Arnold Constable & Co. Annex Building

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5-story Renaissance-revival office building completed in 1884. Designed by William Schickel as an annex to the Arnold Constable store on the north side of the block, it was a retail store on the lower floors and had manufacturing above.

The facade is a composition of three stacked pilaster orders with differentiated end bays. Ornament, although derived from Renaissance and Baroque sources, is more severe than that on the earlier components of the complex. The walls are red brick laid in running bond with what appears to be brownstone trim, all painted a uniform cream color in recent years. The orders, all Doric, are of one, two and two floors from bottom to top.

The 1-story rusticated base has a 2-part doorway composition in each end bay and black cast-iron infill in between, including a central storefront entrance. Each doorway composition consists of a vertically-oriented, simply framed door beneath a horizontally-oriented, more elaborately framed window of complementary proportions. The storefront is entered by a stoop with cast-iron posts and brass railings.

The second 2-story Doric tier has a window with a pedimented lintel beneath a window with a projecting lintel in each end bay and three recessed central bays with paneled spandrels. The top 2-story Doric tier is similar, with each end bay consisting of a window with a rounded pediment beneath a small framed rectangular window. In the three recessed central bays the upper story of windows is arched. The facade is crowned by a projecting brown sheet metal cornice with modillions.

In 1915, the owner, the estate of Henrietta Constable, converted the entire Arnold Constable & Co. complex from retail to wholesale purposes. In 1985 the firm of MSG Architects converted the old ground floor retail space into a stylish restaurant, highlighting the original structural features of the building. The ground floor is currently occupied by Rosa Mexicano restaurant.

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