This month in real estate history: Old Police HQ put up for sale, Belnord resi plan … & more

From left: The Belnord shortly after it was completed, The Chrysler Building Annex and The former police HQ in Little Italy
From left: The Belnord shortly after it was completed, The Chrysler Building Annex and The former police HQ in Little Italy

From the September issue: 1908: Belnord building plans filed

Noted architects Philip Hiss and H. Hobart Weekes filed plans to build what the New York Times called “the largest apartment house in this country, if not in the world,” 107 years ago this month.

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The Belnord Realty Company expected to spend $3 million (nearly $80 million in 2015 dollars) on the massive luxury residential building. The Renaissance Revival-style building was built on vacant land owned by the Hoyt family estate, which purposely held the space empty in anticipation of a pricey development project. Once complete, it would take up the entire block bounded by Broadway and Amsterdam avenues from 86th to 87th streets on the Upper West Side. That’s twice as big as the Madison Square Garden of the time, which had the largest main hall in the world. [more]