NYU 37 Washington Square West Apartments (New York City, New York)

 apartment building, Italianate style (architecture), 1928_construction

163-foot, 16-story Italian-Gothic residential building completed in 1928. Designed by Gronenberg & Leuchtag as an apartment building for 37 Washington Square West Corp., it was acquired by NYU for faculty housing in 1953. It is clad in red brick with terra-cotta details. There is a very low rough-faced stone base at sidewalk level. The white-painted front entrance facing on the park has a metal marquee above it, three large brass wall lanterns, arcaded windows above the marquee, with an ornate and colorful terra-cotta balcony at the third floor level. The 3rd-floor windows above the balcony are round-arched, separated by decoratively-patterned gold and blue-grey Corinthian columns.

These, in turn, are flanked by paired windows at the outer bays with Gothic arched heads and balconies, with more colorful terra-cotta detail. The upper floors are organized into two bays of three windows in the center, flanked by two bays of two windows on either side. The southern elevation on West 4th Street has two middle bays of single windows, flanked on either side by a wider bay of three grouped windows (a main center window with black mullions dividing the narrow side windows), and an additional single window on the west, with two single windows on the east. There are two end bays of wider windows. These end bays have colored terra-cotta at the 3rd floor with small balconies.

Carrying through the 14th and 15th floor levels on the east facade and signalizing the central entrance below, are six round-arched windows, with a blind one at center, also set above a balcony. Above this central group of windows a stone parapet, set on arched corbels and with an arched niche at the center, is the crowning feature of the building. There are also balustraded stone balconies at the end bays on the 9th and 14th floors. The western elevation is clad in plain brown brick, with several bays of windows.

The building is also used to house the official residence of the President of New York University.

www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/pdf/GV4.pdf#page=41