Nine52 Condominiums

 condominium, interesting place

7-story residential complex consisting of six main buildings, originally built as St. Clare's Hospital in stages from 1934-1940. Designed by Robert J. Reiley, it was renamed St. Clare's St. Clare's Hospital and Health Center in the early 1980s. The hospital was taken over in 2003 by St. Vincent's, and became St. Vincent's Midtown Hospital, which closed in 2007. It subsequently flooded in 2011. The residential conversion and renovation through adaptive reuse was designed by Karl Fischer in 2016 for the Chetrit Group.

There are entrances on both 55th and 56th Streets, each with glass double-doors. The north facade along 56th Street is clad in red brick above a ground floor of polished grey stone (with a water table of lighter granite at the bottom). The end bay at the east is recessed and has a tripartite window at each floor (varying from the typical tripartite configuration, it has a narrower center pane with wider side panes). To the west is another tripartite window bay, two bays of paired windows, a wider plate-glass window and the north entrance (both of these bays are beneath a metal canopy), a recessed metal service door up a small set of steps next to a single-window, two more tripartite windows, two single-windows, and three final bays of tripartite windows. All of the windows have black metal framing, and a stone band course caps the ground floor. The upper floors are mostly similar in the window pattern, with these exceptions: the rd bay from the east has a smaller window to its left, and the western of the paired windows is shorter; there are paired windows above the wide plate-glass window bay, and tripartite windows above the entrance; and all the rest of the bays to the west have tripartite windows. There is a bay of small, bricked-in openings between the two bays above the entrance canopy. At the 2nd floor, the 4th & 5th bays from the west are surrounded by frames of projecting brick. All the other windows have stone sills and brick lintels. A black metal cornice caps the 5th floor, with a shallow setback at the east half of the facade. The penthouse 7th floor is set back at the east half of the roof.

The south facade on 55th Street is more varied, consisting of the facades of three separate structures, now joined. The east section if clad in red brick with a grey granite water table. It has two main bays, each with a band of four windows with black metal mullions, stone sills, and brick lintels. At the 2nd-5th floor there are limestone panels between the two bays. There is a small setback above the 5th floor, and a deeper one above the 6th.

The middle section is clad in a slightly paler shade of brick and has the 55th Street entrance at its east end, framed in grey-painted stone. To the left are two bays of double-windows set within white stone segmental-arches with keystones. The west arch is keyed, and the east one is wider, with spaces of brick between the window and the two "arms" that extend down to a stone band course below the windows. There is a very narrow window set in both of these arms, with another one farther to the outside on each side. Small former basement windows at the sidewalk level have been bricked-in. A stone band course caps the ground floor. The upper floors have three bays of windows - paired at the end bays, and double-windows separated by a narrow middle pane in the center bay. Each bay is keyed in brick at the 3rd-4th floor, and has dentil surrounds at the 2nd floor, with splayed brick lintels and keystones. There are brick spandrels with various brickwork patterns between the 3rd & 4th floors, and segmental-arches with stone impost blocks and keystones at the 4th floor. A stone string course sets off the 5th floor, which has paired windows in each bay, flanked by recessed brick pilasters There are setbacks at the two end bays above the 5th floor, while the middle bay at the 6th floor is clad in limestone with a tripartite window; the end bays still have paired windows. The roof line is at the 6th floor here and on the building to the west.

The west facade section is also clad in red brick and has a tall base capped by a stone cornice. The bottom of the ground floor has two pairs of small, square windows at the sidewalk level, with iron grilles and stone bands above them. To the right of both of these is a former entrance bay, now filled-in with brick. The upper part of the ground floor has a large double-window above these two bays, and above the small basement windows there are paired windows set in stone surrounds, with carved stone mullions between them featuring overlapping discs. There is a variety of brickwork patterns at the base. The upper floors have two bays of double-windows flanking a bay of single-window at both the east and west sides. The single-windows are shorter and each window has a stone sill. On the center pier between the 2nd & 3rd floors is a decorative stone panel . A string course runs below the 5th floor, and a stone cornice tops the 6th floor, below a patterned brick parapet.

The complex has a total of 156 total condominium units. There are interior courtyards between the buildings.

www.nine52.com/
streeteasy.com/building/nine52-condominium
themidtowngazette.com/2011/10/midtown-hospital-reborn-a...