99 John Deco Lofts (New York City, New York)

337-foot, 28-story Art-Deco/Art-Moderne residential building completed in 1933 as an office building for the Insurance Company of North America. Designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, it was renovated and converted to rental apartments in 1998, and then to condominiums in 2007, with 442 units. Avinash Malhotra was the architect for the conversion.

The building is faced in limestone, with a grey granite water table, and granite frame around main entrance at the center of the John Street elevation. The entrance is recessed, and has a rounded metal marquee above the doorway. There are additional entrances at the cut corners: an original metal Art-Deco doorway at the intersection with Cliff Street, and a large retail entrance, also framed in granite, at the intersection with Gold Street. The John Street facade is divided into six bays on either side of the main entrance by piers made up of triple, rounded, quarter-columns. The Cliff Street elevation has 12 regular bay, plus a parking garage entrance at the far end. On Gold Street, there are eight bays along the main tower, including a small side entrance in the last one, and an additional 11 bays along the lower, 4-story extension that runs up from the north end of the main tower. A broad limestone band tops the ground-floor windows, and separates the upper floors.

On each of the three main facades, as well as the two 2-bay corners, the upper floors have uninterrupted limestone piers, edge with steel, framing rectangular windows and grey metal spandrels with vertical lines. There are minor setbacks at the 10th, 20th/21st and 24th floors, and two major setbacks at the 12th and 25th, providing outdoor terraces. At each setback, the spandrels are topped by small, vertical metal accents. The 3-level penthouse has only three columns of windows on each facade.

The rear facade facing the middle of the block has a light court between the main building and the 4-story extension. The tower on this side rises mostly straight up, with only setbacks near the very top for the penthouse. The elegant marble lobby displays the original murals by Impiglia which were added later in the 1970's.

The ground floor is occupied by Jubilee Marketplace.

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Categories: skyscraper, condominiums, Art Deco (architecture)