Emery Roth


Emery Roth was an American architect of Hungarian-Jewish descent who designed many of the definitive New York City hotels and apartment buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, incorporating Beaux-Arts and Art Deco details. His sons continued in the family enterprise, largely expanding the firm under the name Emery Roth & Sons.

Life and career

Born in Gálszécs, Austria-Hungary to a Jewish family, he emigrated to the United States at the age of 13 after his family fell into poverty upon his father's death. He began his architectural apprenticeship as a draftsman in the Chicago offices of Burnham & Root, working on the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. At the Exposition Roth also designed one of his first solo projects; a pavilion that housed a chocolatier. There he met Richard Morris Hunt, who was impressed with his skills and invited Roth to work in his office in New York. Following Hunt's premature death in 1895, Roth moved to the office of Ogden Codman, Jr., a designer and decorator with a Newport clientele. In the interwar years, the firm of Emery Roth delivered some of the most influential examples of architecture for apartment houses in the at-the-time fashionable beaux art-style, especially in Manhattan. In 1938, Roth included his sons Julian and Richard as partners.

Buildings designed

BuildingYearLocationNotes
The Saxony1899-1900250 West 82nd Street
Hotel Belleclaire1903250 West 77th Street
The Adath Jeshurun of Jassy synagogue190358 Rivington Street
Whitestone190945 Tiemann PlaceBuilder Charter Construction Co.
601 West End Avenue1915601 West End Avenue
The First Hungarian Reformed Church1915346 East 69th Street
1000 Park Avenue1916Park Avenue and East 84th Street
570 Park Avenue1916Park Avenue and East 63rd Street
151 East 80th Street1922151 East 80th Street
The Whitby1924325 West 45th Street
The Gilford1924140 East 46th Street
110 West 86th Street1924110 West 86th Street
Chester Court1924201 West 89th Street
243 West End Avenue1925243 West End Avenue
Mayflower Hotel192515 Central Park Westdemolished in 2004
221 West 82nd Street1925221 West 82nd Street
930 Fifth Avenue1925930 Fifth Avenue
Ritz Hotel Tower1925109 East 57th StreetWith Carrère and Hastings. New York's first residential skyscraper introduced terraces at the setback levels.
41 West 96th Street192641 West 96th Street
65 Central Park West192665 Central Park West; Lincoln Square
The Alden1927225 Central Park West; Upper West Side
The Oliver Cromwell192712 West 72nd Street
Warwick Hotel192765 West 54th Street
Hotel Benjamin1927125 East 50th Street
Hotel Carteret1927208 West 23rd Street
Manchester House1928145 West 79th Street
The Eldorado1929–1931300 Central Park West / Central Park West Historic District
The Beresford1929211 Central Park West
15 West 81st Street192915 West 81st Street
300 West 23rd Street1929300 West 23rd Street
35 Prospect Park West1929Prospect Park; Brooklyn
Hotel St. George1930100 Henry Street, Brooklyn Heights
Hotel St. Moritz193050 Central Park South
993 Fifth Avenue1930993 Fifth Avenue
784 Park Avenue1930784 Park Avenue
The San Remo1930145 and 146 Central Park WestThe first of the twin-towered residential skyscrapers.
The Ardsley1931320 Central Park WestRoth's outstanding Art Deco residential skyscraper.
275 Central Park West1930–1931275 Central Park West
299 West 12th Street1931299 West 12th Street
140 East 28th Street1932140 East 28th Street
888 Grand Concourse1937888 Grand Concourse
880 Fifth Avenue1948880 Fifth Avenue1938
2 Sutton Place South
41 West 96th Street192541 West 96th Street
310 West End Avenue1927310 West End Avenue-
The Normandy1938140 Riverside DriveLast of the twin-towered residences, and Roth's choice for his retirement apartment.
192910 Sheridan Sq-
The Grasmoor House19402370-2380 Madison Rd Cincinnati OHAn amazing 55 unit Art Deco residential condominium.

Emery Roth & Sons

Despite the fact that Roth's sons, Julian and Richard, had joined the firm many years earlier, it was not until 1947 that the firm's name was changed to Emery Roth & Sons, approximately one year before Roth's death. Julian specialized in construction costs and building materials and technology, while Richard was named the firm's principal architect. In the 1950s and 1960s Emery Roth & Sons became the most influential architectural firm in New York and contributed substantially in changing the appearance of Midtown and Lower Manhattan. In that particular period of time Emery Roth & Sons designed dozens of speculative office buildings, mostly with curtain wall facades, which soon became a ubiquitous feature of the city. Beginning in the mid-1960s, the firm was also hired as associate architects in large-scale projects like the Pan Am Building, the World Trade Center and the Citicorp Center. In the early 1960s, Richard Roth's son, Richard Roth, Jr. became the third generation to join the firm, eventually rising to chief architect CEO and shareholder. As the firm expanded and diversified over six decades, it remained a family business through the 1990s. In 1988 Richard Roth Jr's daughter Robyn Roth-Moise joined the firm as comptroller. Richard Roth Jr's son Richard Lee Roth joined the firm in 1982 and became the chief specification writer for Emery Roth & Sons. Both retired from the firm when Richard Roth Jr retired and was replaced as the company's CEO in 1993 by Robert Sobel, Roth's cousin. But only three years later, in 1996, the firm ceased to operate, apparently because of financial distress. Emery's great-grandson Richard Lee Roth currently works in the architectural profession and resides in South Florida.
The extensive architectural records and papers of both Emery Roth and Emery Roth & Sons are now held in the Department of Drawings & Archives at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.

Work by Emery Roth & Sons