A Third Avenue holdout tenement subsumed and swallowed up by modern luxury condo towers

Once upon a time, probably in the early 1900s, a row of tenements went up on Third Avenue between 74th and 75th Street.

Five stories high and with small shops occupying the ground floor spaces, the row had a certain utilitarian symmetry, with its aligned cornices and matching fire escapes.

On this Lenox Hill block once blighted by elevated train tracks, the row looked like so many other tenements that housed the working-class families of the neighborhood.

But the city always changes; buildings fall into disrepair or are sold for demolition, and new structures rise.

That seems to be what happened to 1301 Third Avenue’s northern neighbors. Just a few years ago, three tenements closer to 75th Street on the row were bought and torn down.

Now only 1301 Third Avenue remains. I don’t know why this holdout survivor has resisted the wrecking ball, but the developers of the new 33-story neighboring condo residences on both sides aren’t letting that halt their plans.

1301 Third Avenue appears to be subsumed by the new buildings on all sides, a preserved specimen of how New Yorkers used to live before luxury condo towers took over the east side of the Upper East Side.

I’ve been watching this tenement for more than a year now as it became swallowed up. It doesn’t appear as if anyone is still living in it, but if so, it can’t be easy.

[Second photo: NYC Department of Records & Information Services]