491 Broadway (New York City, New York) | apartment building

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12-story Neo-Classical cooperative-apartment building completed in 1897. Designed by Buchman & Deisler as a store, it wraps around the shorter corner building at 489 Broadway. The narrow facades are clad in rusticated stone and tan brick. On Broadway, the facade is organized into three bays, with double-windows in the center bay, except for the 3rd floor, which is split into three panes. The center bays of the 2nd & 3rd floors are both ornamented by cartouches above them. On the brick-clad upper floors, the outer bays have splayed lintels with scrolled keystones, while the spandrels in the center bays alternate between having carved decoration and small cornices supported by three scrolled brackets. The 9th floor has triangular pediments above the outer bays, and the 10th floors has an arched window in the center bay. At the top of the 10th floor, the four piers terminate large scrolled brackets supporting a dentiled cornice, which sets off the crown. The top floors have stone enframements, topped by three triangular pediments.

On the Broome Street side, the 2nd floor has three round-arches in rusticated limestone, below a band course with a Greek-fret motif. The 3rd floor has brick piers with stone banding, and is divided into four windows by two cast-iron piers and a central mullion, as are all of the upper floors. Above the 3rd floor, the banding on the piers appears only between floors. The top of this facade features the same cornice and crown as on Broadway. A black metal fire escape runs down the left side of the facade.

The exposed upper parts of the side walls are clad in reddish-brown brick, with a few windows openings. The ground floor is occupied by Mystique boutique.