Butterfield House set a great precedent for modern residential buildings to fit into their historical context. The through-block apartment building consists of two wings connected by an undulated glass passage surrounded by a landscaped garden. The building’s use of glass allows for much transparency and is balanced by a textured brown-brick and concrete façade that touches down lightly on the street and picks up on the typology of the 19th-century row house bay window to create interesting patterns within its elevation. In fact, many architects actually dub Butterfield House one of the most influential and beautiful post–World War II apartment properties in New York City. One instance of that: In 1979, Paul Goldberger of The New York Times wrote that Butterfield House was on his list of the ‘10 Top Postwar Apartment Buildings.’
—John Schuyler, principal, FXFOWLE Architects, New York City