139 East 57th Street | office building, 1925_construction, commercial building

 office building, 1925_construction, commercial building

9-story commercial building completed in 1925. Designed by Bloch & Hesse, it is clad in tan brick above a 3-story limestone base. The south facade on 57th Street has six bays, and the narrower west facade on the avenue has four. The main entrance is in the 3rd bay from the east with glass-and-metal double-doors, each of which has 2-over-5 panes. They are topped by a transom and framed by a rope molding. There are plate-glass storefronts to the left and right, and also along the avenue. On the 2nd & 3rd floors, the limestone piers separate bays of tripartite windows in dark-brown iron framing. There are lower transoms on the 2nd floor, and upper transoms on the 3rd floor, with iron spandrel panels between the two floors. A limestone cornice caps the base.

The upper floors have similar tripartite windows, but without the transoms. There is patterned brickwork in the spandrels, and stone sills at the windows. A small cornice with a stone coping caps the lower roof line at the 8th floor. The 9th floor is set back on both the south and west sides. The east elevation is clad in brown brick above the neighboring building, with two bays of single-windows toward the rear (smaller on the 9th floor). The rooftop water tower is visible from the street at the northeast corner. The ground floor is occupied by Belmora Pizza, The Vitamin Shoppe, and a Bank of America branch.