19th-century arch looks seeks new occupant
by Daniel P. Bader
One of Inwood’s more unique commercial properties, the northern leg of the Seaman-Drake arch at 5035 Broadway, has come onto the market.
The marble arch now partially buried behind several storefronts between W. 215th and W. 216th Streets was once the gateway to a hilltop estate owned by the Seaman then Drake families in the 19th Century. It was a time when the area was comprised of “country homes” of New York’s rich and powerful.
 “There are only two [arches] in New York City,” said real estate agent Andrew Shell, whose company A.N. Shell is managing the property. The other one is the far better known Washington Square Arch downtown.
“It’s made of original marble from Marble Hill,” Shell said, the same marble that adorns some of Manhattan’s most storied hotels. Despite being historic, the structure has not been landmarked, he added.
“The buildings were attached to the arch in the 1950s,” he said, and have been used as commercial space ever since.
In the southern building is a transmission shop and the northern building, until recently, was occupied by the Elizabeth Modeling Agency, which moved across the street into the Inwood Center, the new name for the Manhattan Mini Storage and Workspace building at 5030 Broadway.
The agent in charge of renting out the space, John Brendin, has been looking into the history of the structure for when he is showing it to potential renters, however he may not get the chance to share his knowledge. Three possible new vendors – a club, a catering restaurant and a hair salon – are all looking at the space.
Each, or all three together, could use the space in different ways.
Shell said the building, arch and garage area hidden behind two large red doors in the arch, comprise a total of 7,000 square feet. The building itself has 2,000 square feet spread out between two floors. The arch, hollow inside, is about 160 square feet in size, leaving nearly 5,000 square feet behind the arch.
Shell is willing to rent out the space to multiple clients, with any combination of the three floor plans.
“If a new tenant will come and sandblast the whole arch,” Shell said, it would look great in some semblance of its original beauty. “The arch has special character.”
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