The Atalanta (New York City, New York)

 condominiums, high-rise, 1924_construction

192-foot, 17-story residential building completed in 1924. Designed by John B. Snook & Son, originally as a cold storage warehouse for the Merchants' Refrigerating Company. As built, it had a 3-story base, an 11-story windowless shaft, and two stories of offices at the top. The design is frankly utilitarian and reflects the mid-1920s concrete design aesthetic which placed an emphasis on structural expression, as seen in the piers which divide the windowless facades into bays and terminate in segmental arches. The rusticated ground floor has a classically-inspired entrance surround of granite at the base of the Varick Street facade. Suspended awnings shelter the North Moore Street side, where the loading platforms were.

In the late 1900s the Atalanta Importing firm used the building for the storage of cheese and ham. The building was converted in 2001 to 47 luxury condos and rechristened The Atalanta. This involved punching holes in the thick, well-insulated skin of the building to install new, large windows. Atop the building, two duplex penthouses of 4,500 square feet and 5,200 square feet, each with private terrace space, were built, one as an addition on top of the building. The ground floor is occupied by Brandy Library bar.