Herbert Spencer Harde and Richard Thomas Short formed the New York–based partnership Harde & Short, active primarily from 1901 to 1909, and became known for their richly ornamented, Gothic‑ and Renaissance Revival luxury apartment buildings on Manhattan’s Upper West and Upper East Sides. Harde, educated in London and also a developer (founder of the Eronel Realty Company), and Short, who trained under James E. Ware, combined their talents to create distinctive designs such as the celebrated Red House (1903), 45 East 66th Street (1908), 44 West 77th Street (1909), and the iconic Alwyn Court Apartments (1909), each noted for lavish terra‑cotta facades, Gothic tracery, ornate finials, and sculptural corner towers. Despite this early success, the firm dissolved abruptly around 1909, and thereafter produced few notable works, leaving behind a brief but resplendent legacy of elegant apartment architecture in pre‑World War I New York.
Select Projects:
45 East 66th Street, NY NY
Alwyn Court Apartments, NY NY