Bradish Johnson Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, Neoclassical (architecture), 1918_construction

211-foot, 16-story Neo-Classical office building completed in 1918. Designed by Maynicke & Franke as a store-and-loft building, it spans the entire south portion of the block between Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 21st Street. The Fifth Avenue facade is organized with a 3-story base, a 10-story midsection, and a 3-story top. In the base, 3-story limestone piers with capitals create three bays. The ground-floor entranceway and storefronts are of modern design. Limestone spandrel panels set off the tripartite windows at the 2nd and 3rd floors. The buff-brick mid-section, rising above a decorative terra-cotta cornice, is regularly punctuated by window openings. A decorative cornice separates the midsection from the top in which pilasters topped by Corinthian capitals flank three bays. The bays contain tripartite window groups which may be original. Ornamental spandrel panels appear between the stories. Above the 16th floor a decorative band with applied escutcheons sets off the projecting dentiled cornice.

The Broadway facade is virtually identical to that on Fifth Avenue. Portions of an original storefront appear to survive in the northern bay at the ground floor. The northernmost row of openings is not filled enclosed by windows but opens onto a shaftway. On 21st Street the facade repeats the organization and motifs of the avenue facades, but modified to its longer expanse. The base contains nine bays. In the mid-section four vertical rows of openings with single-windows flank five central bays with tripartite window groups consisting of paired windows flanked by single-windows.

The exposed rear wall is irregularly configured and wraps around the building at 927 Broadway and rises above the former Scribner Building at 153 Fifth Avenue. It is faced in buff and brown brick and has a large painted sign near the Broadway side. The recessed midsection is regularly punctuated with window openings. The mechanical penthouse is visible on the roof.

The ground floor is occupied by Ann Taylor, Maison Kayser Boulangerie Patisserie, and Blooming Affairs floral design.