NYC Facades

Upper floors with exapnsion

Lower detail

One thing I enjoy about looking up is noticing how the architects decided to incorporate expansions. This building clearly added a floor, and made no effort beyond matching the red to fix it into the existing design. Nonetheless, it has some very subtle features to enjoy.

Was the building expanded on one side only? (Note: the curving facade is an artifact of the panorama stitching)

I like how The Home Depot fits with the building style. Look at the seal! The "S" is for "Stern" -- see below.

Some buildings I see details I like a lot, and some I am blown away by. This was the latter. It just had such great detail and scale. The facade was finished the entire height, and it even had a mystery: why is there a modern extension on the eastern side that does not match that on the western? Was there a patio there? Was it destroyed in an accident and rebuilt in a time without style?

EDIT: New York Architecture has a page about this building (with a slightly different address?). As the author says on that site about the extension,

W.M. Schickel’s typically 19th century addition tripled the dimensions of the original structure on the eastern portion of the site. The tall central section of this addition animates the long and delicately detailed facade. The company’s monogram is located above a central arch.

I do think Home Depot does a great job here with respecting the building (although they could have done with less orange). See also 28 West 23rd.