The Architecture Firm of

Townsend, Steinle & Haskell

Ralph S. Townsend, The firm’s principal and first-name partner, the son of a builder by the same name, began his practice as early as 1880, designing “The Portsmouth” at 38-44 W. 9th Street (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues) in 1882, “The Hampshire” at 46-50 W.9th Street the following year and 329-337 W. 85th Street (between West End and Riverside) in 1890. In 1892, Townsend designed the original Hotel Savoy on Fifth Avenue at Grand Army Plaza (predecessor to McKim Mead & White’s Savoy-Plaza Hotel demolished in 1960 to make way for the GM Building that now occupies the site at 767 Fifth Avenue). William Cook Haskell joined Townsend in 1897, later followed by Charles Albert Steinle in 1903 when the partnership was formed. William R.H. Martin became a significant client of the firm with commissions including a “bachelor hotel” at 34 W. 35th Street (1899), the Martin Building at Broadway & 31st Street (1910), the Trowmart Inn at Hudson & W. 12th Street and the Martin Home at 122-124 E. 38th Street and stable 149 E. 38th Street.

(Photo below: The Kenilworth, Central Park West, NY)