Rodin Studios, 1922. Conceived as a studio-residence for prosperous artists in the 1910s, the Rodin Studios were the project of painter John Fry, his wife Georgia Timkey Fry, and painter Lawton S. Parker. Named for the sculptor Auguste Rodin, the architect Cass Gilbert designed a striking Gothic facade clad in sculptural terra cotta. When completed in 1917, the building included retail and offices on the lower floors for additional income. The upper floors were studios, studios with adjacent living spaces, and duplex apartments. In 1926 novelist Theodore Dreiser and his wife moved into the Rodin. They held a weekly Thursday night gathering of a diverse cross section of New York society, inviting financial tycoons, writers, artists, critics and social scientists. By the turn of the 21st century most of Gilbert's interiors were long gone. The ornate exterior was in bad condition, with chucks of terra cotta falling to the streets below. The building underwent a massive restoration. 235 historic wood window were renovated and terra cotta sections were replaced with new casts. Finally the 8-foot tall cornice was removed and replaced with new structural steel and glass fiber reinforced concrete replicas.

Rodin Studios ARCHITECT: Cass Gilbert DATE: 1916-17 STYLE: French Renaissance The Rodin studios building, built in 1916-17, was designed by Cass Gilbert specifically for artists. Named for the most innovative living artist of the time, it represents a refinement on the earlier essays in what was a relatively new building type. The two principal elevations of this fourteen-story, reinforced concrete frame building, are sheathed in rough brick, polychromatic buff to gray, laid in American bond. The elaborate and extensive terra-cotta and iron trim is molded and cast in the late Gothic-early Classical motifs which characterize the French Renaissance style, the style of the neighboring Arts Students League as well as a style Gilbert thought appropriate for artists.