The Alexander

 condominium, high-rise, 2009_construction

296-foot, 24-story postmodern residential building completed in 2009. Designed by Sydness Architects, it has a 5-story base of red terra-cotta tiles over two lower commercial levels of light green-tinted glass and silver metal, topped by a glass tower with a cylindrical northeast side.

Both the north and east facades of the base have recessed bays at the centers, above the ground floors; on the east facade, there is a sloped glass roof on the ground floor leading back to the recessed bay. On this elevation, the south wall of the recessed bay is angled back, while the other side walls at the recessed bays go straight back. Storefronts line the avenue side, and most of the north facade on 49th Street, except the at the west end, where the main entrance consists of an area of black polished granite, with deeply-recessed glass doors behind a round, brass column.

The top three floors of the base, clad in red terra-cotta, have projecting metal balconies with glass railings across the central recessed areas on both facades. Behind the balconies are glass walls, with a door at each floor opening onto the balconies; the walls are curved and form the beginnings of the cylindrical glass tower rising up above the base. On the east facade, the terra-cotta bays to the south of the recessed area have matching 3rd & 5th floors, with (from south to north) a very narrow window paired with a single-window, a single-window, and wider square window. At the 4th floor the pairing of narrow and regular single-window at the south is reversed, and the square window is replaced by another single-window/narrow window pairing. To the north of the recessed area, the 3rd & 5th floors have a single-window and a narrow window, and then a square window; the 4th floor differs in having a second pairing of single-window and narrow window in place of the square window. The south sidewall of the recessed area has a narrow window on each floor 3-5, and the angled north sidewall has square windows on the 3rd & 5th floors, with a narrow/single-window pairing on the 4th.

On the north facade, above the glassy base, the east end of the 3rd floor has a narrow/single-window pair, with another pair reversed on the right. The 4th floor has two square windows, and the 5th floor has a single-window/narrow window pair at the east end, and a square window to the right. The section to the west of the recessed area has two single-window/narrow window pairs on the 3rd floor (with the narrow window at the inside of each pair) and a square window at the west end. The 4th floor has a square window at the left, followed by another reversed pair of single-window/narrow windows. The 5th floor has two square windows flanking a central narrow/single-window pairing. The sidewalls of the recessed area both have narrow windows on each floor.

Above the base, the tower rises with a greenish-silver glass curtain wall around the broadly-curving cylindrical northeast side. The south end of the tower on the east facade has a bay of tan terra-cotta with square windows on about half the floors; the others have double-height windows spanning two floors, with one triple-height window at the 20th-22nd floors. The west end of the north facade has matching tan terra-cotta cladding, with three bays of windows, also with a random mix of double-height and triple-height windows among the regular 1-story square windows. The terra-cotta sections at the ends of the north and east elevations end at the 23rd floor, with the recessed penthouse level hidden behind an extension of the curved glass curtain wall as a parapet.

The south and west facades are plainer, faced in beige pre-cast concrete. The west elevation has a bay of very narrow, horizontal windows at the north edge, and a bay of similar windows, only oriented vertically, at the south edge. The south elevation's east half projects out from the west half, and has two bays of windows at both edges, each consisting of pairs of vertical and horizontal narrow windows (with the horizontal windows at the inside edge). The west half of this elevation has a bay of projecting balconies at the west edge; the west-facing sidewall between the projecting and non-projecting halves of the facade has another bay of projecting balconies. There is a mechanical penthouse at the west side of the roof.

The building contains 75 condominium units. The ground floor is occupied by Noah Dental, MedRite Urgent Care, and a TD Bank branch, with World Vision International (a non-profit organization) on the 2nd floor.