The Van Dorn (New York City, New York)

USA / New Jersey / West New York / New York City, New York / West 58th Street, 150
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150-foot, 15-story Neo-Gothic residential building completed in 1927. Designed by Rosario Candela, it is clad in variegated brick of pale orange, tan, and grey hues, above a white-painted limestone ground floor with a grey granite water table. The round-arched central entrance has recessed glass double-doors and a rounded, green canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. On either side is a single-window above a metal vent.

The upper floors are organized as a center bay with single-windows, and wider end bays. At the 2nd floor the end bays have narrow round-arched triple-windows in stone surrounds, with curved, slightly-projecting iron railings at the bases. The center window also has a stone enframement, edged with a rope molding and topped by three fleur-de-lis below a keystone. The floors above have paired windows in the end bays; all of theses have simple stone sills.

A white stone band course sets off the 4th floor, underlined by a dentil course and decorated with blind balusters at each window bay and carved shields with foliate ornament between them. At the 6th floor the east and middle bays have large, boxy, projecting triple-windows enclosed by sparse, modern, metal railings; these are not part of the original design. Another broad, ornamented band course sets off the 11th floor, with projecting stone balconies at each bay (wider at the end bays), with balustrades and blocky stone brackets. The windows at the 11th floor have elaborate stone surrounds, arched at the tops with keystones. The 12th floor is capped by a stone cornice with finials along the top edge.

The 13th floor has a band of metal-framed glass windows at the front facade, slightly set back from the cornice. The top two floors angle back with a slanting wall of glass skylights between brick end chimneys topped by metal chimney pipes.Above the glass, the angled wall continues to a sheet-metal parapet, also angled, than screens rooftop mechanical equipment behind it.

The upper part of the east facade is clad in reddish-brown brick with a bay of single-windows at the front edge, a bay of paired windows behind that, and another bay of single-windows farther back. The building contains 56 apartment units.
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Coordinates:   40°45'55"N   73°58'42"W
This article was last modified 5 years ago