The West Coast | apartment building, apartment complex

 apartment building, apartment complex

A complex of ten buildings, all but one of which was formerly used by the Manhattan Refrigerating Company as cold storage warehouses, that were joined and converted to apartments in 1980-82. The conversion was designed by Rothzeid Kaiserman & Thomson for the Rockrose Development Corp. The complex consists of:

***521-525 & 527-531 West Street, a pair of 6-story Neo-Classical cold storage warehouses completed in 1898 and 1906. Designed by Lansing C. Holden, they share the same basic design, with brick and limestone cladding, with round-arched loading bays along West Street. At the roof is a dentiled cornice. The northern building was constructed as an addition to the existing southern one. They were leased to the recently organized Manhattan Refrigerating Company (MRC), which maintained its headquarters here until 1979. The company expanded over the years into the neighboring buildings, eventually occupying nearly the entire block. The ground floors are occupied by Bakehouse Bistro & Bakery, and Brother Jimmy's BBQ.

***104-108 Gansevoort Street/535 West Street, a 7-story Neo-Classical cold storage warehouse completed in 1932. Designed by John B. Snook & Sons, it is similarly clad in beige brick and limestone as its two neighbors to the south. MRC signed a 63-year lease with the landowner, Ella Wendel, in 1928 for the construction of another warehouse/office addition to its plant, the second-to-the-last of the firm's expansions on the block. In 1936, the property was transferred to the Wendel Foundation, which held it until 1943. This was the only building of the nine on the block leased by MRC that it did not eventually own. Most of the other known tenants were associated with meat, poultry, eggs, beer, and frozen foods. The ground floor is occupied by the Weichsel Beef Company until 2013.

***94-98 Gansevoort Street, a 7-story Neo-Classical cold storage warehouse completed in 1912. Designed by J. Graham Glover, it is clad in beige brick and limestone, and nearly identical to the building to the east, with only slight differences in fenestration. It was purchased by MRC in 1926. Other tenants were associated with meat, dairy, and poultry products.

***90-92 Gansevoort Street, a 7-story Neo-Classical cold storage warehouse completed in 1912. Designed by J. Graham Glover, it is clad in beige brick and limestone, and nearly identical to the building to the west, with only slight differences in fenestration. It was purchased by MRC in 1925. Other tenants were associated with dairy, poultry, and frozen food products.

***84-88 Gansevoort Street, originally a 7-story Neo-Classical cold storage warehouse completed in 1926. Designed by J. Graham Glover, it is also clad in beige brick and limestone. The lower two floors were erected in 1924, and MRC acquired the property in 1925, adding five upper floors in 1926. During the 1980-82 residential conversion, two additional floors were erected on top.

***802-816 Washington Street, a 9-story Neo-Classical cold storage warehouse completed in 1935. Designed by John B. Snook & Sons, it was the last of the warehouse additions to the MRC complex. The New York Central Railroad's elevated freight line was constructed to pass through this structure, through the 2nd-3rd floors. The building, clad in beige brick, has tall brick pilasters on the Washington Street facade. A brick cornice tops the 3rd floor rail thoroughfare. The facade of the 2nd floor is enclosed here, with brick crest-and-shield patterns at each bay. The north and south ends of the building, where the track once passed through, have been filled in with grey and green tiles. The ground floor is occupied by Intermix clothing and accessories, Jay Godfrey, Christian Louboutin, Hanro of Switzerland, Kilian jewelry, and Nonno Gourmet.

***97-103 Horatio Street, a 6-story Romanesque-revival warehouse completed in 1900. Designed by George P. Chappell, it is clad in brown brick above a stone ground floor capped by a beige brick header. The 2nd floor has rustication bands, and the window bays at the 5th floor terminate in round arches. The building was constructed for former mayor Hugh J. Grant, and was the only one on the block not leased or owned by the Manhattan Refrigerating Company (MRC). Early tenants included two printing and lithography firms. Among the various later tenants were firms involved in wood, paper, printing, meat, poultry, and produce. In 1984, this building was joined to the nine former MRC buildings on the block that had been combined and converted into apartments in 1980-82.

***105-107 Horatio Street, a 7-story Neo-Classical cold storage warehouse completed in 1913. Designed by J. Graham Glover, it is clad in grey brick and stone above a metal and tile ground floor, with a copper roof cornice. There are stone band courses across the bases of the 4th and 7th floors, with a projecting cornice at the center of the 7th floor band course. The building was purchased by MRC in 1925. Other tenants were associated with meat products. This building serves as the main entrance to the West Coast apartment complex, with a metal canopy suspended over the entryway.

***109-111 Horatio Street, a 6-story Neo-Classical power plant/warehouse completed in 1898. Designed by Lansing C. Holden, it is clad in tan brick, granite and limestone. At the ground floor, the former loading bays are set under large round arches, and are now covered with green iron bars. There are cornices at the bases of the 3rd and 6th floors, and dentiled roof cornice. The building was purchased by MRC in 1925.

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