The Alabama Apartments by Collegium Capital

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9-story Italian-Renaissance hotel comprised of two joined buildings. The shorter, 7-story original Hotel Van Rensselaer at 17-19 East 11th was completed in 1901. It was designed by Louis Korn. The first two floors are rusticated with paired windows at both floors. The striking feature here is the richly ornamented round-arched doorway flanked with free-standing columns carrying lanterns. Above the third floor sill level, the front wall is carried up in Roman brick while the paired windows are set between brick pilasters which extend up four stories. At the top there is a fine classical attic story with small paired stone pilasters above the large brick ones, surmounted in turn by a cornice carried on modillions. At the sixth floor in the center, between the pilasters, a small balcony carried on paired console brackets enlivens the facade and displays an attractive wrought iron railing.

The following year, the 9-story Hotel Alabama was completed, also designed by Louis Korn. It's facade is in a similar style, though more ornate. The main entry is through a Palladian doorway with columns supporting an arch. The first floors are rusticated with the arches and lintels of the windows carefully integrated into the horizontal system of joint lines. Above the third floor, the front wall is constructed of Roman brick. The transition from stone to brick is made by a handsome wrought iron balcony which extends the width of the hotel. The window frames of the third, fourth and fifth floors are elaborately enframed in stone with rustication and with boldly projected and scrolled keystones elaborately carved. Above this point the windows are framed in stone with small keystones and crowned, in two instances, with triangular pediments. The ninth floor has a balcony with stone balustrade extending the width of the hotel. Above this floor the great bracketed cornice, carried on consoles, effectively crowns the hotel.

The Van Rensselaer eventually expanded to take over both buildings. It is now student-focused rental apartments operated by Collegium Capital. Collegium acquired 98 units from Yeshiva University in October 2016, and renovated and re-positioned the property to become private rental student housing.

www.thealabamanyc.com/