611 West 158^th Street
Emery Roth
1909-10
Audubon Park Historic District

Though outside of Audubon Park’s original footprint, the Sutherland is significant as an excellent example of the Beaux-Arts style. Designed by Emery Roth, its style was certainly influenced by its original owner, Floyd de L. Brown, an architect and contractor trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Nine stories tall, its orange brick façade is enlivened by a rounded corner bay and topped with arched terra-cotta dormers and a copper roof. Conforming to the bend of the original Riverside Drive where it curves to meet the old Boulevard Lafayette, the Sutherland’s irregular I-shaped plan included light wells to provide every room with light and air. In keeping with the turn-of-the-century trend of giving apartment buildings British-inspired names, the Sutherland was likely named for a county in the Scottish highlands.