Mulliken and Moeller had recently finished The Lucerne,[4] on the corner of 79th and Amsterdam Avenue, and the Bretton Hall hotel[5] on the east side of Broadway from 85th to 86th Streets.

When Mulliken and Moeller began working on the Central Park View in 1905 for an investor group known only as the Monticello Realty Company, they were also designing the Severn and Van Dyck apartments[6][7] (found on the east side of Amsterdam Avenue between 72nd and 73rd streets) for a separate client.

In 1909, H. F. L. Ziegel and his wife, Beatrice, added the adjoining Neo-Georgian residence at 8 West 86th Street[9] Situated opposite the 86th Street transverse to Central Park West on the southwest corner, the Central Park View's design followed the popular "French Flat" model in a Beaux Arts-style, modified to conform to the size of a twelve-story structure.

The construction of Grand Central Terminal and the erection of the New York Public Library Main Branch also were ongoing during this decade and would be completed soon after.

[15] From there, a central courtyard reached further into an open interior yard level providing both improved light and ventilation to the apartments above as well as privacy from the street.

Each suite included the modern amenities of telephone service, an automated mail delivery system, filtered water, storage in the basement and elevators serving all floors.

The kitchen contained porcelain sinks and tubs, nickel-plated plumbing, gas ranges, and five-foot marble wainscoting.

[note 4] Shortly thereafter in 1909 the central and south courtyards were excavated and a new single-floor roof was constructed at curb level to accommodate additional storeroom and a custodian's workroom.

The lessee, led by William F. Ingold, conducted the refurbishment of the apartments to a residence hotel, with the plans provided by the architects Schwartz & Gross and B.N.

Outside the striped awnings that once adorned each window on the Central Park West facade disappeared, as did the light well still present along the building to the south.

[note 6] The neighborhood itself would change as the IND Eighth Avenue Line with its 5-cent fares opened in 1932[20] and replaced the uptown trolley system that once used the 86th Street transverse.

[note 7] More importantly, the independent subway line tied the uptown property and those near it to the bustling metropolis forming in midtown Manhattan, only one and a half miles to the south.

In 1957, the western dining room and the cabaret, the latter having established a poor reputation with the police, were renovated to accommodate new medical and legal office space.

The proximity to Central Park and the Mariner's Gate at West 85th Street positions the century-old home very close to several attractions within Central Park: the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, the Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, the Delacorte Theater, the Shakespeare Garden, the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, Bethesda Fountain, the Mariners[25] and Abraham and Joseph Spector's playgrounds[26] the Arthur Ross Pinetum, the Cleopatra's Needle, the Belvedere Castle, and the Winterdale Arch.

[28] The building has been used as a setting in several films, including: 257 Central Park West has been the residence of several famous people over the years: Landmarking information Historical photos