The Montana Apartments

 apartment building, postmodern (architecture)

288-foot, 26-story Postmodern residential building completed in 1986. Designed by The Gruzen Partnership, it is modeled on the twin-towered forms of modeled after The Majestic and The Century, the important Art-Deco towers on Central Park West. It is clad in tan brick above a 2-story limestone base with a dark-brown granite water table.

Although the building has an official address of 247 West 87th Street, the main entrance is centered on Broadway, with a double-height entry surround with beveled sides angling back toward the glass sliding doors, which are below a rounded, grey canvas canopy; a dark-grey panel of polished granite above the canopy is inscribed with the word "MONTANA". To either side are six bays of plate-glass storefronts; the middle two at the south are joined together into a wider unit. At the 2nd floor there are metal louvers above each storefront, except for at the two narrower bays flanking the entrance, and the three northern bays, which all have windows (with rows of three square panes at the northern two, and two such panes at the others). A rounded stone band course caps the base. On the north facade on 88th Street the base has two narrow storefront bays at the west end, two grey metal service doors in the middle on the ground floor, one bay of show-windows toward the east, and at the east end is a 2-story section of brown brick extending past the main bulk of the towers, with an entrance/exit for the underground parking garage. On the south facade on 87th Street the base matches the north side, except for the short brick section at the east end, which has a metal service door and a long horizontal band of metal louvers on the ground floor, and a band of six window panes on the 2nd floor.

The upper floors on the west facade begin with three center bays of double-windows, followed by a single-window bay, two narrow double-windows flanking a single-window, another single-window bay, and double-window end bays that wrap around the corners onto the south and north facades. There are metal vents below the windows and exposed concrete floor plates between each story. The center bay sets back above the 5th floor; the recessed center section above has two bays of double-windows up to its termination at the 13th floor. From the 6th-11th floors, the corner bays created by the recessed center section wrap around the corners as well; at the 12th-13th floors, they inner half angles back instead. The 13th-floor roof line is continued as a setback across the north and south sections, with the middle three bays at both sections extending up one floor higher before setting back. The end bays also angle back at the 12th-13th floors.

The matching north and south towers continue up from the mass of the lower section. Both have a central single-window bay, flanked by narrow double-window bays, and triple-window corner bays that wrap around to the north and south facades, with angled middle panes. The north and south facades of both towers have double-windows in the center bay flanked by single-windows. The east facades also have double-window center bays flanked by two sets of single-windows and rise straight up from the low, eastern extension. The end bays, which wrap around to the north and south facades, set back above the 13th floor (with angled panes on the 12th & 13th floors). The outer single-windows become corner bays that wrap around the corners above the 13th-floor setbacks, and change to angled corners at the 16th floor. There are small setbacks at the 25th & 26th floors; the single-windows and double-windows reverse at the 25th floor, and only the center bay extends up to the 26th floor. The mechanical penthouses topping each tower are clad in the same brick, with rounded corners and concrete caps.

The building contains 156 apartment units. The ground floor along Broadway is occupied by a Bank of America branch, Optyx eye exams, Starbucks Coffee, and CityMD Urgent Care.

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