Equinox Flatiron (New York City, New York)

 gym / gymnasium - sports, historical building

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5-story Second Empire-style mercantile building originally completed in 1869. Designed by James H. Giles as a department store and commercial building, the L-shaped building was originally part of the Lord & Taylor department store. In 1914, following Lord & Taylor's move uptown in 1914, 895-899 Broadway was altered for use as a store-and-loft building by architect John H. Duncan, receiving a neo-Renaissance limestone front on Broadway. The 20th Street facade was left substantially intact.

After being leased to Calhoun Robbins Novelties Company, the building was converted for light manufacturing purposes. Saint Laurie LTD clothing took over the building in 1983 and renovated the Broadway facade. Equinox Fitness Club opened a gym in the upper floors of the building in 2003. The ground floor is occupied by City Chow Cafe, Nice Racks boutique, and the lobby for Equinox Fitness.

The Broadway facade is articulated by rusticated piers which divide it into three bays, each three windows wide. Projected courses above the 1st and4th floors create a tripartite story grouping which is enhanced by the use of round-arched windows with console keystones on the 5th floor. Notable features of this restrained design include the triglyph capitals used on the small piers separating the windows and the handsome lionhead rondels punctuating the frieze beneath a projecting galvanized iron cornice.

The narrow 20th Street facade still retains its original cast-iron front. Designed as a pavilion to terminate the 20th Street facade it originally was surmounted by a mansard roof which broke forward slightly to create a corner tower. The facade is framed by rusticated Corinthian pilasters which vary slightly at each floor. Annulated columns separate the bays and support arches which carry lintels decorated with projecting courses. Recessed behind this framework a secondary order surmounted by stilted arches frames the windows. The facade is further enriched by bracketed cornices above the ground and 4th floors and by a small balcony beneath the center window on the 3rd floor. In 1914 a masonry addition brought the roof line forward. This has square-headed windows surmounted by a paneled frieze. Both the ground floor entrances and windows of this facade have been extensively altered.

Visible from East 20th Street the building's western elevation is faced with brick. Four half-projecting columns are reminders of the period when the building was connected to the now demolished store at 6-8 East 20th Street.

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