NYC Facades

Unalignment

Tiny colonnade

This collection originally caught my eye for its lack of alignment between related buildings, however I have come to accept that some streets are hilly enough to throw off that plan (with a few percent grade, one would expect the base of the buildings to be offset). I really love the little Greek temple on the side for (what I suspect is) the bathroom.

Upper stories

Decorative archway

First, don’t be confused by the consistency across the buildings; they are not connected.  Obviously, they are not maintained together, since the window frames are different, and the right one is much dirtier than the left. Second, the brickwork is different; look at the corbels.

Look at the quality of the brickwork;  fairground arches beneath the cornice; the lazy chimney corbel; the varied arches and patterning; the horse shoe arches ovre the windows.

Renaissance/arabic window stylings

This building is unassuming from the street, but has decorations that seem quite out of place.

This block-long pair of buildings was to be bought by a developer and have a monstrous modern condo built on top of the existing structures. Community outcry, revised zoning (in the aftermath of the Ariel East and West), and the economy killed that plan. Nonetheless, most of stores on the block closed with the exception of three restaurants. See also the Curbed coverage, including renderings of the proposed additions.

Mosaic on lower floor

There are a few buildings, particularly on Amsterdam Avenue, which can only be described as gaunt and undecorated, yet are highly ornamented at points.

Ornate water tower

The water tower and parapet are among the most decorated parts of this building. However, that is partly the result of lazy repair work done to remove the cornice (clearly visible at the bottom of the picture by the thick light brick line). One has to wonder whether anything other than style motivated the decoration so far removed from the street.

Insignia with stained glass

Year under the chimney (?)

This is an unassuming building with some great detail, shown here. Note the lion and human faces in the corbels; what do they represent?

Entranceway

West face

Corner column decoration

The two features that caught my eye on this building were the entranceway on 77th street, and the tiny pillars in the windows of the top floor. Also shown is the detail on the 1st story pillars.

Full view of the west side

Lower story statues

Roof tinwork

Comparatively mild north side

South entranceway

This is one of the gems of the Upper West Side; incredibly ornate, yet under the radar. I defer to The Upper West Side Book for additional pictures and copy.