34 East 23rd Street

 office building, 1850s construction, Beaux-Arts (architecture)

6-story Beaux-Arts office building originally completed in the 1850s as a 5-story townhouse. It was altered for commercial use in 1891, housing the shop of dressmaker Miss Macheret. In 1904 the handsome façade with its 2nd-floor bay window was stripped off to be replaced by an up-to-date Beaux-Arts limestone front.

An expansive 1st-floor show window was framed in stone, capped by a modest cornice with dentil molding, now painted grey. Above a central 3-story recessed arch is framed in rusticated stone. The recessed openings were accentuated by a concave enframement; out of which burst forth an aggressive 2-story projecting bay with angled side windows and transoms, framed in beige cast-iron. The 3rd floor is topped by a dentiled triangular pediment over the center window, crowned by a balcony with cast-iron railings fronting the 4th floor. Three sumptuously carved stone brackets support a cornice-balcony at the uppermost floor, spanning the full width of the facade and also having iron railings. The 5th floor has three recessed square-headed windows, with carved stone ornament on the outer piers. The cornice that capped the 5th floor has been removed. There is also a set-back penthouse level above the roof line.

In the early part of the century, the 2nd & 3rd floor were leased to the Pomeroy Company, who made artificial limbs. With the United States’ entry into World War I a new tenant moved in—the U.S. Navy Recruiting Station. On March 29, 1917 alone 97 men applied. A year later, in May 1918, the recruiting officers were taking in about 500 men every week. The recruiting office remained even after the end of the war. Architects William O. Prescott and David Cairns Scott opened their office here shortly after, and remained for several decades. Bookman Associates, book publishers, would move in during mid-century. Today a variety of small businesses fill the spaces where early tenants stayed on for decades.