Townsend Mews (Thursday Doors)

each building, each element
sovereign in its own way

yet blended to rights–
a coherent whole–

look closely—the flow
interrupts itself

with slight variations–
the echo altered

above and between
the windows and doors–

confident in its place,
a solid geometry

 of curves and angles,
rooted to the street–

a shelter of permanence
and simple beauty

Townsend Mews, a row of five buildings on West 85th Street, was built in 1890 and landmarked in 1991. Named for its architect, Ralph S. Townsend, it is not really a mews, which implies a former stable or carriage house. The name seems to be something made up by local real estate brokers to enhance the sale of its one bedroom apartments.

In the Landmark designation, the author states that the house originally had stoops with stairs to the arched opening above the current rather bland door-and-awning structure. That would have located the guardian above the original front door, where it properly belongs. Still, they noted the beauty of the buildings, eclectic in the style of the Aesthetic Movement, which blended a variety of elements to create both consitency and surprise. I especially like the pagoda-like roof details.

Always on the lookout for guardians, I was delighted to see that the ornamentation of each building was slightly different, and photographed them all. You could easily miss the guardians if you are not always, like me, scrutinizing buildings and their doors.

Ralph Townsend designed many buildings all over the city, including quite a few brownstones on the streets surrounding where I live. He lived in two of his larger buildings and also one brownstone on the Upper West Side and is probably best known for designing the Kenilworth on Central Park West–I’ll definitely have to go take a look at that one.

The poem was written for the W3 challenge prompt, where Ami asks that we respond to her poem using the words sovereign and rights. I’ve had enough of Supreme Rulers and the things they keep taking away.

And as always you can find more Thursday Doors or join in yourself with host Dan Antion, here.