Amster Yard

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4-story Federal-Eclectic style commercial building completed in 1870. It is actually a cluster of joined buildings wrapped around a garden courtyard. The grouping was originally developed by James Amster in 1946. In 1999, the complex was bought by the Instituto Cervantes, a Spanish cultural organization, who rebuilt some of the rear buildings in 2002 after determining they were no longer structurally sound. The new complex is faithful to the eccentricities of the original, like the shingled mansard roof on one of the houses, the black-and-white corrugated aluminum awning over the breezeway and the pavilion with a mirrored archway that creates the impression that the garden is twice as long as it is.

The frontage on 49th Street has a main, central 4-story section, a smaller 2-story section on the west, and a 3-story section on the east. All are clad in red brick above a joined, white-painted, banded limestone ground floor. The 2-story section at the west end has a narrow single-window bay projecting out from the center section, connected by an angled, single-window bay to another single-window bay adjoining the center section. There is a wooden door in the ground floor of the angled bay, with a rounded, brown canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. The two windows at the ground floor are segmental-arched, and the 2nd floor is capped by a stone coping.

To the east, the 4-story center section has three larger bays with segmental-arches at the ground floor; the middle one has a black-framed window, and the outer two have recessed doorways. The east one is a black wood-and-glass door, and the west arch has a walkway through the building back into the garden area, shielded by an iron gate. The upper floors have three bays of single-windows with stone sills, and another stone coping caps the roof line.

The 3-story east section has three narrow bays - two angled side bays and a center bay projected out from the facade. The middle bay has a black wood-and-glass door, and the angled bays have windows. The windows on the 3rd floor are taller than those on the rest of the facade, and above the 3rd floor is a tall brick parapet pierced by open circles in each of the three bays. This section is also topped by a stone coping, following the angles of the projecting bay.

The rear buildings are not visible from the street. They are generally clad in red brick, with hanging lamps, iron grille work, shrubbery, climbing ivy and black painted window trim. Since the buildings are of varying heights, ranging from one to four stories, the windows Are of several different types and sizes and were selected to fit each required need. They are all harmoniously blended and related in scale, size, proportion, material and color.

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