Robert A.M. Stern Photography © James Messerschmidt

Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture, is perhaps the one to credit most — or blame — for the new look of New York City.He’s designed more uber-luxury buildings than anyone, including 15 Central Park West.

A trio of his ultra-high towers — 520 Park Avenue, 30 Park Place and 220 Central Park South — are under construction. He’s also designed new condo buildings such as 20 East End Ave. The 75-year-old sat with The Post to discuss his work and the city.

520 Park Avenue Photo © Zeckendorf Development LLC and Seventh Art

Q:You take themes from the 1920s and 1930s to create new buildings. But they are often variations on the same theme, like 220 Central Park South, which could be described as a supersized version of 15 Central Park West. Why?

They belong to a family of forms, but like in any family, each child is a little bit different . . . I like to go back to go forward in my work. We looked to the skyline of the city in the 1920s and ’30s which many people, certainly from my generation, remember as a Golden Age. We want to continue that golden age, not reproduce it, but climb on its shoulders.

One way to do that is to have masonry-clad buildings. And when we’re lucky, such as at 15 Central Park West, we are able to have a limestone-clad building and achieve a level of detailing around windows, around doorways, at corners, and so forth that enriches the building, catches the sunlight and engages the eyes of the people who walk about the city and the streets because buildings are public art. That’s the kind of feeling we have in the older buildings from the 1910s, ’20s and ’30s. We lost it by and large after WWII, and now I hope we’ve done a little bit to put it back on track, put it back on the stage.......Continue Reading

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