Merchants' Exchange Building

 office building, high-rise, 1909_construction

254-foot, 18-story Neo-Classical/Renaissance-revival office building completed in 1909. Designed by Maynicke & Franke, it has five bays on Fifth Avenue, and eight bays on 17th Street. The 3-story limestone base has end bays on the avenue side featuring polished granite plinths and Doric half-columns supporting broken curved pediments. Behind the broken pediment, each bay contains a segmental-arched opening on the 2nd floor, with eared surround and a console keystone. Each of the three central bays has a double-height segmental-arched opening with a raised keystone. On the 1st floor, they are linked by a recent stone veneer-and-glass bank front with four doors in the center bay and original metal bulkhead grilles in the end bays. On the 2nd and 3rd floors, each bay contains a fixed metal-framed central pane flanked by smaller panes. The 3rd-floor windows rest on deeply carved sills with consoles and Greek key motif.

The 12-story shaft is faced in buff-colored brick, except for the transitional floors which are faced in limestone and terra-cotta. There are three stone balconies with metal decorative railings on the Broadway facade, and four more on the 17th Street side. On the 3-story terra-cotta top, each end bay has a 16th-floor window with a bracketed pediment and a 17th-story window with a bracketed cornice. These frame the three central bays, separated by fluted half-columns and organized beneath pilaster-supported arches with raised keystones. Each bay contains triple-windows of fixed central panes flanked by smaller side panes. The spandrels have beveled panels and central disks.

The longer north elevation replicates the central-bay motif from the Fifth Avenue facade. On the top three floors, end bays have triple-windows, which are embellished with surrounds resembling those of the corresponding openings of Fifth Avenue.

In 1955, an internal connection to 110 Fifth Avenue was made. The ground floor is occupied by Lululemon.