155 East 23rd Street

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6-story Renaissance/Romanesque-revival residential/mercantile building completed in 1891. Designed by Albert Wagner as the headquarters for the Jordan, Moriarty & Co. furniture business, it is clad in limestone and white terra-cotta, with rough-faced, banded brown terra-cotta on the three main piers at the 2-story base. The main entrance is in the east bay, with metal-framed glass doors and sidelights below a metal box canopy that angles out to a point. To the right is a set of red metal service doors. The rest of the ground floor has three bays with plate-glass storefronts, the middle one narrower. The 2nd floor has horizontal window bands, with separate shorter bands above, except for at the narrow bay.

The 3rd-5th floors have stone piers with rough-faced banding separating three large arches terminate that the 5th-floor window banks. Each arch is divided by white cast-iron mullions into four windows. The mullions are patterned, and there are terra-cotta moldings with floral motifs lining the edges of each bay. Additionally, there is a small, rounded iron balcony railing at the center of each bay on all three floors, and at the base of the 5th floor the piers are highlighted by terra-cotta ornament.

At the top of the 5th floor the four piers have stone capitals with lions' heads, and a dentiled sill course underlines the 6th floor. Each of the three bays at the top floor has a row of five smaller round-arched windows, with pilasters similar to the mullions below but shorter and wider. The piers have grid panels at the 6th floor, with medallions at the center of each. The facade is crowned by a roof cornice with small acanthus-leaf brackets above a floral frieze.

Jordan, Moriarty & Co. went of out business in 1913, and the vacant building was damaged by a fire the following year. It was sold in 1918, and renovated the next year for Water’s Hospital Supply Company, who remained in the building until 1952. When Water’s Hospital Supply moved out, the ground floor retail space became home to Monarch House, Inc., a contemporary furniture store; while the upper floors housed Childcraft Equipment Company. The upper floors were converted to apartments in 1976. Alterations were made to the lower floors in 2000.


The building contains 56 apartment units. The ground floor is occupied by Housing Works thrift shop.