130 West 57th Studio Building Condominium

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150-foot, 14-story Art-Nouveau residential building completed in 1908. Designed by Pollard & Steinam, the building and its nearly identical neighbor to the west were both built to provide living and studio space for artists. The building, whose double-height windows once provided light to working artists, remained a co-operative until 1937, when it became a rental property. It was converted into office space in 1998, and then converted again to condominiums in 2018. It is a designated New York City landmark.

This building has been the residence of a number of well-known artists, and its distinctive windows have appeared in several of their works. These include artist Childe Hassam (from 1908-1935), writers William Dean Howells and Joseph Heller, actor José Ferrer and musician John Oates. Ray Charles and the Rolling Stones rented space here, and Woody Allen's production company had its offices here from the 1960s to the 1990s.

The duplex plan of the building allowed for seven double-height stories facing the street, with twelve stories in the rear. The structure is five bays wide, symmetrically arranged, with metal-framed windows, and continuous brick piers between each bay. The 2-story base is separated from the upper floors by a broad, terra-cotta cornice. The central entrance remains at the base, set within a slightly projecting 2-story pavilion which is faced with rusticated, vermiculated limestone. The double glass-and-wood door is reached by several steps and set within a deep reveal, ornamented by terra-cotta rosettes. Around the arched opening are voussoirs and a large central volute over the arch. Centered above the doorway is a rectangular window opening subdivided by narrow piers into three sections. Two narrow, wood-framed, double-hung windows flank a pair of similar larger windows in the center section. The rest of the base has been reconfigured to accommodate the current commercial activity. In the bay to the west of the entrance is a door on the ground floor with paired windows above. A large modern opening has been cut in the westernmost bay. To the east, on the ground floor, is an iron-and-glass storefront which was installed during a 1922 remodeling. A narrow iron cornice topped by a row of small anthemions is located above the window and beneath a small, fabric awning. The terra-cotta cornice which lies above the base has a broad frieze ornamented by triglyphs and disks. Above this, the cornice is embellished with lozenges and rosettes, alternating with mutules.

The 12 floors (six double stories) above the cornice are all similar. Each bay is marked by multi-pane windows with metal spandrels ornamented with geometric designs. The windows in bays one, three,and five project from the facade in a trapezoidal plan; those in the end bays are mostly double-height. The top four floors of the center bay do not project. The window openings on bays two and four are smaller, flush with the plane of the building, and contain paired windows with the same geometrically-ornamented spandrels. A broad, overhanging cornice projects at the top of the building, supported on modillions, as well as larger, concave-curving,paired iron brackets at the top of each pier. The ground floor is occupied by Cohen Fashion Optical.

www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/1999...
hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951000969825t?urlappend=%3Bse...
www.nytimes.com/2000/06/11/realestate/streetscapes-130-...