17 West 17th Street (New York City, New York)

 office building  Add category

131-foot, 11-story Beaux-Arts office building completed in 1907. Designed by George Frederick Pelham as a store-and-loft building, it is designed in three sections, with a 2-story base, a 7-story midsection, and a 2-story attic. The base is limestone, with white brick above. A wide central bay is flanked by narrow slightly projecting pavilions each with one window with a console bracket keystone at each floor. The two entrances are recessed within segmental-arches with keystones and limestone coursed to resemble voussoirs. Over each entrance at the 2nd floor is a large aluminum-framed window. The 1st & 2nd floors of the storefront are recent black aluminum and glass replacements, although the metal cornice at the 2nd floor remains. The center bay, at each floor, above the 2nd floor holds a band of six windows sharing a common sill. Between the floors in the midsection, spandrels are decorated with brick panels. There is a metal belt course over the 9th floor. The 2-story attic has a configuration resembling that established in the mid-section except that the spandrels between the stories of the center and end pavilions are metal decorated with recessed panels. The dentiled metal cornice which followed the contours of the facade has been removed.

The western elevation has no applied architectural detail. Four bays of seven windows of various types, are punched into the red brick facing.

Early tenants included Susquehana Silk Mills, cloak and suit businesses, and shirtwaist merchants. The building was renovated and converted to office in 2006. The ground floor is occupied by New York Pilates Flatiron.