1221 York Avenue is a handsome, brown-brick apartment house built in 1923. Shaded by trees, this six-story building between 65th and 66th Streets blends nicely into the streetscape.
But on a recent walk past it, I could see through the tree leaves two bas reliefs of male figures, each on the facade right above the building’s wide main entrance.
The facade also features another bas relief of a sailing ship positioned high along the second floor.
The ship, plus the colonial-era clothes worn by the men (or man, since it appears to be different profiles of the same person)—seems to hint that this person was an explorer.
Nothing I could tell about the building offers any clue. Henry Hudson would be an obvious guess, though neither image looks like ol’ Hendrick to me.
Whoever they are—or he is—was noteworthy enough to make it onto this building, giving it a little artistic flair on a quiet stretch of York Avenue neighboring hospitals and medical research institutions.
I’m terrible at recognizing faces, but that collar looks very much like something a 17th century explorer would wear. Sir Francis Drake?
When this apartment house was built, explorers were still held in high esteem. Anyone want to take a shot at it?
Ephemeral New York 