Holland House

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220-foot, 20-story Renaissance-revival residential building completed in 1927. Designed by Deutsch & Schneider as the Holland Hotel, it gradually deteriorated into a scary SRO featured in Jonathan Kozol's Rachel and Her Children and described by the New York Times as "a kiddie park designed by the Marquis de Sade." In 1995 it was refurbished and reopened by Project Renewal as subsidized housing, providing 307 low-income apartment units.

The 7-bay facade is clad in brown brick, lighter-colored at the ground floor, which has a red granite water table. The central entrance, with glass-and-metal doors is slightly recessed; to the left is a storefront and a small metal service door; to the right is a group of three windows and a double service door. A double limestone band caps the ground floor.

The upper floors have single-windows in each bay except for the middle, which has double-windows. The 2nd floor geometric decorative brickwork at the piers, and is topped by a patterned brick cornice. The floor above have bays that are slightly recessed between the piers, and have decorative brickwork at the three middle bays. The outer two bays on each end set back above the 16th floor, with cascading setbacks at each of the next floor to the roof line. The outer half of the next two bays set back above the 17th floor, above which the middle of the facade has two windows at both the 18th & 19th floors, and narrows to one double-window bay at the 20th floor, which is topped by a triangular stone pediment at the middle. A mechanical penthouse rises from the roof. The ground floor is occupied by a Subway restaurant.

www.projectrenewal.org/housing.html#holland