11 West 17th Street

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135-foot, 12-story Beaux-Arts residential building completed in 1908. Designed by Otto Strack as a store-and-loft building for E.W. Browning, it is faced with off-white brick and riveted pressed-metal panels.

A 2-story high narrow metal band,with "E.W.B" in a panel in the middle bay, frames the first two floors. Brick piers rise from the frame above the 2nd floor and terminate at the roof line. The 2nd floor has three single-pane stationary windows under transoms, with cast-iron mullions. The 3rd-10th floors project from the plane of the facade in a gentle bow, resting on two brackets. Each story in the midsection holds a band of six windows, except for the 5th floor which has aluminum replacement windows in the original configuration. Simple wood mullions separate the windows and metal spandrels with garlands are placed between the stories. A metal railing caps the 10th floor. The 11th & 12th floors are flush with the building line. Brick piers become pilasters at the upper two floors, with a corbelled, brick and limestone base at the11th floor and a carved limestone capital at the 12th.

There is no applied architectural detail on the red brick eastern elevation. The ghost of a 4-story rowhouse is visible from the parking lot at number 9 West 17th Street. Above this, six bays of eight windows are grouped in three vertical pairs. A wood shingled water tower is visible on the roof near the rear of the building.

Early tenants included various clothing companies. The building was converted to residential sometime in the late 1900s. The ground floor is occupied by Rye Whiskey Bar.