196 Sixth Avenue

 apartment building, 1893_construction

9-story residential building originally completed in 1893 as the NYPD 10th Precinct Station House (with five floors). Designed by Nathaniel Bush, tt later became the NYPD's quartermaster storehouse. The building was converted to residential usage with additional floors on top in 1987.

At the ground floor, a short set of stairs leads to a round-arched entrance framed in rusticated stone. On either side, a large segmental-arched window is framed in rusticated stone, with a stone cornice across the top of the first floor. The facade is clad in red brick, with paired windows in the center, and a slightly-projecting bay on each side. There are wide, flat stone lintels above the windows, and air conditioning vents cut below them. The outer bays on the 5th floor have round-arched lintels. At the 6th floor, the outer bays set back to terraces, and the center bay has a large, round-arched window. The outer piers rise to the top of the 6th floor level, and joined the center section with a metal cornice. The penthouse floors are set back and surfaced in tan smooth-stucco. Two large, peaked-roof mechanical penthouses are on top, with several aluminum pipes vents attached to their sides, and extending up above.