The Piano Factory (New York City, New York)

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A group of four 6-story buildings joined and converted to a cooperative-apartment, originally completed in 1874 and 1888 as a piano factory. They were converted in 1982 by Richard A. Klein and Charles P. West. An original yard that contained storage sheds is now a landscaped courtyard surrounded by restored original iron catwalks/skybridges connecting the north and south buildings. The development includes the addresses 454 West 46th street, 455-463 West 45th Street and 636-8 Tenth Avenue.

The buildings date back to 1874 when the Wessell, Nickel & Gross Company, a piano actions manufacturer, was established at this location. The business quickly flourished and they built an addition next door, but then in 1888 they bought another building at the rear of the factory, facing West 46th Street, which soon needed its own addition as well. In the midst of these buildings was a yard with storage sheds. Their business continued to flourish until the Great Depression, when operations ceased at this site in the 1930s. After languishing for years, the buildings were acquired in 1979 by Richard A. Klein and Charles P. West, who had the vision to convert the former factory complex into coop loft apartments.

The main Romanesque-revival entrance to the red-brick north building on 46th Street is a large iron gate flanked by globe light sconces and beneath a semi-circular, 2nd-floor tripartite window in a brick round-arch. An iron band below the window reads "1888". Above the arch, the 3rd, 4th & 5th floors have paired windows with joined stone sills. There are four bays of single-windows to the west, and five to the east, from the 2nd-5th floors; the windows at the top two floors are slightly taller. All the windows have flat stone sills and lintels, and some have protruding air-conditioning units. At the ground floor there are two black metal service doors east of the entrance gate, with the rest of the bays have additional windows. Black iron fences enclose the areas in front of the building on either side of the gateway.

The 5th floor is topped by a patterned brick parapet, above which rises a slightly-recessed penthouse 6th floor at the center, with a bay of paired windows flanked by two single-windows. This penthouse level also extends over to the center of the west elevation, the rear of which has a rooftop garden and greenhouse. The west elevation is clad in browner brick with 12 bays of single-window openings, many of which have been filled in by red-painted, stuccoed panels. Star-shaped iron tie-rods still remain on the wall. The top of the 5th floor and the 6th-floor penthouse are faced in red-painted stucco, with a wide rectangular window at the front edge of the penthouse. A metal railing tops the corner above the 5th floor, fronting the penthouse walls.

The south part of the complex consists of two main buildings, one oriented west-east on the west end and extending to the avenue, and one oriented north-south to the east. The designs match the north buildings, with reddish-brown brick and single-windows with flat stone sills and lintels. The west building has six main floors, spanning 15 bays on 45th Street and six bays on 10th Avenue. At the ground floor on the avenue, the south two bays are combined into a triple-window, as are the west two bays on the south facade. Two bays further east is a black metal service door, with another at the 3rd-from-easternmost bay. The two easternmost bays are combined into a wider double-door. A black metal fire escape runs down the facade near the west end, with landings spanning four bays, and another runs down the east two bays, with landings extending onto the west bay of the 5-story neighboring building. Star-shaped black iron tie-rods remain on the facade, which is capped at the 6th floor by a corbelled brick parapet. At the east end of the roof is a 7th-floor penthouse faced in red stucco with three single-windows, and a glass-clad greenhouse section further to the west. The west end of the roof has a deck with metal railings.

The 5-story east building is four bays wide on the south facade, with large windows at the ground floor, framed at the ends by black fluted iron piers, and topped by a horizontal black iron band. The upper floors have black bracketed sills and metal cornices on the windows. The 5th floor is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with console brackets, modillions, dentils, and panels. The east elevation spans ten single-windows, and this building also has a penthouse level, at the 6th floor. It is recessed at the south and north, faced in red stucco. On its south face it has a triple-window at the east, and a set of French doors at the west, opening onto a small terrace. The east face has a small window at the front, paired windows near the center, and a single-window at the rear. There is another rooftop terrace at the north end of the building. Both the south building are enclosed by black iron fencing, with landscaping behind it.

The complex contains 48 apartments.