Now known as “the Cast Iron Building,” this former dry goods store converted to residences deserves that singular name for its unique role in New York City history. Built in 1868 as one of the city’s premier stores, it was commissioned by James McCreery who owned the dry goods emporium, James McCreery & Company. The building was designed by architect John Kellum, known for his work in the new medium of cast iron. His reputation stemmed in part from his design of the A.T. Stewart Department Store. The James McCreery & Co. building occupied a large lot fronted by both Broadway and 11th Street. Both facades were cast iron from the foundry of J. B. & W. W. Cornell Ironworks. The Italianate/French Second Empire style exemplified the extravagant goods housed inside, namely the luxurious silks unavailable elsewhere. The cast iron construction allowed for large shop windows, an innovation for its day. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

80 Fifth Avenue is a striking and elaborately detailed neo-Renaissance Revival-style office building designed in 1908 by Buchman and Fox. Located at the corner of West 14th Street, it was built in 1907 and features tripartite bay windows at the second story and a double-story arcade beneath the projecting cornice at the top. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

74-76 Fifth Avenue/1 West 13th Street is a Renaissance Revival style loft building designed in 1910 by Maynicke & Franke for Henry Corn, a developer with whom they frequently worked. The New York Times called Robert Maynicke "a pioneer in the building of modern loft buildings." He and his firm designed the Guggenheimer Building on Waverly Place (1896), the International Toy Center (1909) and Sohmer Piano Building (1897) on Fifth Avenue, the Equitable Building (1870), which burned down in 1912, the Germania Bank Building (1899), and the Yorkville Bank Building (1905). Maynicke & Franke worked on the New York Times Building on Park Row with George Post and Broadway's Goelet Building with McKim Mead & White. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This almost perfectly intact late 19th century masonry structure is an outstanding example of the Romanesque Revival style designed by Cleverdon & Putzel in 1893. Seven stories in height, this corner building is three bays at the Fifth Avenue façade and six bays at the West 13th Street façade. Wide Romanesque arches at the sixth floor encompass the bays at both facades and are set on piers of smooth ashlar stone. On the first floor on the Fifth Avenue façade, there are engaged columns with Ionic capitals. On the second and third floors, the piers at the corner, Broadway façade, and most eastern on the West 13th Street façade are stacked quarry cut stones. The rest of the piers along the 13th Street façade have ionic capitals. At the entablature above the third floor, there is a Greek key border. At the top floor, small windows are placed in accordance with the rhythm of the fenestration below and the cornice at the top is highly ornamented and features unusual brackets with women’s faces. At the corner of the building is a slender finial at the top three stories. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This striking 12-story Beaux Arts style office building was constructed in 1912 by architect Charles Alonzo Rich for the noted publisher and philanthropist George A. Plimpton. Other than minor ground floor alterations, the building is almost entirely intact to its original century-old design. It is clad in a combination of cast stone and light gray brick. The substantial base is two stories in height with large piers featuring Ionic capitals. At the West 12th Street façade, three-round arches are at the center encompassing windows on floors four through eight. At the top two stories, engaged columns separate the bays and a decorative cornice runs at the roofline. The building is unusual and dramatic in its dimensions, with the Fifth Avenue façade only about twenty-five feet wide while the 13th Street façade spans nearly two hundred feet. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

64-66 Fifth Avenue was constructed in stages as the New York Headquarters for the Macmillan Company, a prominent publishing company based out of London beginning in 1892. In 1892, the Macmillan Co. moved from their former location (112 Fourth Avenue) to 66 Fifth Avenue, constructed by New York architect R. H. Robertson. The six-story brick building with terra-cotta trim and cornice detailing was designed in the Romanesque Revival style characterized by the design’s round-arched openings at the fourth and sixth stories, terra-cotta ornament, and straightforward use of materials. Initially, the building was three bays wide with a tile roof and a storefront at the ground. In 1907, the company hired architect Charles H. Caldwell to construct an addition replicating the building's original design at No. 64 Fifth Avenue and the interior was altered in order to connect the two buildings. The Macmillan Company hired Caldwell again in 1915 to construct a two-story addition at the top of 64-66 Fifth Avenue for additional office space. The alteration permit noted that “business conditions have changed the character of the occupancy and the building is now principally occupied by the offices of the company.” One would be unlikely to look at this building and discern that it was actually built in three entirely separate stages over 23 years and that the current design, which to all appearances seems like a coherent whole, was actually an accretion of parts over the years which skillful architects made to look like a single original vision. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This eight-story building was listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places in 2006 based upon its significance to the history of commerce and its architecture. It was built in 1923-24 to serve the American branch of the prominent British publishing house Macmillan Publishing Company. The American company hired the firm of Carrere & Hastings; Shreve Lamb & Blake to design their new headquarters building. Carrere & Hastings were nationally known for such major New York monuments as the New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, while Shreve Lamb & Harmon would design the Empire State Building. 60 Fifth Avenue combined streamlined Beaux-Arts detailing with steel-cage construction to help the commercial building fit into the residential precincts of lower Fifth Avenue, winning it an award from the Fifth Avenue Association. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 16-story, neo-Georgian-style apartment building was designed in 1928 by Thomas Lamb. Lamb was responsible for a number of New York City landmarks, in particular theaters. He was particularly adept in his employment of revival styles in his designs. Austere in its ornament, 49-51 Fifth Avenue features a cast stone base with common bond brick at the upper stories. Located at the corner of East 11th Street and Fifth Avenue, the main entrance is located on the Fifth Avenue façade. Here there are three doors, the center the largest and capped by broken scroll pediments. At the second story at either end of this façade are tripartite windows with temple-like surrounds. On either side of these windows are rondels. At the tops of the second story runs a cast stone band course which is repeated at the upper stories. Also at the top story is the temple-like surround at the tripartite windows at either end of the Fifth Avenue façade. The building is topped by a simple modillioned cornice. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This beautifully intact cast-iron structure which dates to 1880 was later owned by W. Jennings Demorest. Demorest perhaps more than any other figure transformed 14th Street in the late 19th century from a high-end residential to a commercial thoroughfare. In 1891 this structure was extended through block with the construction of a connecting structure at 5 East 13th Street. 10 East 14th Street was originally occupied by a mid-19th century home leased to a linen goods merchant James McCutcheon. McCutcheon filed for alterations in July of 1879 with M.C. Merritt as his architect. The original alteration permit called for a one-story brick extension and a new cast-iron façade. However, during construction, the partially demolished mid-19th century row house collapsed. It was reported that the construction of the commercial structure continued as planned. While no new building permit was filed it was essentially built as a new build rather than as an alteration.

Four bays in width, the cast-iron façade at the upper stories features large rectilinear windows with rounded corners and eclectic ornament. Separating the windows are engaged columns with capitals that have scrolls and ties. Between the second and third floors and the third and fourth floors are cornices with repetitive ornamental detail. The piers at either side of the façade have incised ornament and the prominent cornice at the top of the facade has delicate repetitive ornament and is bookended by large brackets. The top story, which is set back from the façade, was added in the early 2000s. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This loft building was built in 1889 and designed by Albert D'Oench (architect of the Germania Life Insurance Co. Building and several other NYC landmarks) & Bernhard Simon for Mary Springler Van Beuren. She was one of the last survivors of the Spingler-Van Beuren clan, one of the earliest developers of property on 14th Street. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This loft building was constructed in 1892 and designed by Brunner & Tryon, architects of the nearby landmarked 144 West 14th Street. Brunner was one of America’s earliest and most prominent Jewish American architects, who also designed the landmarked Congregation Shearith Israel Synagogue on the Upper West Side (the oldest Jewish congregation in North America) and the Asser Levy Public Baths on East 23rd Street, as well as co-founding the Architectural League of New York. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This cast-iron structure was built in 1880-81 for James McCreery (see McCreery’s Dry Goods Store at 801 Broadway) and designed by the firm of D & J Jardine, one of the more prominent architectural firms of late 19th century New York. The cast iron for the structure was manufactured by the West Side Architectural Iron Works and features a richly ornamented façade with large expansive windows. It was designated an individual New York City landmark in 2008 and according to the designation report it is “one of the Jardines’ and one of the city’s most inventive, unusual, and ornamental.” The façade is designed as a rich amalgam of ornamental styles, including neo-Classical, neo-Grec and Queen Anne. Decorative details include central and end fluted pilasters, sunflowers, stylized foliation and composite capitals. At the top is a cornice with panels ornamented with swags at the architrave between modillions.

