Master masons restoring Upper West Side's historic façades, stoops, and ironwork since 1995. LPC-approved for Manhattan historic districts.
The Upper West Side contains the most architecturally ambitious row houses in Manhattan — built between 1885 and 1910 as the upper-class residential expansion northward, anchored by Central Park to the east and the Hudson River to the west. The Upper West Side / Central Park West Historic District (designated 1990) and the West End-Collegiate Historic District (1984) protect the most significant blocks.
The neighborhood developed after the 1879 completion of the IRT Ninth Avenue Elevated, which made the area accessible to Wall Street commuters. Speculative builders erected blocks of Renaissance Revival and Romanesque Revival row houses — typically wider and grander than Brooklyn brownstones (often 25-30 feet wide rather than 18-22), with limestone façades instead of brownstone. The Beaux-Arts buildings along Riverside Drive and West End Avenue represent the absolute peak of NYC row house construction.
Notable streets: Riverside Drive, Central Park West, West 76th Street, West 78th Street, West End Avenue, Columbus Avenue.
Upper West Side façades are predominantly limestone rather than brownstone, which means a completely different restoration approach. Limestone weathers by surface dissolution rather than spalling — the carved detail erodes smoothly but loses crispness over decades. Limestone consolidants and re-carving are the dominant restoration techniques, very different from brownstone work. The carved Beaux-Arts ornament on these buildings is also at a scale rarely seen elsewhere in the city.
Limestone façade restoration with surface consolidants and re-carving of weathered detail; Renaissance Revival cornice and entablature work; Beaux-Arts ornamental stone restoration on the Riverside Drive monuments; carved capital and column work; LPC compliance for both Upper West Side historic districts.
Free on-site assessment. Written estimate within five business days. We know your block.
