Frontier Apartments

 apartment building, diplomatic / foreign mission / representation

A pair of joined 19-story modernist residential buildings completed in stages - 200 East 39th in 2015, followed by 210 East 39th in 2017. Designed by Rawlings Architects, both buildings of the complex are clad in similar materials, namely thin, grey and black terra-cotta above black granite ground floors.

At No. 200 the top of the ground floor is lined by a large, horizontal strip of vents and black terra-cotta panels. There is a large plate-glass and metal storefront, with the residential entrance on the east end of the north facade. It has glass double-doors next to a set of metal service doors, with a metal-and-glass canopy on top. The upper floors are recessed, except for the west end. Here the facade is clad in black terra-cotta panels. There is a band of windows across the 2nd floor, and above there are narrow windows at the west end , wrapping around the corner to the west facade, and larger windows at the east end, consisting of several different pane sizes, wrapping around the corner as well. The recessed portion is clad in grey terra-cotta around its perimeter, with a bay of single-windows at the west side and tripartite windows at the east side. In the middle there is another window bay on each side that wraps around the inner corners to a further recessed section in black terra-cotta that has two bays of offset double-windows (with one narrow pane and one wider). This section is recessed up to the 18th floor, where the grey terra-cotta spans across with four middle bays of windows. The non-recessed western end section sets back above the 14th floor. The 19th floor is set back, with a rooftop terrace.

The west facade on the avenue is grey terra-cotta, with four bays of offset double-windows, the northern one wrapping around from the north facade. This sections sets back above the 14th floor. The 4th bay is slightly recessed, and at the south end is a section clad in light-grey pre-cast panels. It has tripartite windows on the 3rd-6th floors, with an extra pane at the south end starting at the 7th floor, where the window extends to the building edge and wraps around the corner for one pane, where the facade adjoins the neighboring building.

At No. 210 ground floor has a recessed residential entrance at the west end, with a glass door and sidelight next to a black metal service door. The east part of the ground floor has a set of glass double-doors and windows below a canopy. These access the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Lesotho to the United Nations, which occupied the first three floors.

The upper floors are clad in thin, black terra-cotta panels. The 2nd-3rd floors have wide bands of windows with black metal framing (with a flagpole extending from the middle of the 2nd floor), and the upper floors have two middle bays of offset double-windows, and end bays with varied pane sizes, both of which around the corners for one narrow pane. There is a setback above the 13th floor at the eastern three bays, with the western bay setting back above the 16th, and having ribbon bands of windows wrapping around this entire section on the 14th-16th floors. The top floors are clad in light-grey pre-cast stone.

The east facade is clad in grey terra-cotta at the front (up to the setback), and light-grey pre-cast stone at the rear. There is one bay of single-windows that ends at the 12th floor, and another farther back that extends up to the roof line. The rear, south-facing facade has four window bays, the eastern one wrapping around the southeast corner.

200 East 39th contains 91 apartment units, and No.210 contains 57 apartment units. The ground floor of No. 200 is occupied by a TD Bank branch, and City Beer.