420 W. 58th Street
In October 1881, developer John M. Ruck purchased a long parcel of property along West 58th Street that included vacant lots, a wooden stable, and one 25-foot wide "shanty.” Three months later, it was reported that Ruck's architects, Thom & Wilson, had filed plans for six buildings on the site, four of which were five-story brick flats and two private houses. Those would share a 25-foot wide plot, giving each a narrow 12.5 foot frontage. The architects disguised the slender proportions by designing mirror image brownstone-faced residences that appeared nearly as one. The house at 420 was initially operated as a boarding house; it seems to have been damaged when construction began on the apartment building next door to the east in 1928. The Ruck family retained ownership of the skinny house until 1940 when the Jay-Em-Arr Realty Corporation sold it to an unnamed buyer. Renovations included a a two-story extension that brought the entrance to sidewalk level. The original doorway was preserved, serving as an entrance to a sunroom at the former parlor level. Simultaneously the matching house at No. 422 was demolished in 1940 and replaced with an "office and storage" building.
420 W. 58th Street
In October 1881, developer John M. Ruck purchased a long parcel of property along West 58th Street that included vacant lots, a wooden stable, and one 25-foot wide "shanty.” Three months later, it was reported that Ruck's architects, Thom & Wilson, had filed plans for six buildings on the site, four of which were five-story brick flats and two private houses. Those would share a 25-foot wide plot, giving each a narrow 12.5 foot frontage. The architects disguised the slender proportions by designing mirror image brownstone-faced residences that appeared nearly as one. The house at 420 was initially operated as a boarding house; it seems to have been damaged when construction began on the apartment building next door to the east in 1928. The Ruck family retained ownership of the skinny house until 1940 when the Jay-Em-Arr Realty Corporation sold it to an unnamed buyer. Renovations included a a two-story extension that brought the entrance to sidewalk level. The original doorway was preserved, serving as an entrance to a sunroom at the former parlor level. Simultaneously the matching house at No. 422 was demolished in 1940 and replaced with an "office and storage" building.