424 West 54th Street (New York City, New York)

 commercial building  Add category

3-story commercial building completed in 1915. Designed by Lawrence M. Rothman, it was expanded in 1919 with a 1-story garage on the west side, above which a second floor was subsequently built. The ground floor is stuccoed and painted grey, and the upper floors, originally brick, were also stuccoed in a 2015 renovation. There remains a garage door and service entrance at the west half of the ground floor, and the east half has a metal-and-glass double-door with sidelights, and a separate metal service door at the left.

The 2nd floor at the west half has a large 6-over-2 studio window and a black metal service door at the left, position lower than the window, that opens onto a fire escape landing. The 2nd floor at the east half has another black metal service door opening onto the same landing, and two bays of single-windows in openings with segmental-arched tops. The 3rd floor has three such windows, and there are dentiled string courses at the base of each floor. Both the 3-story and the 2-story section has metal copings at the roof line, stepped up in the center of the west section, and topped by metal railings.

The building is now occupied by Prime Produce, a nonprofit group consisting of a public facing cafe, event space, coworking space, and small rooftop farm, with a ground-floor space for Chef Mom Does Cafe 424.