206 Fifth Avenue

USA / New Jersey / West New York / Fifth Avenue, 206
 apartment building  Add category

5-story Neo-Classical residential building completed in 1857 as a residence. It was converted to commercial use in the late-19th century. The building has frontages on both Fifth Avenue and Broadway. The building's Broadway facade was replaced in 1892 to the designs of architect J. William Cromwell for the Estate of A. Perry. In 1911, the 1st-story store was occupied by Theo. B. Starr Silversmith. The current Fifth Avenue facade was designed by architects Townsend, Steinle & Haskell, Inc., and installed in 1919 for the Emigrant Savings Bank, originally the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank, founded in 1850 as an offshoot of the Irish Emigrant Society.

Now occupied by stores and lofts, the building remains largely intact to its 1892 and 1919 alterations. Both facades are three bays wide. On Fifth Avenue the 2-story base is set within a decorative limestone architrave below a denticulated crown molding. The ground floor has a modern glass entrance at the north end, and a black iron-framed storefront to the south. There are historic show windows at the 2nd floor with bracketed black cast-iron columns.

The upper floors are divided into a center bay of double-windows, and end bays of single-windows, with molded sills and lintels, and paneled spandrels and piers. The limestone roof cornice features swags, dentils and scrolled brackets, and is topped by a gabled roof parapet.

On Broadway, the 2-story cast-iron base is set between decorative white brick piers with Ionic capitals and topped by an elaborately-carved entablature and a decorative wrought-iron railing. The 2nd floor has black cast-iron pilasters dividing it into three bays of double-windows. The upper floors feature projecting red brick piers with carved brownstone caps separating the double-window center bay from the single-window end bays. There are molded cornices between floors, with dentils at the base of the cornice below the top floor, which has three black iron mullions separating the center section into two windows. On this top floor, the outer piers are coursed and support a red brick roof parapet with blind arcade and denticulated crown molding.

The ground floor is occupied by Memories of New York, a large gift shop.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   40°44'35"N   73°59'19"W
This article was last modified 4 years ago