200 West 55th Street

 office building, 1882_construction

6-story office building completed in 1882 as a tenement. It is clad in red-painted brick above a ground floor with storefronts of metal, stone, and glass at the east end. The west end is clad in white glazed tiles, and has a pair of stainless-steel service doors. The main entrance is near the center of the north facade, with glass and stainless-steel double-doors under a metal lintel and decorative round-arch framed in stainless-steel, surmounted by a white tiled triangular pediment. A stainless-steel band caps the ground floor on either side of the pediment.

The upper floors on the north facade are asymmetrical. Above the main entrance there is a projecting bay with a small, square window placed high up at the 2nd floor, with an Art-Moderne stainless-glass pane and a stone molding. The projecting section is topped by a receding, stair-stepped stone cap at the 3rd floor with a cartouche and ribbon bearing the date 1882. Above this are two more square stained-glass windows in stone moldings, positioned between the 3rd & 4th floors, and between the 4th & 5th. A stone spandrel between them is centered at the 4th floor, and features decorative reliefs.

At the west half of the north facade there are four bays of single-windows, with the eastern two grouped closer together. They have stone sills and mostly flat lintels, with slight variations at different floors. The easternmost of these bays at the 3rd floor has a shallow balcony with iron railings, supported on a corbelled bracket with a lion's head, and a dogstooth pattern to the left. Another, wider balcony at the 4th floor spans the two middle bays on the west half of the facade, carried on five brackets with gargoyle faces.

The east half of the north facade has three bays, two of which have single-window, and the middle one having narrow double-windows with black metal mullions. The glass panes have been partially replaced by metal louvers at the 2nd floor. There is a small stone balcony at the east end bay on the 2nd floor, with a metal railing, and two stone brackets. The western bay at the 3rd floor has a balcony matching the one across the projecting center bay of the facade, only wider, and there is another small balcony at the east end bay on the 5th floor. Beginning at the top of the 3rd floor there are slightly-projecting brick shafts next to the east end bay, and at the middle of the four bays on the west half of the facade, each culminating in brick chimneys rising above the roof line. There are also two black metal fire escapes running down the ends of the facade.

The base of the 6th floor consists of bands of corbelling and modillions with numerous corbelled brackets bearing lions' faces and supporting a stone cornice. At the central bay there is a round oriel window with stained glass. Just above the cornice are low attic windows at each bay, and another cornice crowning the roof line.

The east facade on the avenue has a north bay of double-windows (extra-long at the 2nd floor, opening onto a small balcony), and a south bay of single-windows. The north bay projects at the 3rd floor, and there is a 4th-floor balcony. The design of the top floor carries over onto this facade as well. The ground floor is occupied by Premier Deli Cafe, and The Corner restaurant.