81 Walker Street

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6-story Italianate/Second Empire-style residential building completed in 1869 as a store-and-loft building. Designed by Henry Fernbach, who also designed the nearly identical adjacent building at 79 Walker Street at approximately the same time, the main facade, on Walker Street, is faced in white marble above the ground floor. It has four bays of window openings per story; alternating stories have flat-headed or segmental-arched openings with keystones. Pilasters, string courses, molded arches, and quoins are combined in the design to create a layered effect typical of the Second Empire style. An elaborate roof line, consisting of a dentiled and modillioned sheet-metal cornice (cut for a fire escape) with a central triangular pediment and ornamented brackets is a further expression of the style. The ground floor has cast-iron framing, with three fluted columns and two end pilasters. Historic pivoting wood transoms are extant below the original sheet-metal cornice of the base.

This building typically was used as a store, and for storage, showroom, and manufacturing purposes. The most recent tenants were the China Noodle Company and MIB Fashion Company, before the building was converted to condominiums in the 1990s.