902 Broadway (New York City, New York)

 office building, high-rise, 1913_construction

263-foot, 20-story office building completed in 1913. Designed by Robert T. Lyons as a store-and-loft building, it is T-shaped and extends through the block to East 21st Street. It has a limestone and brick exterior in the eclectic commercial style, with simplified Tudor Revival details. The 5-bay Broadway facade is divided into base, shaft, and top. The 3-story limestone base is pierced by five double-height segmental-arched openings divided by carved Tudoresque entrance portals in the end bays and by simple spandrels in the center bays. The southern (store) entrance retains a metal grille of Tudor roses and tracery; its doors are recent additions. The northern (loft) entrance retains the Tudor details. At the 2nd floor, each wood-framed tripartite window has a fixed central pane flanked by double-hung or pivoting windows; all three sections are surmounted by transoms. At the 3rd floor, the fixed-pane central window is flanked by double-hung windows capped by transoms.

The 12-story brick shaft is also divided into five bays: two end bays with paired windows and three central bays with trebled windows. In the central bays stories are divided by decorative spandrels of terra-cotta Tudor roses, except for the 4th floor, which is a transitional level between base and shaft and is separated from both by simple string course. The 5-story top, with its brick pilasters, maintains the window rhythm of the shaft, but its central three stories have metal spandrels and pilaster strips. The parapet is decorated with terra-cotta urns and swags.

The 20th Street facade is identical to the Broadway facade, except that at the street level, all five bays resemble the central (storefront) bays on Broadway, and that above the base, the end bays are composed of three windows. The 21st Street facade adjusts details from the other facades to its narrower, 50-foot wide, 5-bay width. The segmentally-arched side bays accommodate one modern metal-and-glass storefront and one stuccoed surface with metal service doors; the arched narrow central bay has one opening with a metal roll-down security gate. For the shaft and top, each bay is articulated by a single window opening.

The eastern elevation visible from 20th Street is clad in brown brick trimmed in beige brick with double-hung windows at each floor. The eastern elevation seen from 21st Street is similar, but with limestone trim. The ground floor on the south side is occupied by Aqua restaurant and bar.