Posh Portals: Elegant Entrances and Ingratiating Ingresses to Apartments for the Affluent in New York City

Architectural historian Alpern (The Dakota) provides a detailed look at ornate entrances to some of New York City’s most impressive and historic residential buildings in this lavish book. Richly illustrated with vintage images, stunning contemporary photos, and charming watercolors, this volume gives short histories and describes important details of 140 buildings that housed New York’s elite over a period of more than 100 years (“the entrance to an apartment house is that important first impression, the opening sentence that sets the mood of the apartment building,” writes Alpern). He examines such celebrated residences as the Dakota, the first luxury apartment in New York; the Ansonia, originally the largest hotel in the world; and 770 Park Avenue, which “included an entrance and elevator just for servants separate from the facilities for freight.” Alpern details such classic architectural touches as porte cocheres, marquees, and classic awnings, and includes Brooklyn buildings, Art Deco structures (for example, 336 Central Park West, with its “distinctly Egyptian feel at the top, with a plum-colored lotus-form terra-cotta cornice”), and artist studios (such as Sixty Seventh Street Studio on West 67th Street). This stylish, sophisticated look at the homes of New York City’s upper crust will please architecture and photography connoisseurs alike. (Sept.)