207 Dyckman Street
On Dyckman Street, just east of Broadway, sit twin buildings dating back to the turn of the century. They represent the very beginning of the housing boom in Inwood. With colorful maroon and beige columns marking their entryways, the buildings are difficult to miss. It is hard to imagine the buildings set amid a quiet country backdrop, but that’s just what early residents came home to every evening.
The following description comes from an advertisement in the May 24, 1907 edition of the New York Sun:
“Country Quiet and Pure Air in the City!
A TENANT WRITES: “Driven from the city by noise and dirt, I sought relief in the country–along the Hudson and Sound, and in New Jersey–but nothing desirable could be found that did not cost more (everything considered) than on the upper west side. Then I tried Washington Heights, where among scores of new apartments none was found without some drawback–chiefly inconvenient arrangement of rooms and absence of quiet. Finally, I reached Dyckman Street station on subway. Two blocks west I found two apartment houses built on lines of common-sense and refinement. Dyckman Street runs into the Speedway on the east and connects with the beautiful Lafayette Boulevard on the west, where it connects with old Broadway, two minutes from the Hudson.
209 and 207 Dyckman Street today.
The buildings standing alone in the distance on Dyckman Street in 1904, Source: Museum of the City of New York
The apartments face south on the finest piece of greenery in Manhattan–primeval rocks and trees forming Mount Washington. To the west they adjoin Inwood (a thickly wooded hill interspersed with handsome country residences) and the Hudson and western Palisades. All this is only 25 minutes to City Hall, but QUIET COUNTRY REIGNS, one gets a seat every time and there is no change of cars or ferries and no long walk or double fares. All subway trains are express. The Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway (Kingsbridge) cars pass within half a block. School house one block away. Van Cortlandt Park is reached in ten minutes–golf, skating and all seasonable sports. The apartments are perfectly arranged, good sized rooms; extra large kitchens and bath rooms; no dark corners; abundant closet room; halls, stairways, rooms all decorated with a degree of good taste and refinement rarely found among builders. I prefer the apartment I selected to one I occupied for several years on Central Park West in the nineties, and yet it costs me one third less.”
209 Dyckman Street today
The apartments are especially suited for professional people, and will prove a boon to those who appreciate quietness and cleanness, combined with accessibility to the city and its conveniences and pleasures.
The Solono and Monida Apartments 207 and 209 Dyckman Street, corner of Broadway: six and seven room suites: moderate rents. Take subway to Dyckman Street station and walk west two blocks; or Amsterdam Avenue cars, transferring to Broadway and Kingsbridge Road line.
M. McCORMACK CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, OWNER ON PREMISES.
NY Sun, May 24, 1907
Solano and Monida Apartment Ad, New York NY Sun, Nov. 4, 1904
If you have lived in these buildings and have any stories to share, I encourage you to write in below: