Harriman Building

 office building, Art Deco (architecture), 1928_construction

442-foot, 37-story Art-Deco/Neo-Classical office building completed in 1928. Designed by Cross & Cross for developer Fred F. French, it sits at the south end of a long block. The building has a 4-story limestone base, above which the brown brick-clad tower rises 12 floors (13 on either end) to the first setback, four stories (three at either end) to the next setback, and five floors to a final setback, with a narrow tower at the very top.

The building offers a conservative version of the Art-Deco style, including classically-inspired elements. On the Broadway facade, the ground floor has storefronts, and a main entrance in the northernmost of the five bays. The other three floors of the base make use of a restrained classical vocabulary - a pair of simple piers define each end bay, with one square-headed windows at each floor. The 2nd floor has an ornamental stone balustrade , while the 3rd floor has an ornamental metal balustrade in each end bay. A sculptural stone shield also appears above the 3rd story window in the end bays. The three central bays consist of double-height segmental-arched window openings, with a pair of square-headed windows above each one. A dentiled cornice caps the base.

In the brick-faced stories of the shaft, the three central bays are arranged as pairs of windows separated by uninterrupted brick piers. Typically Art-Deco ornamental, geometrically patterned brick spandrels alternate, on the left in one story, on the right in the next. In the uppermost floors, especially at the setbacks, the ornamental brickwork takes on increasingly complex, abstract geometric patterns.

The Trinity Place elevation is similar in design to the Broadway elevation, but with a very plain, windowless base. The ground floor on this side has a loading dock, ventilation screens, and a rear entrance, with the rest of the space occupied by The Blarney Stone sports bar. The ground floor on Broadway is occupied by a Duane-Reade pharmacy.

www.swigequities.com/90-broad-street/
dlc.library.columbia.edu/catalog/cul:xd2547d98z
usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1928-07-2.PDF
usmodernist.org/AM/AM-1934-12.pdf