This through-block building has its alternate façade fronting East 13th Street. Here is a more austere façade with a cast iron first story and upper stories of brick and stone. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This stunning cast-iron building was constructed in 1881 and designed by William Wheeler Smith for Joseph Little of 4 Van Nest Place. Smith had recently made his mark on Fourteenth Street with his design for the (still-extant) cast-iron building at 40-42 West 14th Street. Known as an architect who embraced the latest technologies in his designs, Smith employed many details that made this building cutting-edge at the time. The building’s façade maximizes the width of its single-bay windows at the second, third, and fourth floors on this 25-foot wide structure. Those floors have polygonal recessed multi-light bays. Decorative foliate elements are seen at the piers at floors two through four and on either side of the bays at floors three and four. At the top floor, there is fluting at the simple cartouche with foliate garland surrounding and hanging off of it. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This striking 7-story store and loft Beaux Arts Belle Époque structure was built in 1892-93 for the photographic materials company G. Gennert and designed by De Lemos & Cordes. Just shy of 50 feet wide, this mid-block building is nonetheless an exuberant example of the Beaux Arts style. Its façade is clad in a combination of stone, brick, terra cotta and cast iron, with the grandest section at the first and second floors, which housed Gennert. The upper floors were intended for commercial and manufacturing tenants. Two side entries are capped by oval windows with projecting balustrade balconies above. At the center, entry is polished granite columns with Ionic capitals. Above the center entry are three large segmentally arched windows separated by columns with Ionic capitals. The upper stories are more austere, clad in light buff brick. The side windows have flat arches on the third and fourth floors and segmentally arched windows on the fifth floor, all with radiating voussoirs above. Three double windows are at the center of the third, fourth, and fifth floors with blind balustrades at the spandrels in between the levels. The top story assumes some of the first two floors' exuberance; the outer windows’ enframements project over balustrade balconies. A large modillioned cornice caps the façade with an ornate frieze. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

15 East 12th Street a four-story Neo-Grec style 1873 structure designed by Thomas O’ Connor for John McIntyre. Four stories in height and three bays wide, it is clad in running bond brick. The windows have footed sills and lintels with incised ornament. The center window on the second floor is paired and the lintel features egg and dart molding and an unusual keystone-like piece at the center. The façade is surmounted by a modillioned cornice with brackets and a small broken pediment with “1873” at its center. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

8 East 12th Street was constructed in 1907 by owner Middleboro and Master Builders Realty and Construction Co. and designed by Samuel Sass of Sass & Smallheiser. This single bay loft building is twelve stories in height with its first two stories clad in cast iron. Above the centered storefront between the entries is a bracketed pediment with cartouches within and above the pediment. Floors four through ten have cast-iron spandrels. A relatively simple cornice surmounts the façade. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

10-14 East 12th Street was constructed in 1907 by owner Middleboro and Master Builders Realty and Construction Co. and designed by Samuel Sass of Sass & Smallheiser. Three-bays wide and twelve stories in height, it features a two-story cast iron base with pediments over each of its two entries with cartouches at their centers. Brick piers span floors through nine and are capped by keystones and segmental arches which crown the three bays. The cornice above floor nine has unusual scrolled brackets at the top of each pier. Another cornice is above floor ten with paired brackets at each pier. There are fluted pilasters at the piers at the top two floors and the metal cornice at the top of the façade features paired brackets at the piers as well and modillions between. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This nine-story buff brick and stone loft building was constructed in 1904 and designed by Sass & Smallheiser for the Middleboro Realty Company. The two-story stone base has two identical entries with segmental archways topped by open pediments and scrolled cartouches. At the brackets beneath the pediments are wreathes, elements which are repeated above the second floor at the bold scrolled brackets which mark the four piers of the upper floors. Those piers delineate the symmetrical arrangement of the upper floors with single window outer bays and three window bays at the center. Above the seventh floor is a metal cornice that features alternating triglyphs and rondels at the frieze. At the top of the piers on the seventh floor, the wreath motif is repeated below the capitals of the piers. Between the eighth and ninth floors, there are decorative metal spandrels and the façade is topped by a robust metal modillioned cornice with dentil ornament. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 6-story, art deco/art moderne style apartment building of 1940 was designed by the prolific New York art deco architect H.I. Feldman. Feldman was particularly active in designing the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, where several of his buildings have been landmarked. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Located at the corner of University Place, this 12 story brick and stone apartment building was designed by Sugarman and Berger in 1929. The firm also designed the New Yorker Hotel near Penn Station, once New York’s largest hotel, and several landmarked apartment buildings on the Upper West Side, in Gramercy Park, and in Greenwich Village, including One-Fifth Avenue, as well as several other buildings in the area south of Union Square. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This stately ten-story brick and stone neo-Classical style building with stone cladding was built in 1899. It was designed by William C. Hazlett, a member of the Architectural League of New York. Located prominently at the corner of East 12th Street, both of its street-front facades are essentially tripartite in their arrangements. There is a heavily rusticated two-story base with segmentally arched openings at the first level. The third story acts as a transition between the base and the shaft with alternating rows of recessed stone. At the upper stories are quoins and large arches which span floors four through nine surrounded by the same decorative motif seen at the quoins. The large arches -- one on University Place and three on East 12th Street -- all feature prominent foliated keystones. At the cornice is dentil molding and modillions. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This Beaux Arts-style loft building was constructed in 1906 for Middleboro Realty Co. by Samuel Sass. The L-shaped building has an additional street front on East 12th Street. The eleven-story building is two bays wide and features many classical elements. Clad in a combination of buff brick and cast stone, the twin entries at the first floor have surrounds with engaged columns with Ionic capitals set on plinths and supporting entablatures capped by pediments. The rusticated piers at the second and third floors are surmounted by a wide pediment with a shield at the center. Segmental arches top the two bays of floors four through nine with tripartite windows. Caryatids support the modillioned cornice atop the ninth floor. The top two floors feature decorative brickwork and pediments above each bay. A large projecting cornice surmounts the façade with three heavily ornamented brackets above each pier. The East 12th Street façade is considerably more austere in its ornament. It features rusticated buff brick piers which are capped by two large segmental arches, and the top floor has six round arch windows. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This five-story, the three-bay structure was originally built c. 1842 as a single-family row house. It is clad in red brick with cast stone profiled lintels. The two-story projecting storefront with a stepped parapet was added during the 1920s. The grand bracketed cornice features a raised center section surmounted by a pediment with a sunburst. The building is perhaps most architecturally noteworthy for its richly decorated cornice, which was added in the late 19th century. Elaborate brackets support this pediment which is on either side of the frieze, and bears the name of a former owner business, “E. Mittelstaedt, Established 1867.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This Romanesque Revival-style building was built in 1894 as a warehouse and designed by Louis Korn for Leopold R. True. True built throughout SoHo and NoHo, including 7 Great Jones Street in the NoHo Historic District, with Korn. 84 University Place is an interesting combination of gray brick, stone, terra cotta, and cast iron infill. The base is two stories in height with piers with alternating smooth stone blocks and quarry-cut stone courses. At the top of this base is a cornice with a succession of small round arches at the frieze. Floors three through five feature spandrels with swag ornament. The fifth-floor windows are topped by round keystone arches. The top floor repeats the same windows and the façade is surmounted by a modillioned cornice and the swag ornament is repeated at the frieze. Like many of the loft buildings in the area, it is distinguished by large windows constructed to let light and air into what were once factories and storage spaces, surrounded by strongly solid and lushly decorated masonry and stonework. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The former Albert Hotel located at 23 East 10th Street/44-52 East 11th Street/61-77 University Place is a State and National Register-listed property of enormous historic and architectural significance. Today it is a co-op complex comprised of four distinct structures functioning as a single entity and occupying the entire block front of University Place between East 10th Street and East 11th Street.

