The Beresford

The Beresford
View from the south
General information
Type	Housing cooperative
Architectural style	Renaissance Revival
Address	211 Central Park West
Town or city	Manhattan, New York
Country	United States
Coordinates	40°46′57″N 73°58′19″W / 40.78250°N 73.97194°W / 40.78250; -73.97194
Construction started	1928
Completed	September 13, 1929
Technical details
Structural system	Steel superstructure
Floor count	22
Lifts/elevators	11
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Emery Roth
New York City Landmark
Designated	September 15, 1987[1]
Reference no.	1520
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Designated	November 9, 1982[2]
Reference no.	82001189

The Beresford is a cooperative apartment building at 211 Central Park West, between 81st and 82nd Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was constructed in 1929 and was designed by architect Emery Roth. The Beresford is 22 stories tall and is topped by octagonal towers on its northeast, southwest, and southeast corners. The building is a contributing property to the Central Park West Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places–listed district, and is a New York City designated landmark.

The building surrounds an internal courtyard to the west. The facade has two primary elevations, facing east toward Central Park and south toward the American Museum of Natural History. There are numerous setbacks on each elevation, which double as terraces. The first three stories are clad in rusticated blocks of limestone, with three main entrances at ground level. The remainder of the facade is made of light brick with terracotta ornamentation. Each of the towers is decorated with arches and finials and contains one penthouse apartment. The building has three terrazzo and marble lobbies with molded plaster ceilings. On the upper stories, many apartments are split across two levels and contain large rooms. There were originally 178 apartments, each with four to sixteen rooms, but several apartments have been split or combined over the years.

The Beresford replaced an 11-story apartment building with the same name, built in 1889 and 1892. The current apartment complex was built after a previous attempt to redevelop the site in the 1920s had failed. The building opened in September 1929 but soon went into receivership following the collapse of the Bank of United States, which held the mortgage. The Beresford was acquired in 1940 by an investment syndicate, which owned the building for the next two decades. The building was then converted to a housing cooperative in 1962. Over the years, its residents have included directors, actors, journalists, and executives.