Support wall became ivied backdrop for lavish garden. In 1867, developers built two adjacent Sutton Place buildings, 441 East 57th Street and 447 East 57th Street, with a shared support wall and entered into a party wall agreement. In the 1910s or 1920s, the owners of 447 East 57th Street demolished their three-story building and, years later, a garden for a neighboring coop replaced the site where the building once stood.

The party wall remained a support wall for the five-story building on the western side. On the eastern side, the wall became an ornamental, ivied backdrop for the charity events and parties hosted in the 1,300-square-foot garden of author Sir Harold Evans and wife/editor Tina Brown, whose co-op apartment opened onto the garden. (read more…)