The oldest part of this complex was built as the Hotel St. Stephen in 1875-76. This section, now 50 East 11th Street just east of University Place, resulted from combining and altering three older row houses on the site by architect James Irving Howard for builder Albert Rosenbaum, so the building’s bones (so to speak) date back even earlier to the early 19th century. In a 1920s renovation, the building gained the simplified facade we see today. The next part of the complex to be built was directly west of the St. Stephen. Also commissioned by Rosenbaum, it was the first section of today’s complex to use the Albert name (Rosenbaum’s given name), located on the southeast corner of University Place and East 11th Street. Built in 1881-82 as a high-end apartment house or “French Flats,” and called the Albert Apartment House, it was one of the earliest examples in New York of the then-novel concept of apartment house design for middle- or upper-class residents. It was designed by the great architect Henry Hardenbergh, architect of perhaps the most famous and beloved of all of New York’s early apartment houses, Central Park West’s the Dakota (1880-84), as well as other great New York City landmarks such as the Schermerhorn Building located just a few blocks away on Lafayette Street, and the Plaza Hotel. In 1887, the Albert Apartments was converted to a hotel and rechristened the Hotel Albert. Just a few years later in 1895, the Hotel Albert absorbed the neighboring St. Stephen, thus beginning Albert’s outward sprawl. The next part of this complex to be built was a 12-story extension on University Place, built in 1903-04 and designed by the firm of Buchman & Fox. Beaux-Arts in style is clad in a combination of stone and red brick. As is typical of the style, it features many classical elements including a rusticated two-story base, scrolled brackets beneath balustrade balconies, and quoins and pediments at some of the windows. The Mansard roof has three segmentally arched dormers. The final section of the Hotel Albert to be built was the 6-story neo-colonial style building located on the northeast corner of University Place and East 10th Street. It was built in 1922-24 and designed by William L. Bottomly and the firm of Sugarman & Hess. It too features a rusticated stone base with red brick on the upper floors. The pedimented entry is on the East 10th Street façade and the prominent, albeit simple cornice is between the fifth and sixth floors. On the sixth floor on this façade, there are shields between some of the windows. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

“Devonshire House” is a 13-story residential building designed in 1928 by Emory Roth. Roth was the designer of many of the great pre-war apartment buildings in New York, including the landmarked El Dorado, Beresford, Normandy, Ardsley, and Oliver Cromwell apartments on the Upper West Side, the St. Moritz and the Ritz in Midtown, and 888 Grand Concourse, as well as the nearby 1 University Place and 59 West 12th Street. Simple in its form and clad in red Flemish bond brick, this large corner building features an interesting mix of classical and eclectic ornamental detail at its lower stories and top two stories. On the first floor, polychromatic irregular stone blocks are interwoven with the red brick around the outermost windows at the second story of both facades. The first story is capped by dentil molding. The surround at the residential entry on the East 10th Street façade also utilizes polychromatic stone with a segmental-arched doorway. Above the entry is a fanciful stone surround with engaged Ionic colonnettes supporting an entablature capped by a broken segmental arch pediment. Incised at the top of the entablature is the Latin term, “cavendo tutus,” which translates “safe by taking heed.” The windows at the ends of each façade have stone enframements, with particularly elaborate ones on the second and third floors. On the two top floors, two sets of windows per façade have elaborate surrounds that span those top two floors and feature Churriguerresque-inspired columns and arches. At the roofline, a tiled roof-like projection runs below the crenelated parapet. Near the corner of the building at the roof is the very visible water tower surround, which also has a crenelated parapet and a quatrefoil-shaped opening at each visible face. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Known as the Beauclaire, 40-56 University Place is a 12-story residential building with Neo-Romanesque and Byzantine style details and commercial uses on the ground floor. It was designed in 1926 by Sugarman and Berger, also the architects of the nearby 21 East 10th Street/60 University Place and the New Yorker Hotel near Penn Station, once New York’s largest hotel. The firm was also responsible for several landmarked apartment buildings on the Upper West Side, in Gramercy Park, and in Greenwich Village, including One-Fifth Avenue. No. 40-56 University Place features highly elaborate polychrome terra cotta and cast stone façade detailing which remains virtually entirely intact. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This nine-story richly Romanesque Revival style brick building was constructed in 1896 by owner and architect Albert Wagner with stores, lofts and a factory. Albert Wagner was a very active architect in New York responsible for many buildings in the 1880s-90s, most notably the Puck Building at Lafayette and Houston Streets, an individual New York City landmark. The building stretches through the block occupying the addresses 35 East 12th Street (formerly No. 37) and 48-50 East 13th Street. The 12th Street façade is slender, 28 feet wide compared to the 40.9-foot façade along 13th Street. Both facades have a tripartite arrangement of the base, shaft, and crown. They each feature a two-story rusticated base, a four-story shaft with wide expanses of windows, and piers with Corinthian capitals surmounted by a modillioned cornice. The three-story crown features round arch windows at the top two floors. There are also terra cotta insets featured on both facades, however, the detailing on each façade is individualized. Today the building houses storefronts and loft apartments. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This brick building with a cast-iron front was built in 1873 and was originally four stories in height. Designed by William Field and Son and built for John A. Hadden, it is seven bays wide and features an eclectic ensemble of decorative motifs. The storefront has clerstory-like windows above the storefront, with square pilasters flanking the storefront level and on either side of the center bay. The upper stories have simple square engaged columns between the windows and cornices between the floors. The columns have simple capitals. In 2008, the three upper stories were added. This addition was designed by Philip Wu of io architects and is clad in glass with glass columns that follow the rhythm of the fenestration below. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This Beaux Arts style, 8-story loft building was constructed ca. 1900 for Henri Miller by Henri Fouchaux, architect of many landmarked buildings in New York City located in Tribeca, Ladies Mile, the Upper West Side, Sugar Hill, and the Jumel Terrace Historic District. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This exceptionally vividly detailed and intact 8-story loft building was designed in 1896 by Cleverdon and Putzel for Louis Cohen. The building features extraordinarily elaborately designed ironwork over the first two stories topped by a 3-story high Corinthian column dividing the façade. Cleverdon & Putzel designed many landmarked buildings in Harlem, the Upper West Side, and NoHo, as well as similarly ornately embellished buildings in the area South of Union Square. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

These two Romanesque Revival 8-story loft buildings were constructed in 1893 and 1895 by Cleverdon & Putzel for Phillip Braender and Louis Cohen. Like their neighbor to their west at No. 37, these buildings feature richly elaborate detailing on their facades, creating a stunning streetscape composition. No. 39-41 has an especially elaborate ornamented cast iron base. It is three bays wide on the second floor with a bracketed cornice atop that floor. The upper floors are clad in buff brick and cast stone, and the third and fourth floors are recessed slightly and fronted by two engaged Ionic columns between the bays. The upper three stories cap off the design with three full-height Romanesque arches which span the height of these upper three floors and encompass the three bays.

