Look Up: The Ivy-Covered Building Where Jerry Seinfeld Worked as a Doorman

Image via Complex Original

On the corner of West End Avenue and 91st Street is a beautiful brick and limestone building, almost completely covered with ivy. The building was most prominently featured on Seinfeld as the home of Mr. Pitt, where Jerry once got a job as a doorman (“The Doorman,” 1995). It's also remarkable for being one of the few few buildings that still respect the easement of the former Jauncey Lane.

Built in 1912, 640 West End Avenue was the first building erected on what was previously a vacant and boarded lot. The occasional shanty had been erected in the lot, but nothing permanent. In the century prior, the land belonged to the Apthorp Estate and served as one of two main roads serving the house from the Hudson River. The other, Striker Lane, is only three blocks to the north. 

The land debates began when the former Apthorp Estate and the area around the Bloomingdale Road, now Broadway, was subdivided in the 1790s, long before the Commissioner’s plan for the Manhattan Grid. The debate was eventually settled in 1901 when the Astors bought the rights to all the land, including the lanes, from the Apthorp heirs. However, concerns remained that the right to build over the former lane had not been entirely settled, so when Ralph Townsend built this building, he elected to keep the passage to its north free and clear, just in case. As a result, the building stands by itself, lonely on the corner.

During the summer months, the ivy is completely overgrown, climbing almost 10 of the 12 base stories, and covering much of the delicate ornamentation.

In the early winter months, the leaves recede to reveal plenty of the fine details, including the rusticated corner base and a broken pediment above the main entrance at 91st Street.

There are also two lovely granite columns that flank the entrance and several small balconies decorated with bronze garlands with a green patina.

The starkness of the colors in winter—the grey brick and stone matching the grey branches of the ivy—give it an austere and creepy look, better suited for a haunted house than a spot on Seinfeld.