From Riverside Drive at 157th Street - west corner800 Riverside Drive, the front entranceThe Grinnell from The World's Loose Leaf Album of Apartment Houses (published 1910) Image Courtesy of: Milstein Division of United States History, Local History & Geneology, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.The western water tower.From the north east, Riverside DriveGrinnell Entrance (awning) at Christmas in the snow: Eli GaniasThe Grinnell in 1982, from the northeast, draped with victory banners prior to co-oping. Riverside Drive entrance during the snowstorm of February 2010.Red-tailed hawk rests for 20 minutes on 6B's AC with 157th Street in the background. (October 26th 2009). Photo by Anthony WeaverEdward Morgan Place: The Grinnell The Grinnell: New York Times May 28, 1911 in an article entitled "Rows of Apartment Houses Wiping Out Old-Time Washington Heights Estates"Detail: Edward Morgan Place entranceView of the Grinnell from its neighbor, the Sutherland, July 2011Detail: 157th Street at the corner of Edward Morgan PlaceNortheast water tower - summer 2010The Grinnell floor plan from The World's Loose Leaf Album of Apartment Houses (published 1910) Image Courtesy of: Milstein Division of United States History, Local History & Geneology, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.Edward Morgan Place and 157th StreetDetail over the Riverside Drive entranceEntrance 800 Riverside Drive, June 2010The Grinnell from The World's Loose Leaf Album of Apartment Houses (published 1910) Image Courtesy of: Milstein Division of United States History, Local History & Geneology, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.The Grinnell from Riverside Drive and 158th Streets, June 2010
Our Photos: Our Building
The Exterior
The Courtyard
The Lobbies and Hallways
Looking down into the courtyard from the east wing - 1998Courtyard: May 2010Looking into the courtyard from Edward M. Morgan Place - circa 2000Grinnell Courtyard at Christmas in the snow: Eli GaniasLooking at a snowy courtyard from the west wing - circa 2000Afternoon light coming down the Edward Morgan Place stairs: May 2010Grinnell Courtyard at Christmas in the snow: Eli GaniasGrinnell Courtyard just before the guests began arriving for the Centennial Party.The Grinnell courtyard - looking to the sky (Photo: Cindi Conti)Grinnell Courtyard decorated for the 100th birthday party - October 11, 2010Grinnell Courtyard decorated for the 100th birthday party - October 11, 2010
West lobby stairs: afternoonEast lobby: eveningEast lobby: eveningWest lobby detailWest lobby: eveningWest lobby elevatorsEast lobbyStairway west wingStained glass window facing the courtyardWest lobby stairsDetail of capital, west lobbyStained glass: East Wing, afternoonStained glass: East Wing, afternoon
The Grinnell is a nine-story, triangular apartment building sitting at 800 Riverside Drive, on a plot bounded by Riverside Drive, Edward Morgan Place, and 157th Street.
Designed in the Beaux arts style by architects Simon I. Schwartz and Arthur Gross and constructed between 1910 and 1911, the nine-story building surrounds an open courtyard and contains 82 apartments, three of which are duplex units. 

The Grinnell’s predominantly brick façade rests on a rusticated granite base that runs continuously around the first floor, with stepped sections that rise to the second floor at the corners and mid-block on each of its three sides; ornamental brick sections rise above the two-story portions of the base.  A water tower caps each corner of the building. 

Because the building stands on a slope – the remnant of the steep hill that preceded the construction of Riverside Drive and its high retaining wall between 155th and 157th Streets – the ground floor on the eastern side is below grade, so it appears to be one story shorter than the western side. 
On Riverside Drive, the Grinnell’s two-story entrance leads down a stone-floored ramp, through a domed passageway into the courtyard and on Edward Morgan Place a similar entrance leads to the courtyard down a flight of stone steps beneath a second domed passageway.  The simpler 157th Street entrance leads into a service hallway. 
Stained glass windows ring the courtyard, which features an oval planter, and double stained-glass windows rise above doorways leading to the east and west wings.  Unlike the other apartment buildings in its immediate vicinity, the Grinnell apartments have never been sub-divided; its internal and external footprints are today what they were when it was constructed almost a century ago. 

Due to its triangular shape and its location where Riverside Drive originally joined the Boulevard Lafayette one short block from Broadway, the Grinnell is the only apartment building in New York that can claim both a Riverside Drive address and direct access to the subway.



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The residents of 800 Riverside Drive celebrating community, a unique sense of place, and an architectural gem