Barnes & Noble Building (New York City, New York)

 apartment building, 1902_construction

151-foot, 11-story Neo-Classical/Renaissance-revival residential building completed in 1902. Designed by Robert Maynicke as a stores-and-loft building, the facades are clad in buff-colored brick with a stone base and accented with terra-cotta trim. The Fifth Avenue facade is divided vertically into three major bays by broad piers, and horizontally into a base, midsection, and top. The stone piers at the first two floors are set on granite bases and deeply rusticated, while those at the 3rd floor have shallower courses. In 1932, the fledgling bookstore Barnes & Noble moved into 105 Fifth Avenue, and the flagship store operated here until 2012, when it moved one block over to the Century Building at Union Square. Early tenants included cloak and suit merchants, wool, hat and fabrics dealers, and lace curtain merchants.

Above the ground floor, each bay contains three square-headed windows separated by short piers. At the 2nd floor, these piers are topped with scrolled brackets. Above the 2nd and 3rd floors are entablatures capping the base of the building. The midsection of the building is articulated by buff-colored brick piers rising from the 4th to the 8th floor. Spandrel panels between the floors are accented with terra-cotta paterae at the center of each, and small dentiled molding. At the 8th floor the piers are topped with terra-cotta wreaths and the windows have festooned lintels. Molded cornices intersect the piers above the 8th and 10th stories, delineating the crown of the building. The three bays culminate at the 9th and 10th floors in a double-height arcade with molded spandrels and mullions, superimposed by engaged Ionic columns, all in terra-cotta. The arches are highlighted by small keystones and flanked by rondels in foliated spandrels. The 11th floor forms a clerestory embellished with terra-cotta wreaths. The window surrounds are trimmed with laurel moldings. Above a band of fretwork, a deep dentiled and modillioned cornice caps the facade.

The East 18th Street facade is divided into six major bays. The overall design and articulation of detail is the same as that on the Fifth Avenue facade.