No. 43-45 also features a richly detailed cast iron base, albeit more austere than its neighbor to its west. The windows of the six-bay-wide rusticated third story have flat arches with radiating voussoirs. Three large Romanesque arches span the height of the fourth, fifth and sixth floors and surround two bays each. The top floor also features Romanesque arches over each of its six windows. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Originally housing Grammar School 47, this structure was built in 1855 by the Board of Education of the City of New York. It was designed by Thomas R. Jackson in the Anglo-Italianate style. Four stories in height and symmetrical in its composition, it features two two-bay flanking pedimented pavilions which project out slightly from the three-bay center section. At the rusticated brownstone base are a few arched openings and a centered entry portico with paired Corinthian columns supporting an entablature. The upper stories are clad in red brick and the center windows have a tripartite configuration. All of the windows are enframed in brownstone and the windows at the center section at the second and third floors alternate triangle and segmental arch pediments. A bracketed cornice runs the entire roofline. It was designated an individual New York City landmark in 1998. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

36 East 12th Street is a 7-story neo-classical/Romanesque style loft building constructed in 1894 for German-born real estate developer and tire manufacturer Philip Braender by Cleverdon & Putzel. Like the many other Cleverdon & Putzel designs in the area, it features unusually robust decorative elements on the façade, including richly detailed cast iron work on the first two floors and elaborate brick and stonework above. Six bays wide, there are rusticated piers at either end of the façade at the third and fourth floors. A the fifth and sixth floors, Ionic engaged columns span the heights of those floors and there are round arched windows at the top floor. The cornice is missing. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Constructed in 1899, this 8-story loft building was built for German-born real estate developer and tire manufacturer Philip Braender. It was designed by Frederick C. Browne, architect of several landmarked buildings on the Upper West Side and in Madison Square North, including the Croisic Building at 220 Fifth Avenue. The polygonal cast iron bays are recessed and bracketed and modillioned cornices are featured above the first, third, and sixth stories. Additionally, there is foliated ornament at the piers on the sixth and top floors. A simple cornice surmounts the façade. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

42 East 12th Street is an elaborately detailed 7-story Romanesque Revival loft building constructed in 1894 and designed by Cleverdon & Putzel. Tripartite in its arrangement, the façade is clad in buff brick and stone with cast iron infill at the bays. Foliate ornament is featured heavily throughout the design and at the top story are simple columns supporting spring arches. The cornice also features spring arches and decorative panels at the frieze. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 10-story Beaux Arts-style loft building was designed in 1903 for prominent turn-of-the-last century builder Jeremiah C. Lyons and designed by Buchman & Fox. This architectural firm was responsible for several landmarked residential and commercial buildings on the Upper West Side, in Ladies Mile, and in Midtown. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 10-story Beaux Arts-style loft building was designed in 1903 for prominent turn-of-the-last century builder Jeremiah C. Lyons and designed by Buchman & Fox. This architectural firm was responsible for several landmarked residential and commercial buildings on the Upper West Side, in Ladies Mile, and in Midtown. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This seven-story highly intact Renaissance Revival-style building was constructed in 1895 and designed by Louis Korn. Like many of its neighbors, it is noteworthy for its lacy decorative ironwork on the lower levels and robust stone architecture with intricate detailing above and behind it, making the building appear at once both light and monumentally solid. Four bays wide, it is clad in a combination of light gray brick, terra cotta, and cast stone. The piers take on different ornamentation at the different sections. The first floor has piers with alternating projecting blocks supporting a simple entablature. At the second level, brick piers with capitals featuring egg and dart molding support a more robust entablature than seen below with rondelles at the frieze and the egg and dart molding repeated at the cornice. Floors three through five have arches that span the height of these floors with round arches at the outer bays, segmental arches at the inner bays, and decorative terra cotta spandrels between the levels. The top two floors repeat this arrangement with fluted cast stone piers instead of piers with alternating brick and stone seen below. A modillioned cornice surmounts the façade with swag ornament at the frieze. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Louis Korn’s 1897 striking design for No. 64-66 East 11th Street combines neo-Renaissance and neo-Romanesque styles. Eight stories in height and four bays wide, it has a heavy pier at the center running the length of its façade. Lacy arabesques feature heavily on the first two floors starting with the unusual capitals at the piers on the first floor. On the second floor, the windows are grouped pairs by robust frames with delicate ornament. Between each pair of windows is a spiral column. At the third story, engaged fluted columns between the windows support an entablature with triglyphs and guttae. Stories four through seven feature spiral colonnettes that span the height of this section and support a bracketed cornice. Round-arched windows are on the seventh floor. Eight small arched windows span the top floor and a relatively austere modillioned cornice is at the top. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 8-story neo-classical style loft building was constructed in 1894 by William Schickel & Co. for Samuel Sachs. The German-born Schickel was the architect of other landmarks including the German Library and Dispensary at 135-37 Second Avenue and the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola at 980 Park Avenue, as well as the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, N.J., one of the largest Gothic Cathedrals in the United States. Sachs, a successful fur manufacturer, and importer, also developed the nearby 43-47 East 10th Street. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This distinctive structure is notable as an early surviving example of the French Flat or middle-class apartment building in New York City, for its unusual combination of architectural styles, and for its design by one of New York’s most prominent and esteemed architects of the time, who had a significant impact upon the immediate vicinity with other works, including the National Historic Landmark Grace Church. 39-41 East 10th Street was built in 1887, a time when apartment buildings were just beginning to be introduced in New York as an acceptable form of living for middle or upper-class residents. It is one of the earliest extant French Flats or middle-class apartment buildings in the area and in New York City. Built when this area was still a prestigious residential address but beginning to transform into a commercial center, the Lancaster was clearly an attempt to attract a more sophisticated resident of means, as many who preferred a neighborhood of private homes were increasingly shunning the area. To create this kind of appeal, the firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Russell was chosen. The firm’s roots in the area were deep; not only had Renwick made a name for himself decades earlier with his design of Grace Church just down the block, but the Renwick family (which included Renwick’s partner William Russell) were relatives of the landholding Brevoorts. In fact, the Renwicks owned and developed this property, replacing a house that had previously occupied the spot. The façade combines elements from two then-emerging styles in residential architecture, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival. At the centered entryway is a large Federal-style fanlight at the transom surrounded by a decorative terra cotta arch. Above the entry is the name “The Lancaster” incised into the brick, and at either side of the entry and also incised into the brick are the numbers “39” to the left and “41” to the right. Still a residence today, the building’s architectural elements and its exterior ironwork remain remarkably intact to the original period of construction more than one hundred thirty years ago. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Commissioned by fur manufacturers and importers Louis and Samuel Sachs, 43-47 East 10th Street was designed by Richard Berger in 1891. Berger was a distinguished architect of cast-iron fronted structures, many of whose works can be found in the SoHo Cast-Iron Historic District. On January 31, 1891, the Real Estate Record and Builders’ Guide reported that “After May 1st next L. Sachs & Brother will improve their property at Nos. 43, 45, and 47 East 10th Street. Richard Berger has plans on the boards for two six-story and basement brick, stone, iron, and terra cotta store buildings…These buildings will be finished in hardwood throughout and complete in all appointments, elevators, steam heat, and electric lights, and other improvements being provided.” It was completed in a year and the concept of two separate buildings was not employed. Instead, the Romanesque Revival structure featured two stores at the first level and lofts on the upper floors. The use of a cast-iron frame allowed for three-wide five-story arches with large expanses of glass allowing sunlight to flood the interiors for the future factories which would occupy it. Today, 28 East 14th Street is a nine-unit rental building. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 20-story structure was constructed in 1927 and occupies the southwest corner of the intersection of Broadway and East 14th Street. It was designed by Emery Roth as a commercial/office building for the Broadway and Fourteenth Development Corporation, which was owned by the Roosevelt family. The building is a rarity for the renowned architect, most strongly associated with many of New York’s classic inter-war apartment buildings he designed, including Central Park West’s San Remo and Berseford apartments, Riverside Drive’s Normandy Apartments, and the nearby 59 West 12th Street and One University Place. It is one of Roth’s few commercial office buildings, and one of his few designs in a more or less purely Art Deco style without an overlay of classicizing details. At both the East 14th Street façade and the Broadway façade, the windows are paired between piers, and the facades are clad in buff brick. The upper stories are stepped as was typical of buildings of this era in response to the 1916 Zoning Law requirements. The lower five stories have been modernized with a glass curtain wall treatment. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Known as the Roosevelt building, 841 Broadway was built in 1893 on land that once was the property and home of Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt. It was designed by Stephen Hatch and owned by a corporation formed by Roosevelt’s heirs. The Romanesque Revival building features jutting bay windows supported by ornamental brackets, intricate terra-cotta details in the foreground, and projecting rectangular and curving piers clad in Roman brick. Tripartite in its configuration, this steel-frame structure features a two-story rusticated base, and at the shaft, segmental arches top the four-story piers. Faces feature prominently in the ornament throughout. The top two stories follow the fenestration of the stories below. At the corner is a brick column crowned with a copper cupola. In 2019, this building was designated an individual New York City landmark. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This highly intact 12-story Renaissance Revival style commercial building was designed by German-born noted architect Robert Maynicke (1848-1913) for Henry Corn in 1899-1901. Maynicke took night courses at the Cooper Union (also a New York City Landmark). He supervised the construction of the New York Times (1888-89), Equitable (1886-89), World/Pulitzer (1889-90), Union Trust (1889- 90), and Havemeyer (1891-93) Buildings, as well as the New York Produce (1881-84) and New York Cotton (1883-85) Exchanges. Further south on Broadway and Waverly Place, Maynicke was also responsible for the Guggenheimer Building. Maynicke was an expert on the structural properties of iron and steel and, consequently, tall buildings. Located on a corner lot at East 13th Street, it has a chamfered corner and its façade is organized into three parts. The upper stories have elaborate terra-cotta details that draw from Greek, Roman, Renaissance, and Baroque sources. Such features include wreaths, garlands, margents, fasces, rosettes, banded arches with keystones, and banded Ionic columns with fluting. The structural framing was fabricated by the Hecla Ironworks, possibly at their North 11th Street Williamsburg factory (itself a New York City landmark). A prominent reminder of Broadway’s turn-of-the-20th century development below Union Square, the entry at the corner façade has a limestone surround which is framed by a bead molding and topped by a molded lintel decorated with an anthemion. The three-story base has a pink granite plinthe which is molded at the top. Above that, the base is clad in limestone and the door surrounds on the first floor were inspired by ancient Greek architecture. Possibly modeled on the door in the north porch of the Erectheum (421-06 BCE), on the Acropolis in Athens, the Broadway entrance is the most ornate. The upper stories are clad in light gray brick with matching terra cotta ornament. The top two stories have round keystone arches above each bay with terra cotta spandrels with framed organic reliefs, each of which has a large rosette at the center. The cornice is not original to the structure and features egg and dart molding and dentil molding. In 2019, this building was designated an individual New York City landmark. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Permits were filed in March of 1878 for this cast iron, five-story Neo-Grec style store and loft building. It was built for Peter and Robert Goelet; no architect was identified, but the builders were Marc Eidlitz and M. Magrath. Its piers and accompanying ornament are quite slender and attenuated in order to accommodate this four bay façade on a lot only 23 feet wide at the front. Ornament includes columnettes between the recessed windows and a combination of fluting and raised panels at the piers at the top and bottom stories. There is sharp, incised ornament at the piers at the three middle stories. Above the fourth story is a modillioned cornice and raised panels are featured above the windows at the fifth story. The original cornice has been removed. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

