Ely Building (New York City, New York)

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150-foot, 10-story Renaissance-revival residential building completed in 1897. Designed by Mortimer C. Merritt as a store-and-loft building for Arthur H. Ely, it is clad in granite. The facade is organized with a 2-story base, one transitional floor, a 6-story midsection, and a 1-story top. The entire facade below the top floor is divided into three bays.

The 2-story base has Doric pilasters flanking ground-floor bays containing cast-iron columns and framing members. Only the central bay with its two columns and transoms is intact. The east and west bays contain one column each and have modernized doorways. The transitional story, with its simple, 3-window bays, is crowned by a frieze of triglyphs and a cornice. The midsection, also with 3-window bays, is articulated by smooth 6-story piers and slightlyrecessed spandrels; it is crowned by a belt course. The top floor with twelve evenly-spaced windows is crowned by a projecting bracketed copper cornice.

The eastern elevation, exposed by a parking lot, is a brick wall except for two bays of windows toward the back. The silhouette of a now demolished gable-roofed building is visible on the lower two floors.

The building housed early tenants such as W. & J. Sloane, as well as publishers, clothing manufacturers, and dry goods companies. It continued to contain loft and office space well into the late 20th century, with most of its tenants in printing and publishing. Around 1995, it was converted to condominiums. The ground floor is occupied by Ann Sacks Tile & Stone.