250-260 West 12th Street (New York City, New York)

 townhouses, 1850s construction, Italianate style (architecture)

Six 3-story Italianate residential buildings completed together in 1857. The original appearance of these houses may best be seen at Nos. 252 and 254 which until the 1960s were virtually unchanged. Clad in brick over rusticated basements, stoops lead up to the handsome segmental-arched doorways. The paneled entrance doors, deeply recessed, are framed by paneled reveals and rope moldings. The original handsome double doors with elaborately carved bosses at Nos. 250 and 254 are surmounted by a glazed transom, repeating the arch of the outer doorway. The long parlor-floor French windows are capped by lintels with cornices.

The paneled roof cornices, with paired brackets, unify the whole row, and are the originals. No. 250 retains its stoop and window trim, but the cornice of the doorway has been removed. The stoop at No. 258 has been replaced by a basement entrance. The brick of No. 252 has been painted dark grey-blue.