836 Broadway was built on the site of James J. and Cornelia Roosevelt’s town home. James, a well-respected judge and Congressman, was also the great-uncle of President Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. Following the deaths of James and Cornelia in 1875 and 1876 respectively, their estate had the town home demolished. The estate applied for a new building permit in 1876 for a six-story brick store and loft building to be designed by Stephen Decatur Hatch, responding to the changing nature of this part of Broadway, which had been residential, but by 1876 was becoming commercial.

Stephen Decatur Hatch (1839-1894) was a prominent New York City architect and started as a draftsman for the architectural office of John B. Snook, known for designing iron front buildings. In 1864 Hatch started his own firm and became an architect of the United States War Department. His design for 836 Broadway took full advantage of the lot which L’s around to a frontage on East 13th Street. Both facades are clad in ornamented cast-iron, with the East 13th Street facade less ornate than the Broadway one, but both featuring mansard roofs. Elements of the Neo-Grec, Second Empire, and Renaissance Revival styles are employed in the design. In 2019, this building was designated an individual New York City landmark. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

827-831 Broadway were built as twin loft buildings in 1866 and designed by Griffith Thomas in the Italianate style with neo-Grec elements. Built as a speculative investment for tobacco heir Pierre Lorillard III, their facades are clad in marble with cast iron elements. Such “marble palaces” first came into vogue with the construction and subsequent commercial success of the A.T. Stewart Store at 280 Broadway, built in 1845-46 and designed by Joseph Trench and John B. Snook (the store later moved nearby to East 9th Street between Broadway and University Place). Thomas was responsible for numerous “marble palaces” in New York City during the 19th century, and was also a prolific designer utilizing cast iron. This building represents Thomas’ transition from marble with cast iron elements to all cast iron structures.

Both of the buildings are four stories in height and four bays wide, with rusticated cast-iron piers on either end of the combined facades and one at the center shared party wall. The large recessed windows with curved corners are separated by engaged Tuscan columns with projecting geometric elements at the capitals. At the top of each facade is a cornice with foliated brackets capped by a centered pediment and three large urns stand on top of the pediment above each of the three piers. The Art Nouveau storefronts were added in the 1980s by an antiques dealer who occupied the stores at the time. In 2017, 827-831 Broadway was designated an individual New York City landmark. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

47 East 12th Street was built in 1866 and designed by Griffith Thomas. It was built with and connects to 827-831 Broadway at the rears of the buildings. Somewhat more austere than the Broadway buildings, it is four stories in height and three bays wide, utilizing a mix of masonry and cast iron elements. The rectilinear window openings have curved corners and are separated by pilasters with decorative capitals. At the second and third floors are cast iron rusticated piers at either side of the façade. The modillioned cornice features large projecting brackets at either end. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Eleven stories in height, 830 Broadway was built in 1897 and designed by Cleverdon & Putzel in the Renaissance Revival style. The striking classical tripartite façade has deeply set fenestration with a six-story center section of light tan brick and flush brick lintels as well as terra cotta keystones, arcaded corbel tables, and molded stringcourses supported by a heavily ornamented three-story base of brick, terra cotta, and stone. Lush swag ornament is seen at the spandrels and the entire façade is crowned by a lavishly ornamented top two floors and cornice. In 2019, this building was designated an individual New York City landmark. The impressive and intricately-detailed ten-story Renaissance Revival structure at 832-834 Broadway was designed in 1896 by Ralph S. Townsend for the Commercial Realty and Improvement Company. The loft building is clad in limestone, brick and terra-cotta ornament with a cast iron storefront. Its façade is symmetrically arranged and in a tripartite arrangement. The three-story rusticated limestone base has a cast iron storefront at the central bay. The five story central shaft is subdivided into two sections and the windows are grouped in a monumental arcade and at the outer bays are terra cotta Greek key fretted Gibbs surrounds. The two story crown has central paired windows and outer single windows with egg and dart molding and there are laurel wreaths between the windows. A large metal projecting cornice surmounts the façade with dentils, egg and dart molding, foliated brackets, rosettes and lion head caps. In 2019, this building was designated an individual New York City landmark. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

