661 Broadway (New York City, New York)

 office building  Add category

8-story Renaissance-revival office building completed in 1891. Designed by Brunner & Tryon as a store. It was converted to offices in 1988. It spans through the block to Mercer Street; both facades are clad in tan brick, but there is a 2-story stone base on Broadway. The base has black cast-iron infill, with three arches on the 2nd floor (one large, and two smaller), along with carved stone ornament on the piers. There is horizontal stone bands on the 3rd floor, and a pair of Corinthian columns separating the windows. The window bays on floors 4-6 have cast-iron pilasters, with another group of three arches at the 6th floor, topped by a dentiled cornice and stone cartouche. Above an angled slate roof rises a single dormer with a sharply pointed pediment. There is a Starbucks on the ground floor.

The Mercer side has less ornamentation, but does have narrow cast-iron millions between the windows in each bay, and subtle banding on the 2nd & 3rd floors. There are cornices above the 1st, 3rd, & 7th floors. The top floor has round-arched windows, with a bracketed metal roof cornice above. The ground floor is occupied by Sunspan tanning salon.