 77 Second Avenue — 6 — 1903 • Dream Hotel (210 West 55th Street) — 13 — 1904 • 224-226 Avenue B — 6 — 1904 • 504-508 East 12th Street — 6 — 1904 • 315 East 84th Street — 6 — 1905 • 243-253 East 78th Street — 6 — 1905 • Woodward Hall (50 East 96th Street) — 6 — 1905 • The Fairholm (503 W. 121st Street) — 6 — 1905 • Congregation Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom (274–276 South 3rd Street, Brooklyn) — Unknown — 1905 • [Eleanor Thomas] Elliott Hall (49 Claremont Avenue) — 6 — 1906 • Kennedy House (47 Claremont Avenue) — 6 — 1906 • Concord Hall (468 Riverside Drive) — 12 — 1906-07 • The Riverdale (67 Riverside Drive) — 9 — 1907 • 17 West 17th Street — 11 — 1907 • The Lansdown (352-354 West 46th Street, now the Lyric) — 6 — 1908 • The Cliffden (265 Riverside Drive) — 11 — 1909 • 15 East 32nd Street — 12 — 1909 • Fowler Court (400 Riverside Drive) — 12 — 1909 • Raymore Court (238 West 106th Street) — 6 — 1910 • Hadson Hotel (31 West 34th Street) — 12 — 1910 • 133 West 21st Street — 12 — 1911 • 37 West 28th Street — 12 — 1911 • 72 Madison Avenue — 12 — 1911 • 137-139 Grand Street — 7 — 1911 • The Woodhull (62 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn) — 8 — 1911 • Soundview Court (260 Convent Avenue) — 10 — 1911-12 • 36 West 25th Street — 16 — 1912 • 44 West 28th Street — 16 — 1912 • 675 West End Avenue — 16 — 1912 • Francis Edmund Court (423 West 120th Street) — 10 — 1912 • 385 Edgecombe Avenue — 6 — 1913 • 123 Second Avenune — 5 (formerly 3) — 1913 • 533-539 West 150th Street (row houses) — 5 — 1915 • Bellguard Apartments (216 West 89th Street) — 12 — 1915 • Buchova Apartments — 12 — 1915 • 270 West End Avenue — 13 — 1918 • 710 West End Avenue — 15 — 1920 • Oxford Apartments (205 West 88th Street) — 15 — 1922 • 29 East 64th Street — 12 — 1922 • Marboro Apartments (171 West 79th Street) — 16 — 1923 • 135 East 74th Street — 12 — 1923 • 130 East 94th Street — 9 — 1923 • Hotel Plaza Athénée (37 East 64th Street) — 16 — 1924 • The Florence (545 West End Avenue) — 16 — 1924 • 314 West 77th Street — 9 — 1924 • 140 West 86th Street — 15 — 1924 • 161 West 54th Street — 15 — 1924 • 290 Riverside Drive — 15 — 1924 • Bradford Hotel (210 West 70th Street) — 15 — 1924 • Butler Hall (400 West 119th Street) — 15 — 1924 • The Gatsby (65 East 96th Street) — 15 — 1924 • 300 Riverside Drive — 14 — 1924 • 136 East 36th Street — 12 — 1924 • Hudson View Gardens (116 Pinehurst Avenue) — 6 — 1924-25 • The Olcott (27 West 72nd Street) — 16 — 1925 • 10 West 86th Street — 15 — 1925 • 1136 5th Avenue — 15 — 1925 • 910 West End Avenue — 15 — 1925 • Surrey Apartments (215 West 83rd Street) — 15 — 1925 • 1160 Park Avenue — 14 — 1925 • 964 Madison Avenue — 5 — 1925 • 263 West 38th Street — 17 — 1926 • 1225 Park Avenue — 16 — 1926 • 20 West 77th Street — 16 — 1926 • Park Royal Hotel (23 West 73rd Street) — 16 — 1926 • 164 West 79th Street — 15 — 1926 • Hotel Milburn (242 West 76th Street) — 15 — 1926 • 585 West End Avenue — 17 — 1927 • 115 East 86th Street — 16 — 1927 • 310 West 106th Street — 16 — 1927 • The Broadmoor (235 West 102nd Street) — 16 — 1927 • The Marbro (171 West 79th Street) — 16 — 1927 • 175 West 79th Street — 16 — 1927 • 21 East 90th Street — 16 — 1927 • 245 Fifth Avenue — 26 — 1927 • 33 Riverside Drive — 17 — 1927 • Beekman Apartments (30 Beekman Place) — 15 — 1927 • Chalfonte Hotel (200 West 70th Street) — 15 — 1927 • 400 East 58th Street (NB 499-1928, 16-story brick apartment, 111×100, Original owner: Ashwood Realty Corp., Samuel Silver, president), also known as Stonehenge 58 — 16 — 1928 • Belvoir Apartments (470 West End Avenue) — 16 — 1928 • Bedford Hotel (118 East 40th Street) — 17 — 1928-29 • 98 Riverside Drive — 17 — 1929 • 50 West 96th Street — 15 — 1929 • 944 Park Avenue — 15 — 1929 • 400 East 58th Street — 16 — 1929 • 14 East 90th Street — 12 — 1929 • 1120 Park Avenue — 19 — 1930 • 47 East 88th Street — 16 — 1930 • Atlantic Bank of New York (960 Sixth Avenue) — 16 — 1930 • 81 Irving Place — 14 — 1930 • St. James House (501 West 113th Street) — 20 — 1931 • 121 East 31st Street — 12 — 1931 • Sources (unless otherwise noted):