821 Broadway is an eleven-story brick and stone loft building constructed in 1906 by Samuel Sass for Richman Realty & Construction Company. Sited at the corner of East 12th Street, it is rounded at the corner, clad in brick, and makes a strong architectural statement at this prominent intersection of Broadway and East 12th Street. There is a two story cast iron base and at the third and fourth floors are columnettes with composite capitals which flank the bays. On the Broadway façade and the East 12th Street façade are round Romanesque arches at the ninth floor which encompass the bays which are in a tripartite arrangement, and at the top of the piers are Corinthian capitals. At the top floor are windows topped by spring arches. A simple cornice surmounts the facades and wraps the corner on this odd shaped lot with three sub-cornices below. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Built-in 1895-98 in the Renaissance Revival style, this 14-story structure was designed by the prominent architect George B. Post at the southwest corner of East 12th Street and Broadway. It was commissioned by William Weld, a Boston-based real estate developer, and was initially occupied by Meyer Jonasson & Company, then known as “the world’s largest manufacturer of ladies garments.” George B. Post (1837-1913) studied as a Civil Engineer at New York University. He then studied with Richard Morris Hunt, and would go onto play an important role in the early development of sky-scraper design. A pioneer in the use of decorative terra cotta, during the 1880s and 1890s he designed a number of prominent commercial structures throughout New York City. Historian Sarah Landau described the 1890s as his peak years during which he served as president of the Architectural League of New York, the American Institute of Architects, and the National Arts Club. This fireproof structure features a steel skeletal frame clad in a combination of limestone, tan Roman brick, and terracotta. Like many buildings from this period, the exterior is tripartite in its arrangement with a four-story stone base, seven-story shaft, and a three story crown. An interesting feature may be seen at the seven story shaft which features triangle piers which are capped at the top by arched windows. In 2019, 817 Broadway was designated an individual New York City landmark. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Although 814 Broadway appears similar to its neighbor at No. 812, it is in fact a masonry structure (not cast iron) and it was built about 15 years earlier, in 1854. Five stories in height, the second floor has four bays and the upper floors three, all with segmentally arched windows. At the second floor the windows are slightly recessed with Corinthian columnettes between. The upper stories have profiled segmental arched lintels. The center windows at the upper stories boast additional ornament at either side; atop their lintels and at the centers are anthemions. At the top of the façade is a bracketed cornice topped by an additional cornice similar to the one on its neighbor to the south at No. 812, with a broken round arched pediment. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. .https://bit.ly/southofunionsquare . .

812 Broadway was built in 1868-1870 and designed by Griffith Thomas who is also responsible for 827-831 Broadway, an individual New York City landmark. It was built to accommodate a store and office for Max Weill, according to the new building permit from 1868. Like Nos. 827-831, No. 812 is a cast iron and stone structure designed in the Italianate style. This five story, three bay building features Corinthian engaged columns between the windows and at the outer ends of the façade at each level. The recitilinear windows have rounded upper corners. The magnificent cornice has brackets and modillions and is surmounted by an arched broken pediment. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This nine story, single bay loft building (three bays at the upper stories) is clad with cast iron at the first two stories and at the infill at floors four through six. Though only nine stories tall, the building soars with verticality, making it stand out even among its architecturally distinguished neighbors. The large expanses of glass in the lower six stories was quite unusual for the time, and points towards developments in architecture a half century later. Designed in the Chateauesque style in 1907 by William Rouse and Sloan, the base of the building, encompassing the first two stories, has pilasters at the sides capped by scrolled brackets. There is most likely a cornice covered by modern materials at the top of the second story. There is modern infill at the storefront and at the second story a full width and height window with rounded corners at the top and tripartite in its arrangement. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors are united by a stone segmental arch that spans the four floors. The infill at these floors appears to be metal or cast iron with entablatures between the floors and the same tripartite arrangement in the windows seen at the second floor. The top two floors are clad entirely in stone and here the elements of the Chateauesque style are discernible. The steeply pitched roof is fronted by a gable and there are many vertical elements including spires and pinnacles. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This striking loft building, which runs the entire block from Broadway to Fourth Avenue behind Grace Church, was designed in 1887 by James Renwick and the partners in his successor firm — James Lawrence Aspinwall and William Hamilton Russell, Renwick’s grand-nephew. Though a utilitarian structure built to house offices, storage, and manufacturing, Renwick and partners designed it with vivid Gothic detail to serve as an appropriate backdrop to Grace Church, a New York City and National Historic Landmark. Aside from signage, the building is almost completely intact to its original design, from the gothic arches and tracery to the more robust, industrial Romanesque detailing of the Fourth Avenue façade. Both sides of the building maintain beautifully intact cast-iron storefronts, while the Broadway side boasts florid Art Nouveau-style ironwork over the doorway and entry. The harmony between this structure, built as a store and manufacturing building, and Grace Church, one of the most delicate and important Gothic Revival structures in the United States, is remarkable. In 1981 the building was converted to residences and renamed the Renwick in honor of its architect. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Built as the rectory for Grace Church, this Gothic Revival structure was built in 1846 and designed by James Renwick, Jr. who also designed the church. It was designated an individual New York City landmark in 1966, along with Grace Church and just a year after the passage of the New York City Landmarks Law. The designation report cited the rectory as “probably one of the finest Gothic Revival residences in Manhattan.” Clad in stone, it features corner buttresses with pinnacle, gables decorated with crockets and finials, and pointed arch window openings throughout. The entry is located within a projecting gable that is richly decorated and flanked by miniature buttresses capped by pinnacles.  Click here to send a letter supporting landmark desihttps://bit.ly/southofunionsquaregnation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Formerly the Brittany Apartment Hotel, this building is now NYU’s Brittany Hall dorms. It is a 15-story building designed in the Gothic Revival style by Victor Farrar in 1929. The building was consciously designed to harmonize with the historic Gothic Revival Grace Church across the street. Farrar was also the architect of the London Terrace Apartment complex in Chelsea as well as the trio of buildings at 200 West 15th and 161 and 201 West 16th Streets. While a 2013 renovation of the building by NYU needlessly stripped it of significant architectural detail, much remains which continues to give the high rise a distinctive Gothic flavor. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Built in 1895 and designed by Marsh, Israels & Harder, this seven-story warehouse structure was owned and built by George W. Levy. It was originally known as the Hancock building, but arguably its most noteworthy tenant was Hammacher Schlemmer, New York City’s first hardware store and publisher of the country’s longest running catalog, first produced in 1881. This building occupies an odd plot of land which L’s around a single story structure at the southeast corner of East 13th Street and Fourth Avenue. It has an elaborate façade facing Fourth Avenue and a more modest one fronting East 13th Street. The Fourth Avenue façade features classical details that include composite half-columns stretching from the fourth to the sixth stories. The seventh story windows are encased with rounded, multi-layered arches. The bottom two stories are constructed with a different stone in the Beaux Arts style. The entrance is topped with a round window, surrounded with vegetal décor. The East 13th Street facade is also seven stories. The first story is set off against the brown brick by a white painted stone rusticated base. There are two entrance ways, both of which are round headed arches (a later alteration). The sixth and seventh stories are capped by prominent cornices. Balconies were added to this building’s multiple facades including at the inverted corner as part of its conversion to residential use. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This building, now known as the Petersfield, was constructed between 1905 and 1906 as speculative retail space with lofts on the upper floors. It was named for Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New York, on the site of the former Petersfield farm. Designed by architects Robertson & Potter, the multi-story business building features a structural steel frame and is clad in white brick with stone band courses at the spandrels between the windows. There is a bold entablature at the Fourth Avenue entry supported by scrolled brackets. Large symmetrical windows are featured throughout both facades of this corner building that provided natural light for the manufacturing work that once took place inside. The whole building has a sleek and geometrical design, and features Arts and Crafts style inlaid diamond tiles on the parapet. In 1987, the building was converted to residences on the upper floors by Richard S. Berry and F. Anthony Zunino. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 13-story loft building, constructed in 1919 by Starrett and Van Vleck for the International Tailoring Co., can be described as an essay in terra cotta and casement windows. Nearly all original detailing remains intact, including the “ITCo.” ornamental medallions above the ground floor. Starrett was a protégé of Daniel Burnham’s who, as part of the firm of Starrett & Van Vleck, designed many of New York’s early 20th century department stores, several of which are landmarked and/or on the National Register of Historic Places. Nearly the entire façade above the stone base is covered in off-white terra cotta panels, while the dramatic casement windows create a synchopated grid-like rhythm across both the Fourth Avenue and 12th Street facades. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This five story Italianate style cast-iron loft building was constructed in 1872 by the renowned architect Griffith Thomas for the Estate of Samuel J. Hunt. Thomas’ nearby 827-831 Broadway are individual NYC landmarks, and his work is well represented in designated historic districts in SoHo, NoHo, Tribeca, and Ladies Mile. Austere in its design, the structure exemplifies the elemental simplicity of much early cast iron architecture. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Built in 1936-37 by MIT-trained architect William Dewey Foster, the Cooper Station Post Office is an example of the Classical Revival/Art Moderne style popular during the Great Depression and common among Works Progress Administration-funded projects of the time. Foster was hired in 1934 by Louis A. Simon, the Supervising Architect of the Treasury during the execution of the Depression’s public works projects. During his eight years working for Simon, Foster designed five New York City post offices including this one, the Weather Bureau in Washington, D.C., and several State Department buildings in Washington, D.C.. Prior to the construction of this structure, eleven small tenement buildings were demolished. The center of the facade has an elegant two-story colonnade with seven limestone Doric columns, adding to the elegance that makes this one of Foster’s most sophisticated commissions. Fluted piers rise without bases to simple capped tops that hold an entablature with a curving frieze that reads: “United States Post Office.” Above this, the building showcases a shallow cornice and a roofline balustrade. The interior of the building follows the curving design of the exterior. The Cooper Station Post Office is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places, which notes the rarity of a corner building’s facade curving around the corner. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

38-58 East 10th Street, 41-43 University Place, and 33-45 East 9th Street are a set of 9-story neo-Renaissance style apartment buildings designed in 1924 and 1929 by Helme, Corbett & Harrison.

