The Atrium Apartments

 hotel, condominium, historical building

Now called the Atrium Apartments, this 10-story residential building was originally the Mills House No. 1. Designed by noted Beaux-Arts architect Ernest Flagg and completed in 1897 as a men's hotel for Darius Ogden Mills. This is the only survivor of a group of three men's hotels from the late 1800’s built by Mills in New York City. The hotel was built in accordance with the 1879 Tenement House Law known as the 'Old Law.' It offered clean, safe, lodging and it closed during the day to encourage men to find work. This block-wide building contained over 1,500 single rooms; today it has 189 units.

The building has two signature identical massive 10-story interior air shafts that are covered with skylights. Hence the name, "Atrium." With two 60-square-foot ventilation shafts penetrating a structure that occupies four city lots, this building exemplifies Flagg's main proposals for changes in the zoning laws. it is clad in white brick, with an imposing 2-story main entrance on Bleecker Street - framed in stone, two large scrolled brackets support a stone cornice with a stone panel reading "MILLS HOUSE No. 1", topped by a rounded pediment broken by a huge cartouche. A dentiled stone cornice extends all the way around the top of the 2nd floor, which has segmental-arched windows. The building is crowned by a large, projecting, bracketed roof cornice.

A major lobbyist for housing reform, Flagg might have been inspired by the layout of the Dakota [1884], or by the apartment buildings he had seen in Paris during his studies abroad. The legendary jazz showcase named the Village Gate also was located in this building for over 30 years. "The Village Theater" located below.

The building was gutted in 1976 and made into 189 condominium units and renamed "The Atrium." The ground floor is occupied by a CVS, Hamlet's Vintage, Lucky JaJa Deli, a Chase Bank branch, Model Nail, and The Village Theater below street level.

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