137 5th Avenue (New York City, New York)

 office building  Add category

133-foot, 12-story Renaissance-revival office building completed in 1902. Designed by Robert Maynicke as a store-and-loft building, it is faced in limestone. The base is composed of coursed pilasters, with cartouche-encrusted capitals, which flank the 2-story storefront and support the entablature which, in turn, supports window openings embellished with swags and consoles. The metal-and-glass storefront (including the entrance to the stories above) is a more recent addition. Above the original metal storefront hood, the original 2nd-floor wood-framed windows and metal fluted Ionic colonnettes remain.

The 6-story limestone midsection features console-like keystones above the uppermost windows, and a modest dentiled cornice. Above the storefront, all window openings accommodate pairs of replacement windows. The topmost, 3-story limestone segment, edged with wreath-embellished pilasters, has spandrels decorated with circles and rectangles, a decorative band which unites the keystones above the uppermost windows, and a boldly projecting black metal entablature with modillions and dentils.

The building housed several clothiers, furriers and lacemakers in the early-to-mid part of the 1900s. The ground floor is currently occupied by Comptoir des Cotonniers boutique, with SLT gym on the 2nd floor.