Harvey Wiley Corbett and Wallace K. Harrison were two of the most influential mid-century American architects, who combined the classicism of their training with the new emerging modernism to create some of the most memorable designs of the era. This complex, built early in their careers, shows the first hints of the influence of modernism on their designs; the buildings are classically detailed, but the layout of the buildings set back behind planted areas and the simplified geometric forms shows the influence of modernism.

Harrison is well known for his planning behind Rockefeller Center and the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Corbett may be most strongly associated with his “Metropolis of Tomorrow,” which came to define visions of life in the future in the 1920s, and which were rendered in charcoal by his collaborator, architectural renderer Hugh Ferriss. Ferriss actually lived at 33-45 East 9th Street, until his death in 1962. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Grace Church was built in 1846-47 by renowned architect James Renwick, Jr., who also designed such landmarks as St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The Episcopal church is noteworthy for several reasons, including being Renwick’s first major commission, establishing his reputation as one of the mid-19th century’s preeminent architects. Along with Wall Street’s Trinity Church, it was the first Gothic Revival structure in New York City, ushering in an era and style which dominated the city’s architecture for much of the next 30 years. Grace Church is also noteworthy for its exceptional siting. In 1847 when the church was completed, most New Yorkers lived south of here, and Broadway was the city’s most important artery. The church tower is located at the spot where Broadway bends from a north-south alignment that follows the Manhattan street grid to the diagonal the street follows from here northwest to the Upper West Side. So anyone looking up Broadway south of 11th Street, which nearly every New Yorker at this time would have done on a regular basis, would see Grace Church framing the terminus of that view. This made it one of the most visually prominent structures in the city for many decades. At 230 feet high, the church’s spire was also one of the tallest points on the early New York skyline at a time when the New York skyline was still dominated by church steeples. Much of the elegant beauty we see in Grace Church today was beyond the means of the original congregation. The spire was initially made of wood, not the sparkling Sing Sing marble of which the rest of the church was built (the marble spire was added in 1883, also to the designs of Renwick). Similarly, the ornate stained glass window over the altar was not added until more than 30 years after the church was completed.

No. 84 Fourth Avenue was constructed in 1951-52, at which time the adjacent No. 86 was renovated. The architect employed for this project was Moore and Hutchins, a New York City firm which specialized in academic architecture. No. 84 follows the style language of the No. 86 to the north, with which it jointly houses Grace Church School, but in a more simplified manner. Also clad in stone, it has groupings of slender rectilinear windows at each of the floors and a decorative parapet. Most observers would be shocked to discover that this building was not part of the original 19th century complex, as it so seamlessly integrates itself into the surrounding architecture which is a century older. This is especially unusual for architecture of the 1950s, and one of the most outstanding and successful examples of contextual, historicist architecture of the time.

This six-story structure at 86 Fourth Avenue was built in 1912 to the designs of the firm of Renwick, Aspinwall, and Tucker, the successor firm to James Renwick Jr.’s. It follows the style language of the rest of the Grace Church complex, employing elements of the Gothic Revival style in a more austere fashion. The building is clad in stone and has a large Tudor arch at its entry. A three-story oriel spans the second through the fourth floor with leaded glass at its second story windows. The building now houses Grace Church School, along with No. 84 Fourth Avenue.

Colette Douglas, 2014 Lifelong Villager Colette Douglas’ children attended the Grace Church School. Listen to Colette Douglas’ Oral History here.

James Polshek Greenwich Villager and architect James Stewart Polshek was involved in projects for Village landmarks such as the renovation of the Grace Church School. Listen to James Polshek’s Oral History here.

88 Fourth Avenue was erected in 1902 as the Choir School by the architectural firm of Heins and LaFarge, winners of the original competition for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It was constructed along with 90 and 92 Fourth Avenue. This four-and-a-half story building covered by a hipped roof is distinguished by the Gothic motives in the fenestration and its enframement. Also constructed in 1902, 90 Fourth Avenue was built as a one story Choir vestry. Behind this, the spire and rose window of Grace Church’s rear east wall are visible. 84, 86, 88 and 90 Fourth Avenue were included in the original designation of Grace Church as an individual NYC landmark in 1966, just a year after the passage of the New York City Landmarks Law. The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and designated a national historic landmark in 1977. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

92 Fourth Avenue was built for Grace Church as its clergy house in 1902. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style by the architectural firm of Heins & LaFarge, winners of the original competition for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. No. 92 Fourth Avenue was built in 1902 along with Nos. 88 and 90, forming a symmetrical grouping flanking the apse of Grace Church. Faced in marble, No. 92 features pointed arches, tracery at the windows, label moldings, and finals at the south gable. Grace Memorial House at 94-96 Fourth Avenue was built in 1882-1883 and designed by James Renwick, Jr. in the Gothic Revival style. It was designed to accord with the architecture of the rectory built nearly 30 years earlier. Faced in marble, it features pointed Gothic arched windows and tracery. The windows are capped by label moldings with trefoil railings above the bay windows. At the front gable there are crockets and a finial and a statue is set in a niche. The stone balcony above the entry features trefoils. 98 Fourth Avenue was built 1906-1907 and designed by Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style within the Tudor tradition. It has square-headed windows with stone mullions and label moldings above the windows. The entry is enframed with a Tudor arch and surmounted by a crenelated crown. At the slate pitched roof are two dormers with Gothic arch windows. These buildings were each designated individual New York City landmarks in 1977. As stated in the designation reports, they are “a part of the terminal vista obtained by looking west on 11th Street toward Fourth Avenue. In New York, few structures remain which provide such terminal features: Grand Central Station at the head of Park Avenue, the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue at the end of East 92nd Street, and the New York Public Library at the end of East 41st Street are among the most notable examples which come to mind.”

