347-351 West 44th Street (New York City, New York)

USA / New Jersey / West New York / New York City, New York / West 44th Street, 347
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A trio of 5-story cooperative-apartment buildings completed together as townhouses in 1892. They have matching facades, clad in brownstone which is rusticated on the lower two floors and rough-faced at the basement. Each has a wide, low brownstone stoop (with low, ornate, wrought-iron handrails) leading to a central, round-arched entry. The pilasters framing the entry have decorative carvings, with carved bases, engaged columns at the inner edge, and Corinthian capitals supporting a segmental-arched entablature. The inner round arches have intricate moldings. To either side of the entrance there are narrow paired windows divided by grooved pilasters with stylized capitals. Below each window is a decorative panel with foliate carvings, and the rough-faced brownstone of the English basements, which also have paired windows; the basement areaways are behind wrought-iron fences.

Atop the entablature surmounting each entrance is a cornice with large modillions that acts as a base for the green (black at No. 351) iron fire escapes running down the middle of each facade. The upper floors are four bays wide. At the rusticated 2nd floor the square-headed windows are topped by splayed keystones, the center one featuring intricate carvings. A string course sets off the 3rd floor, where 2-story moldings surround the windows of the 3rd & 4th floor, separated by simple spandrel panels. The 4th-floor windows are round-arched, with the bearded faces serving as the keystones on the round-arched moldings at the outer bays.

The top floor is also set off by a string course, and has incised panels between each window, with stylized capitals. Each facade is crowned by a metal roof cornice (dark-green at Nos. 347-349, and black at No. 351), with brackets above a decorative frieze outlined at top and bottom by dentil courses. The commercial basement levels are occupied by Yuri Cleaners, Spark Properties, Couture Du Jour vintage clothing, a barber shop, and Times Square Spa.
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Coordinates:   40°45'34"N   73°59'27"W
This article was last modified 11 months ago