Pod 39 Hotel

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200-foot, 17-story Renaissance-revival hotel completed in 1919 as a men's residential hotel. Designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon, it opened as the Allerton 39th Street House. In 1956, the Salvation Army converted it to the Ten Eyck-Troughton Memorial Residence for Women, and in 2012 it re-opened as the Pod 39 Hotel with 365 tiny rooms referred to as pods. There were six Allerton Houses built in the city; this was the third, and the first of three designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon. The chain provided young professionals the services of a hotel and the intimacy of a private club.

The building is an H in plan. The southern wing faces East 39th Street, and the west side abuts another structure obscuring the windows from the 1st to the 6th floor. A central tower is the core of the H-plan and is visible from Lexington Avenue from the west. The south facade has a raised base that is clad in granite with an astragal belt course, topped by a row of header bricks spanning the width of the building and marking the water table. The first-floor arched windows, the main entrance, as well as the two flanking entrances are trimmed with stone. Below the first-floor windows are stone diamond grille work covering the ventilation openings. The main entrance is decorated with a border pattern of abstracted foliage; surmounted by an eagle surrounded by a wreath with ribbons, followed by a lintel with a denticulated molding. Flanking the main entrance are two historic wrought iron filigree ventilation grilles with attached wrought-iron light fixtures. The windows and subsidiary entrances have rusticated stone surrounds with decorative raised discs and molded lintels. A stone panel divides the lunettes from the doorway in the easternmost bay.

The upper floors of the main facade are structured around three bays of windows, which are separated by piers faced in patterned brick. Each bay has three windows, with stone sills and header brick lintels. Below each large window is a raised brick spandrel panel. The center windows at the outer bays are smaller in size and sit in a slightly raised plane. The 2nd and 3rd floors have historic red, terra-cotta balconettes decorated with foliated moldings, bas relief of inverted bell-shaped foliate forms and ribbons surrounding cartouches embellished with winged satyr heads and with, from west to east, winged caduceus, ribbons surrounding a bundle of fasces, a swan-handled chalice with sword and a flaming torch with garland. These are supported by foliated terra-cotta brackets with lion heads and cartouches, the sides of which are embellished with bead and reel moldings and ribbons. At the same level, at the central bay, is a band of blind-arched, red, terra-cotta detail, with three individual cartouches, inset below, similar to those on the balconettes, with from east to west, an incense burner, urn, and lyre. Each of the cartouches at this level appears to have Greek and Roman symbols. From the 3rd to the 15th floor the central bay is slightly recessed, lending to the illusion of verticality. The 12th through 15th floor center bay windows are surrounded by diaper-work patterned brick created by protruding header bricks. The arched, red, terra-cotta detail is repeated in the central bay at the 11th floor; this same detail spans across each bay of the 15th floor, and is repeated on the east and west facades of the building. At the outer bays, above the arched, red, terra-cotta details are two large terra-cotta cartouches. A more substantial broad, blind arcaded band serves as a base for the Corinthian colonnade and arcade of the roof garden. There are three arched openings on the main façade on the side bays flanking a central five bay colonnade. The arched, red, terra-cotta detail is repeated on the adjacent portions of the western and eastern facades, which have three bay-wide Palladian arcades with a gabled roof line.

The central tower is constructed of the same red brick as the north and south wings. The tower has two more stories than the wings of the H-plan. The 15th floor has two large, arched casement windows with iron balconettes on the east and west sides. The 16th floor has three smaller, arched casement windows with raised brick surrounds and a terra-cotta keystone cartouche and stone sills. These elements are repeated on the east side. Below the roof line and repeated on each side of the tower are a series of red, terra-cotta rosettes with header brick moldings. The tower is not visible from the north or south. The hipped roof has a single dormer on each side and is clad in copper.

The ground floor is now occupied by Empellon Al Pastor in addition to the hotel lobby. The roof terrace has a bar and lounge.

www.thepodhotel.com/