Chelsea Commons

 condominium, Second Empire (architecture)

4-story Federal-style/French Second Empire-style residential building originally completed in 1873 as four connected houses. It 1985, they were converted to condominiums, along with the new-construction 6-story set at the west end that is set farther back.

The original facade has basements clad in rusticated brownstone with segmental-arched windows, and the upper floors are clad in red brick. The four residential entrances are reached via high stoops with black iron railings, grouped into two pairs. They each have a set of paneled, grey-green wooden double-doors and transoms. The windows have brown stone sills with corbels, and metal cornices, larger at the parlor floor - the same cornices top the doorways as well. The slate-covered mansard roof with its eight segmental-arched dormer windows is original, and topped with a rooftop garden with an iron railing.

The set-back newer section at the west end has a recessed entrance down a couple of steps, with double-doors below an arched surround. The 2nd floor has a trio of small windows, and the 3rd-5th floors all have one window at the center. The 6th floor has a tripartite window arrangement, and the facade is topped by a gable with a single-window at its center. The side wall of the original houses, projecting forward, is clad in beige-painted brick.