Bowling Green Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, 1896_construction

272-foot, 21-story Hellenic Renaissance-style office building completed in 1896 with 16 floors. Designed by William and George Audsley, it has nearly identical facades facing Broadway and Greenwich Street. There is a light court on the south end. Architects Ludlow & Peabody reconfigured the original stoops on Broadway in 1912, and added a sympathetically designed 17th floor and set-back 4-story tower in 1917-20.

The building has a 2-story base in white granite, a 12-story white brick shaft set off by cornices at the top and bottom, and a 2-story crowning section adorned with ornamental terra-cotta. The Broadway facade, with slightly projecting end pavilions, is at a marked diagonal to the rest of the building. It is divided into a 2-story base, a 12-story shaft (framed at the highest and lowest floors with cornices), and a 2-story capital. The three bays at either end project slightly forward. The granite base is articulated by a colonnade of smooth pilasters, the capitals of which feature intricately-carved ornament based on ancient Greek forms such as the anthemion. The pilasters support a broad entablature, the frieze of which is similarly detailed and features the words "BOWLING GREEN OFFICES".

Superimposed at both of the projecting end sections are elaborate entrance surrounds, incorporating a smooth frame embellished with rosettes, a carved cornice crowned with anthemia, and, separating the bays, two flute half-columns. The central bay retains its historic grey granite stoop. Behind the pilasters, each bay contains rusticat ed w all s ections (and at the central bays, there are also segments of an intermediate cornice) which frame the window openings. Historic infill at the base includes (at the north end and central entrance) paired bronze doors with glazed central panels, capped by bronze bands and bronze-framed multi-paned transoms.

The transitional third story introduces squat piers at the end bays and fluted, squat half-columns at the central bays. Above a denticulated entablature rise the austere, white brick piers of the shaft. They frame vertical rows of sli ghtly recessed molded spandrels and deeply recessed rusticated wall segments flanking the window openings. Above the 14th story, which is set apart by cornices, stands the double-height capital, articulated by piers reflecting the decorative carving of the base. The terminal cornice of the original design features a carved frieze. The added 17th story, faced in buff brick, follows the window placement and end projections of the original design. The cornice is composed of patterned brick beneath white terra-cotta tiles.

The Greenwich facade is a slightly simplified variation of its counterpart on Broadway, with no projecting end pavilions. Due to the sloping site, the west facade incorporates a full-width, flush basement front, which is faced in granite-trimmed brick and features granite entrance porticoes and other openings. The remaining bays have been bricked-in. A more recent sign above the center bays reads "NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES". A double-height metal oriel window has been added to the southernmost bay of the 15th-16th floor. On Greenwich Street the 17th story, which on Broadway is a buff-brick wall, is a copper-clad mansard roof. Partially visible from the three sides of the building, the four-story tower is crowned by a copper mansard roof and sheathed in buff-colored brick and terra-cotta.

Throughout the 20th century the building has been occupied by by businesses traditionally associated with this section of Manhattan: steamship companies, including the International Mercantile Marine Co. prior to its purchase of No. 1 Broadway, and related firms, including financial and legal interests. The Bowling Green Building continues to serve as offices. The ground floor and basement level on Broadway is occupied by The Berkshire Bank, New York Wine Exchange, Subway sandwiches, Radio Shack, and Cafe Plaza.