Livingston Apartments

After World War I Allentown expanded westward, with single and double houses built by the hundreds. At the same time, the mansions built at the turn of the twentieth century at the west end of Hamilton Street were joined by upscale apartment buildings. When built, the Livingston was the largest apartment building in eastern Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia. Its developer, Aaron Potruch, who had recently relocated to Allentown from Brooklyn, was also one of the backers of the Americus Hotel (LH3) just completed at the eastern end of Hamilton Street. The two buildings shared similar aspirations. A decade after its completion, a local newspaper declared the Livingston “the city's swankiest apartment.” Like the Americus, the Livingston had classical massing even as it displayed Spanish and Moorish motifs. Six stories in height, the building has a limestone ground floor, above which are five floors of buff-colored brick. A large rooftop terrace shaded by a round-arched loggia tops the slightly projecting center element of the facade. The Livingston remains one of the city's most highly regarded apartment buildings.