Манхэттендегі тұрғын үй қабатты үйінің тарихы мен архитектурасы

Residential skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The building stands on filled land along the shore of the North River (an archaic name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River). the land under the Downtown Club building was not filled until 1835, when debris from the Great Fire of New York was dumped there. The site of the Downtown Athletic Club was first occupied by small landowners who built houses in the area. and as the Financial District became more densely developed, the residential landowners moved uptown and their former lands were replaced with larger commercial buildings. The two buildings were constructed for different purposes and accordingly have different appearances; namely, the facade of the Downtown Athletic Club is darker than that of 21 West Street. Including attics, the Downtown Club has 39 above ground stories and is 518 feet (158 m) tall. As originally designed, the Downtown Club building included different facilities and living spaces on each of its floors: the lower floors were mostly reserved for athletic facilities and the upper floors contained bedrooms.

The Downtown Club building extends the entire block between West and Washington Streets. Though the Downtown Club building was designed first, Starrett & van Vleck examined the relationship of the Downtown Club's and 21 West Street's designs on the surrounding neighborhood and on each other. The facade of the Downtown Club building is of slightly darker brick, with more recessed setbacks on both West and Washington Streets, compared to 21 West Street. The Downtown Club is the tallest building on the block. The building contains setbacks as mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution; the locations of the setbacks are based on the original uses of the interiors.

The facade of the Downtown Athletic Club building consists of mottled, patterned orange brick that is used to provide texture. The color contrasts with the multicolored brick designs of the adjacent 21 West Street. Sections of the facade are punctuated with vertical brick segments, and the brick is especially prominent around the windows, the corbels around the entrance, and the parapets on the roof. Other features include window sills and parapet caps made of stone, as well as spandrels made of zinc and lead in a chevron layout. The facade design also reflects the building's interior use. The hotel stories above the 20th floor had smaller windows, while the athletic facility floors between the 4th and 19th stories had larger windows.

On West Street to the west, the building is set back above the fourth story. The north (left) bay contains a separate window arrangement with one window on the 4th floor and two small windows on each of the 5th through 15th floors. The facades of the center and south (right) bays are combined, and contain recessed windows, with varying placements and designs of the spandrels above the windows on each floor. On the center and south bays, each story from the 7th through 15th stories contains five windows; the 5th story contains five window grates; and the 4th and 6th stories contain no windows at all. Above the 16th story, there are four windows per floor. There are further setbacks above the 16th floor of the center and south bays, and above the 17th floor of the north bay, with smaller setback portions on the south side of the 18th story and the north side of the 20th story. Another setback on the 26th story contains a limestone capped parapet.

The lower floors were devoted mostly to recreation. and displays of the Heisman Trophy. The third floor contained billiard tables and cardrooms, while the fifth floor contained bowling alleys. The fourth and sixth floors contained racquetball, handball, tennis, and squash courts; the seventh floor, a miniature golf course; and the eighth floor, a gym. The 10th floor had medical rooms, and the 13th through 19th floors contained dining rooms and lounges. There were also kitchens on the 13th through 15th floors, a balcony with greenhouse on the 15th floor, and maintenance facilities on the 16th through 19th floors. The water tank and mechanical equipment occupied the top three stories. There was also a staircase along the building's northeastern corner,

Interior designers Barnet Phillips and Duncan Hunter were responsible for the interior design. Christopher Gray of The New York Times said that "the scale and sophistication of the work made it one of the most developed Art Deco interiors in New York." by a group of lawyers led by Schuyler Van Vechten Hoffman. The Downtown Athletic Club had been organized as a men only club and would remain that way for the next 51 years. At the time, the club planned to build a 20 story structure. The Downtown Athletic Club already had 1,000 members when it formally announced plans for a clubhouse in February 1928. and Starrett & van Vleck were selected as the new clubhouse's architects. The limited amount of available space in Lower Manhattan required that the new clubhouse be a skyscraper. By November 1928 the plans called for a 17 story clubhouse; contracts for clearing the site of the future clubhouse were awarded the same month. By mid 1930, the building was almost completed and 3,500 people had submitted applications for membership. The new clubhouse opened in September 1930, with a special 3 day preview period before the building was turned over to the club. At this point, the club had 3,826 members, and he founded a touchdown club at the Downtown Athletic Club, which ultimately became popular. In 1935 club member Willard Prince suggested that the Downtown Athletic Club issue annual trophies for most outstanding college football player, and the first such trophy was awarded that year. the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy became the Heisman Trophy. Because of the Downtown Athletic Club's wide offerings, it needed at least 5,000 members to remain profitable, and most of its members worked in the financial or law industries or in lower Manhattan. In the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, many people in that demographic could no longer pay for the cost of membership. In August 1936, the club mortgaged its property to pay $260,000 of back taxes. Subsequently, the building was sold to a third party in 1947. Full control of the building was not reestablished until 1963. The club's members voted to change the club's bylaws in December 1977, allowing women to become members for the first time. The move was largely for economic reasons: to stay solvent, the club needed 3,500 "resident members"—defined as due paying members over 30 years old who lived or worked in a 35 mile (56 km) radius—but only had 2,000 such members at the time. The building was four blocks south of the World Trade Center, which had been destroyed in the attacks. The Downtown Athletic Club building was not damaged, but the building was part of an exclusion zone that the public could not enter for an extended period after the attacks. By November 2001, club officials were still hoping to reopen the club in January 2002, although there was an $8.3 million mortgage due to be paid that August. Furthermore, the building needed another $20–30 million for renovation, yet few club members were able to provide funds, and the club was accumulating debt quickly, losing $100,000 a month. The structure's amenities included a fitness center, lounge with pool table, and outdoor terrace. A preschool academy called the Learning Experience was also established in the ground floor.

The Downtown Athletic Club formerly issued the Heisman Trophy, an annual event that recognizes the most outstanding player in National Collegiate Athletic Association college football. The Heisman Trophy was first awarded in 1935 and was renamed after former athletic director Heisman. After the neighborhood around the Downtown Club was closed off following the September 11 attacks, and the club's subsequent bankruptcy, the Heisman Trophy ceremony was moved to numerous locations, including the Yale Club of New York City and Hilton New York, before moving to the Palladium Times Square in 2005. Since the club's bankruptcy, the trophy has been distributed by the Heisman Trust.