Insignia completes $4.5M renovation of Cherokee Apartments

Real Estate Weekly, March 12, 2003

Insignia Residential Group, as managing agent for the property, recently completed a three-year, $4.5 million comprehensive exterior restoration and preservation of the Cherokee Apartments, a 383-unit cooperative at 507-523 East 77th St. and 508-522 East 78th St. on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

The buildings were designed by Henry Atterbury Smith in the Late Gothic Revival/Beaux Arts style and were originally completed in 1909 and 1911. The project to build the property was sponsored by Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt and was conceived by Dr. Henry Shively, an expert on tuberculosis (TB), commonly called "consumption" at the turn of the twentieth century. The buildings were innovatively designed to maximize natural sunlight and fresh air flow to each apartment to combat the devastating, typically fatal symptoms of TB.

Because of its architectural beauty, the property was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1985 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

The capital improvements program, which commenced in May 1999 and was completed in November 2002, consisted of a comprehensive, building-wide exterior restoration with replication of the buildings' vast array of ornamental detailing, including all 212 ornamental balconies. Lead abatement, restoration and painting of all ironwork was performed as well as replacement of damaged and deteriorated ornamental terra cotta. All original woodframe windows were repaired, restored and painted, and masonry restoration and parapet rebuilding completed the project.

"The restoration and preservation of the Cherokee Apartments was made possible by its residents, the Cherokee Owners Corporation, who demonstrated an unwavering financial and social commitment to historical accuracy that has returned these striking buildings to their original grandeur;" said Marc Lazar, Managing Director of Insignia Residential Group, who oversaw the entire project. "Each aspect of this restoration was carried out with painstaking detail to historical accuracy and the use of superior products that has resulted in an aesthetic contribution to the city that is to be celebrated by all New Yorkers."