Did these two buildings, on Third Avenue near 57th Street, start out as twins?
They’re about the same size and width, and it makes sense that both began their life a hundred years ago or so as typical five-story walkup tenements, the kind New York is famous for.
Unfortunately at some point—the 1950s? 1960s?—the one on the left underwent a serious facelift and had its lovely windows and ground-floor space modernized and uglified.
The only old photo I could find captures the building on the right—a classic Berenice Abbott shot from 1936, when the ground level of this now-restored beauty housed an antique shop.
[Photo link courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Gallery]
Tags: 940 Third Avenue, 942 Third Avenue, Berenice Abbott 1930s, Berenice Abbott photo Third Avenue, New York street, New York tenements, Third Avenue street
Ephemeral New York 
May 24, 2012 at 4:15 am |
Sweet! the one with red awnings is so charming!
May 24, 2012 at 4:18 am |
Yeah…and the other one just is not. It’s a shame.
June 3, 2012 at 9:04 pm |
The two were covered in a series of July, 1878 newspaper accounts of a local flood caused by broken water main.
No. 942 was home to famed Le Moal restaurant for many years.
May 24, 2012 at 2:20 pm |
The one with the red awing is the to-the-trade interior design fabric showroom Scalamandre.
May 26, 2012 at 7:23 pm |
I was just reading about Laver’s Law, which is what this kind of thing always reminds me of: http://wunderbuzz.co.uk/wonders/lavers-law/. Unfortunately the one on the left seems to have overstayed its welcome in “Ridiculous.”
May 28, 2012 at 4:55 am |
I’m a longtime fan of “Laver’s Law”, Dave– it explains the not-so-easy-to-explain cycle of fashion so well!