Schermerhorn Building (New York City, New York)

 condominiums, Romanesque (architecture), 1891_construction

8-story Romanesque-revival residential building completed in 1891 for William C. Schermerhorn. Designed by George B. Post as a store, it is faced in brick, brownstone & terra-cotta. It has a tri-partite design, with four bays along Broadway and seven bays of East 4th Street. The 2-story base is of rough-faced and heavily rusticated brownstone ashlar. The northern bay on Broadway has the main entrance in a portico with a compound arch, tympanum with elaborate polished brass grille, and historic polished brass doors. The ground floor is crowned by a denticulated molding. There are paired windows at the 2nd floor, topped by a molding course.

The midsection of the building has paired windows recessed within 4-story arches springing from carved brownstone impost blocks capping brick compound piers. The windows are separated by twisted cast-iron columns and molded lintels. The 2-story crown has paired windows below 2-story double arches, similar to those below, with center paired columns with foliate capitals, and a crowning terra-cotta cornice embellished with laughing gargoyles.

By 1903, the building had been converted to showrooms, offices and workshops. It was converted to the headquarters of the National Audubon Society in 1990-1992, and again converted to residential use around 2005. The penthouse unit served as an event space called Sky Studios, often used for weddings. It was closed when the unit was purchased in 2007. The exterior was restored by Philip Toscano with Seaboard Weatherproofing & Restoration in 2008 which rebuilt a 40-feet section of a load-bearing wall on the eighth floor.

The ground floor is occupied by French Connection and ALDO apparel.

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