24th Street, south side, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, showing London Terrace homes, ca 1927.

London Terrance was an 1845-built housing development modeled on similar structures popular in London at the smae time. The homes were developed by Clement Clarke Moore, the author of 'The Night Before Christmas" when he divided up the land that had once been his family's large estate, 'Chelsea.'

Designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, the 36 elegant Greek Revival brownstone townhouses became a very fashionable address for the 19th and early 20th century. The homes had considerable front yards, an oddity for Manhattan.

In 1929 the descendants of Clement Clarke Moore leased the property to the Henry Mandel Companies, who demolished the 1845 structures and constructed a massive complex. The 10 central buildings and four corner structures were designed with Tuscan influences by the firm of Farrar & Watmough. The completed buildings were the largest apartment building in the world with 1665 apartments.