Showfields | store / shop, Colonial Revival (architecture)

 store / shop, Colonial Revival (architecture)

4-story Colonial Revival building completed in 1913 as an animal hospital. Designed by Janes & Cordes for the New York Women's League for Animals, it is clad in red brick. The League constructed the rooftop penthouse in 1924.

The long facade along Lafayette Street spans 15 bays. It has a stone foundation with raised basement, painted green. The main entrance is at the center, at a granite portico with rusticated columns, bracketed hood, flanking flagpoles, and boxed-in fascia. There is also a freight entryway at the south bay. The first floor above the raised basement has round-arched openings with keystones, although the windows themselves are square-headed. The triple bays at each end differ - at the south end, there is a shorter but broader segmental-arch, while the north end has three square-headed openings, repeated on the 2nd floor. At the south end, the 2nd floor has a lowered doorway with a landing for the fire escape that wraps around the south facade of the building. Above and to the left are two smaller, square windows. These smaller windows are repeated in the rest of the bays as well, except for the taller, paired windows above the main entrance. All of the 2nd-floor windows are topped by geometric panels of brickwork.

A terra-cotta band course sets off the 3rd floor, which has a more elaborate dentiled cornice above. This floor has more patterned brickwork between the windows, which are topped by simple terra-cotta circle ornament. Above the 3rd floor's cornice, the south end of the building has a low top floor consisting of three wide window groups topped by a simple metal cornice. Above the entrance, the top floor drops down to a roughly triangular parapet with white terra-cotta coping. A low parapet wall continues along the rest of the north part of the facade, stepped up at every other pier, all topped by terra-cotta coping. Between the stepped-up sections are wrought-iron railings.

The north facade echoes the northern end of the Lafayette Streeet side, but with four bays instead of three. The south facade is similar, but with smaller, higher-set windows in the two outer bays of the 2nd floor, and a doorway at the left side of the top floor, where the fire escape begins its snaking course down and around the southeast corner of the building. The large dentiled cornice above the 3rd floor breaks for the fire escape to pass.

The building continued to serve as an animal hospital until 1965, when it was converted to a factory and offices. The building was occupied by a social service agency until it was converted to residential in the early 2000s. The interior was redesigned in 2019 by Lukstudio. It is now occupied by Showfields (stylized as SHOWFIELDS) which serves as an experiential department store concept showcasing brands like Alhambra, Meural Canvas, S'well, and Sum Products.

www.showfields.com/
www.archdaily.com/922663/showfields-lukstudio