Beverly Moss Spatt, 2017 Beverly Moss Spatt, who served on the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) from 1974-1982 (as Chair from 1974-1978, the first woman to hold that position), oversaw the controversial designation of the Grace Church townhouses on Fourth Avenue during her tenure. Listen to Beverly Moss Spatt’s Oral History here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This six-story painted red brick building was constructed in 1889 and designed by architect Benjamin E. Lowe for Mrs. Ellen R. Randell. It is Romanesque Revival in style with Queen Anne elements. There is a cast iron storefront capped by a robust cornice. It is three bays wide at floors two through five with windows that feature brownstone lintels and sills. The brick piers that span floors two through five have brownstone bands and capitals. The top story has five windows with spring round arches. At the roofline there is a metal cornice with paired brackets and a segmental arched pediment with sunburst ornament. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Architects Knight & Collins designed this eleven-story building in 1906 for the American Felt Company, which was founded in Newburgh, New York in 1899 and manufactured felt for a variety of products including hats, piano strikers, and pool tables. As early as 1903, the American Felt Company also occupied the neighboring 110 East 13th Street, where they would remain even after constructing No. 114-118. The building is broken into three vertical compartments. In the central compartment, there are strings of six windows encased in a blue-hued stone set apart from the surrounding brown brick. Sets of two windows flank this section on both sides. There is little applied ornamentation and window cases are minimal. The stone two-story base features sheep’s heads above the second floor centered on the two outer bays, an homage to the animals which provided the raw material for felt production. The upper stories are clad in tan brick and the center bay is capped at the top stories by a pedimented temple front. The building was converted to condominiums in 1984, at which time the balconies were added to the building’s exposed east wall, preserving the integrity of the façade on Thirteenth Street. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Built in 1903-04 and designed by architects Jardine, Kent & Jardine, this unique structure is one of the last remaining buildings in New York City built for staging horse auctions. It was commissioned by Van Tassel & Kearney, who formed their partnership in 1873 or 1874 and previously had built offices and sales rooms on East 12th Street and 13th Streets. Originally the firm operated as general auctioneers, but after 1904 “high class” show horses and ponies dominated the sales and commissioned No. 128 to that purpose. Architects Jardine, Kent & Jardine who were selected for the design were also responsible for other horse-related structures in the city, including the American Horse Exchange (mostly demolished) and the 42nd Street Railroad stables (demolished). It was faced with brick and limestone, and featured a large center sales ring on the interior and a peaked roof behind the curved cornice with 1,350 square feet of skylights. The building was designed in the Beaux-Arts style, and the facade is dominated by the large, central, arched window adding to the monumentality of this three-story structure. Four bulls-eye windows with brick voussoirs flank the centered entry and the facade is crowned by a projecting limestone element which originally supported a flagpole. Following a six year campaign by Village Preservation, it was designated a New York City Landmark on May 15, 2012. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 5-story loft building with a later 1-story rooftop addition was constructed in 1888 by David and John Jardine for Van Tassel & Kearney. The rich red brick and terra cotta façade harmonizes handsomely with the landmarked former Van Tassel & Kearney Horse Auction Mart next door, which the Jardines, one of New York’s great architectural firms of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, also designed. Designed in a robust Romanesque Revival style, this four-bay structure features an elegant cast iron base with Ionic piers. The more textured upper floors are clad in red brick with paired windows at each bay. Stone string courses separate the second and third floors and Romanesque arches top each bay at the fourth floor. Between the third and fourth floors windows are florid terra cotta ornamental spandrels. At the fifth floor the paired windows are capped by individual Romanesque arches. Adding variety to the building’s profile, the center section of the parapet is raised. Modillion-like brick projections run under each of the metal cornices. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This four-story structure was built in 1863 for David Glass. It stands today as a remarkably intact pre-old law tenement. The building retains wood windows and cast-iron storefronts that typically do not survive in buildings of this type and age (especially considering its proximity to 14th Street and Union Square, where waves of development have taken place in the intervening years). The top three floors are clad in deep red brick and showcase plain sills, cap-molded lintels, and a simple bracketed cornice. The cast-iron ground floor is impressively intact as well. It has a center entrance, and a transomed double door framed with two molded pilasters with Corinthian capitals of cast iron. The sills and lintels of No. 143 are identical to the tenement next door at 141 East Thirteenth Street. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 7-story loft building was designed in 1905 by Renwick, Aspinwall, & Tucker for Ida S. Bruch. James L. Aspinwall was in charge of this commission as well as the landmarked American Express Building constructed in 1916. The firm is known for its many handsome Neo-Classical buildings all over the city built for the Provident Loan Society. James Renwick, perhaps the most famous of the three, designed St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Grace Church, and the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington D.C. He passed away in 1895, leaving Aspinwall as his successor to carry on the firm. The original owner of the building, Ida S. Bruch, was the daughter of William Schlemmer, co-owner of the hardware company Hammacher Schlemmer, located just down the block. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This four-story former school was constructed in 1870 by Napoleon LeBrun for St. Ann’s Church. LeBrun designed many landmarked New York City structures, including the Metropolitan Life Tower and nearly every firehouse commissioned by the FDNY in the late 19th century. While all of LeBrun’s section of the adjoining St. Ann’s Church facing 12th Street was demolished, the former school was converted to residences in 1978. 113 East 11th Street is clad in brick with some stone accents seen at the hooded windows and the small carved stone disc in the gable end which reads, “St. Ann’s Parochial School, 1870.” It is four stories in height and eight bays wide with saw-tooth brick band courses between the upper stories. Brick corbels line the pedimented roof line and tops of the outer bays. Still in evidence are the separate entrances for boys and girls at either end of the façade. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This East Village landmark was built in two parts, the main section to the west in 1886-87, and the annex to the east in 1892. Both were designed by Charles Rentz, Jr. Originally built as an assembly hall for Charles Goldstein, the Queen Anne style structure is clad in a combination of red Philadelphia pressed brick, brownstone trim, and ornamental unglazed red terra cotta. Webster Hall is considered a fairly early and important extant structure to employ exterior architectural terra cotta. The manufacturer of the terra cotta is believed to be either the Boston Terra Cotta Company or the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company, both leaders in the manufacture of this product in their day. At the top of the facade is a pressed metal cornice added in 1911. Originally there was a high, dormered mansard roof which was lost in a fire in 1930. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

These four, five-story Neo-Grec style tenements were constructed in 1881 and designed by Henry J. Dudley for Samuel Simmons. They are nearly entirely intact above the ground floor and clad in brownstone. The window enframents are of particular note and feature incised ornament, sawtooth detail and footed sills. The metal cornices delineate each of the four structures which otherwise present as a cohesive front, and feature paired brackets. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Sitting on three lots on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and East 12th Street, this 5-story brick and cast stone building combined two pre-law tenements located at 91 and 89 Third Avenue with a new building at 87 Third Avenue in 1902. The two tenements and their land were originally owned by A.C. Gale & Company, and owned by the trustees of the Hamilton Fish Estate by 1902, when they were leased to Trow’s Directory Printing and Book Binding Company. Designed by Ballantyne & Evans Architects, the building is classical in its form and ornament. At the first story there is an alternation of stone and brick cladding capped by a simple stone cornice. Part of an extensive restoration in 2014 along with 201-213 East 12th Street, there are stone quoins and stone keystoned lintels at the flat arched windows. A stone string course runs at the sill line of the top floor. The magnificently restored modillioned cornice features dentil molding.

The brick structure was built c. 1860 and the architect is unknown. In 2014 this building and its adjoining one at 87-91 Third Avenue were restored. When the current owners acquired the buildings in the late 70’s they were in a state of disrepair; areas of the roof and floors were missing and the cornices had fallen to the street. The renovation at that time combined the buildings, creating a commercial space at street level with apartments above, and increased the height of the building with an additional floor in the straightforward style of that era. No. 201-213 features round-arched windows with detailed brickwork hooded lintels at the first and second floors. The third through fifth floors have the same brickwork, but the windows are segmental arches. The windows are all deeply recessed. The sixth floor was added likely in the mid-1980s and there is a simple bracketed cornice. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Built in 1886 by Samuel Thorne and S. F. Jenkins as a tenement with stores, 48 Third Avenue was designed by James M. Farnsworth (1847-1917). The architects designed a building here that was distinct from other contemporary tenement buildings, making it stand out in this area. Its façade had much lighter detailing than the heavy Victorian ornamentation which was fairly common at the time. The recessed mortar joint and belt courses wrapped the building, emphasizing its structure. The cornice patterns are more abstract and naturalistic than most tenements in the area. The ironwork on the rounded fire escape balconies on the 10th Street side is particularly elegant. It is clad in red brick and has multiple brownstone string courses. This corner building is three bays at the Third Avenue façade and eight bays along East 10th Street. The top floor windows have keystone round arches and there is an ornate metal cornice. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Likely built circa 1875, 204 East 13th Street is a four story pre-law tenement built in the neo-Grec style. It is four bays wide, four stories in height, and faced in red brick set in a running bond with stone band courses at the sill level of the windows. The window surrounds feature incised ornament and are capped by molded lintels. Above the lintels is ornamental cresting. The robust cornice is particularly noteworthy, with modillions and brackets with triglyphs. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .