1650 Broadway

 office building, Neoclassical (architecture), 1922_construction, commercial building

174-foot, 13-story Neo-Classical office building completed in 1922. Designed by Bethlehem Engineering Corp., it sits on a wedge-shaped site, wider at the east than the west. It is clad in buff-colored brick above a 3-story rusticated limestone base. The main entrance is at the center of the north facade on 51st Street, in a 2-story round-arch. Recessed within the arch are four glass doors, and above them, a large panel of white marble topped by a fanlight. The ends of the arch have black granite bases, and there are projecting flagpoles on either side. The rustication of the stone is splayed around the top of the arch. There are metal-and-glass storefronts on either side of the entry, both spanning four bays wide. The eastern storefronts have stainless-steel and plate-glass, with two levels of display-windows at three of the bays. The western storefronts are faced in aluminum and blue tiling; at the far west end, the commercial entrance is designed to resemble a red New York subway car. Above it, the blue tiling continues onto the west facade at the ground floor.

On all three main facades, the 2nd floor has bays of large plate-glass windows in black metal framing. The 3rd floor is fully clad in rusticated stone. The north facade has seven bays of paired windows with single-windows in the end bays. The east facade has three bays of paired windows, and the west facade has four single-windows; all three facades are capped by a stone cornice setting off the upper floors.

Limestone quoins line the corners of the brick upper floors, which have the same fenestration pattern as the 3rd floor. The 4th-floor windows also have stone surrounds, with small rosettes below cornices at the tops. A dentiled cornice sets off the 11th & 12th floors, which have ornamental black iron spandrels within each bay between the two floors. Flanking the windows in these bays are also vertical bands of patterned terra-cotta. The 12th floor is crowned by a projecting modillioned cornice, with the 13th floor set-back above the cornice.

The south-facing rear facade, clad in brown brick, has two bays of single-windows at the west end, and a bay of single-windows next to a bay of paired windows at the east end. Toward the center from the east end is very narrow light well, and toward the center from the west end is a bay of small paired windows. The ground floor is occupied by I (Heart) NY gift shop, Ellen's Stardust Diner, and Iridium Jazz Club, with Capezio Flagship Store (a dance store) on the 2nd floor.