Emery Roth's 1909 The Whitestone-45 Tiemann Pl: An early work by a famed NYC architect
- The 34-year-old, Hungarian-born architect’s 'showstopper' was completed at a cost of $185,000
- The property takes its name from former Mayor Tiemann who lived in a house on the same site
A stylized Greek key band of terra cotta frames the entrance and runs below the second floor.
Have you ever passed by an interesting residential building in New York City and wanted to know more about its history? In this series, Brick Underground teams up with Tom Miller, creator of Daytonian in Manhattan, a blog about Manhattan buildings and other historic architecture. Each week, we run an excerpt from the Daytonian’s archives with a link to the full article.
Following the death of former Mayor Daniel F. Tiemann in 1899, his widow, the former Martha Clowes lived in their house at 607 West 127th St. until her death at the age of 97 in 1904.
Five years later, Charter Construction Co. purchased the Tiemann property and hired Emery Roth to design an apartment building on the site. The 34-year-old, Hungarian-born architect produced a showstopper. Completed at a cost of $185,000 (just over $6.5 million in 2026), Roth started with a blank Renaissance Revival canvas and adorned it Arts & Crafts and Vienna Secession details.
Roth anchored his tripartite design by cladding the one-story base in beige brick and the upper sections in brownish-red brick. A stylized Greek key band of terra cotta framed the entrance and ran below the second floor. Green tiles of magnolia leaves filled the spaces. A Vienna Secession panel above the doorway announced the address.
The windows of the second floor were connected by a colorful terra cotta belt course with diamond panels. The diamond motif was repeated under the intermediate cornice above the fifth floor and again above the sixth-floor windows. A deeply overhanging copper cornice with Vienna Secession arches and rondels completed the design.
In 1920, the two-block-long stretch of West 127th St. was renamed Tiemann Pl., in honor of its esteemed former resident. The Whitestone received the new address of 45 Tiemann Pl.
The building attracted artistic residents, including the composer and arranger Julius E. Andino. Born in Puerto Rico, he came to the United States in 1894. First working as a piano accompanist at the Grand Italian Conservatory of Music in Brooklyn, he eventually found his way to Tin Pan Alley, working anonymously for several leading songwriters and later writing scores for silent pictures.
Andino was likely acquainted with a neighbor in the building, Laura Sedgwick Collins. A musician, composer and actress, she was born in Poughkeepsie in 1859. Among her compositions was a march, "The Two Republics," which was performed at the unveiling of The Statue of Liberty.
For more on this building and its inhabitants, check out the full article.
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