Rooftop additions are popping up all over the Upper West Side these days, and sometimes they don’t quite blend with the building under them. We got the pictures above and below of a three-story addition that’s been going up at 902 Amsterdam Avenue on the corner of 104th street.
Our tipster, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that the building next door added an extra story to the roof, which seems to have prompted the owners at 902 Amsterdam to add even more stories. The visual affect isn’t very pretty: “Unfortunately you can’t see the roof next door from this angle — you know those ‘penthouse’ additions that look like someone plunked down a double-wide trailer on top of a building? That’s what it looks like.”
The photo below shows the back of the building from Broadway.
But will any rooftop addition top the one that caused howls of protest on 71st street?
Not sure, but it looks like there’s another one being framed on top of a brownstone on the south side of 84th Street between West End and Riverside Drive.
Guess this is the rich folk’s way to get more-more-more after dispossessing families from what had been multiple dwellings.
I am one of those evil folks who bought a townhouse that was once cut up into multiple dwellings. At the time, I was deciding whether to move to the burbs or buy a townhouse. I thought it better to stay in NYC, pay taxes to the city, buy local, and restore a house that was in bad shape. I met the people who moved out. I’m sure they would have preferred not to move, as we all do, but they were all paid well by the seller for moving.
If you rent, you don’t own – that’s sort of the difference between renting and owning. Do you consider your possessions mine?
Obama and Bill DeBlasio consider your possessions to be theirs, yes.
Re: de Blasiola
But as Mayor he might be fun (????)
Just wait till he opts to NOT occupy Gracie Mansion but rather to stay in his Brooklyn digs. And then, at the end of each workday he will head home to his impossibly cute family.
Yes, he will leave City Hall each night and cross the East River to the Brooklyn side…..
….by walking on the water.
Exactly.
You are right Erica. The discussion however should be about how to make sure these additions are not ugly.
Rooftop additions are, sadly, now all over Manhattan. Tribeca is full of them.
But that’s just the point: Those of us with long attachment to the Upper West Side don’t want the rich people, newly moved here, to distort our neighborhood like they’ve done to their neo-neighborhoods like Tribeca.
If I wanted to live in Tribeca, I’d move to Tribeca. (If I won the Lottery, or married a banker, of course.) Why can’t they just live like the rest of us and relish what prior generations have appreciated?
Thankfully, it is not up to you.
Then you should buy it and relish it – otherwise it is not up to you.
Ah, yes: Money displaces community. That about says it all.
Welcome to the New Upper Wealth Side.
But what actually constitutes “our” Upper West Side. Has the UWS gone unchanged for the last 100 or 1,000 years? Is the UWS of the 70s and 80s the same as Lyla Blake Ward’s UWS of the 30s and 40s, mentioned in a previous post? Things change, and that’s life. So many American cities are in decline, losing population. We should appreciate that we are not one of them.
hmmm… the last time i looked, renters had certain rights in NYC. and also the last time i looked, property owenrs did not have “absolute” rights due to zoning laws and other regulations.
who said they didmt Bruce?
only the liberal superman aren’t you!
don’t worry, your savior will be mayor soon enough.
maybe we can go back to crime , decline an mayhem and you will be happy (miserable, but happy)
and Yes I am not the blog owner, just your neighbor ..
apparently a neighbor who is not very proud of his or her viewpoints and thus has to hide behind anonymity.
I don’t use my full name either. People search my name online for business, and I’m not interested in mixing my personal and professional life. I’m not hiding behind anything. I just don’t think that my personal opinions should have any bearing in my professional life.
Erica, congratulations to you and thank you for the sacrifice you make paying ungodly taxes to the city.
I’m merely a struggling tenant but Cato’s statement is idiotic and ironic insofar as the time past over which he is pining is utterly arbitrary. Before that these structures were initially constructed as single family….
Check out 315 West 103rd, 3 years in limbo as DOB allows construction with tenants in place and very odd construction overall.
Of course this discussion had to turn into a “The evil rich people are destroying our neighborhood!” diatribe. Neighborhoods change, some for better and some for worse. I’m sure the drug dealers and the gangs also long for the good old days too. Are we supposed to feel bad for them?