Spear & Company Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, Modern (architecture)

6-story office building completed in 1937 to a design by DeYoung & Moskowitz as offices for Spear & Company, a furniture concern. There is a narrow 4-story wing extending through the block to 33rd Street. The main facade on 34th Street is faced in beige stucco above a ground floor lined with storefronts. Near the east end of the building there are bands of four small windows on each floor; between each band the facade curves back, with two more windows facing the side. From here, the facades angles gently back towards the building line at the west end. Close to the west edge is another band of four small windows at each of the top four floors. The 2nd floor has larger windows partially covered by signage above the storefronts below. The west elevation is a plain stuccoed wall.

This radically modern and minimalist store façade is a striking example of “building as signage.” The building’s bold lines and stark whiteness was designed to grab pedestrians’ attention along highly trafficked 34th Street. The audacious simplicity of the design makes it particularly vulnerable to poor alterations and signage. Under-bulk, it also occupies a sensitive site next door to the Empire State Building.

The ground floor is occupied by Fibriano Italia, Timberland outdoor apparel, a smoke shop, and Build-a-Bear Workshop.

The 4-story facade on 33rd Street is clad in red brick above a modernized ground-floor storefront of black stone and glass. The 2nd floor has a band of three large windows with metal transoms; the top two floors have bands of five windows. The brick spandrels between floors are decorated with outlines in contrasting brick and brick diamond shapes in the centers. The brick roof parapet is stepped up in the center and topped by a stone coping. The east elevation is clad in red brick, partially parged, with beige brick at the ground floor, which is occupied by Dim Sum Palace.

daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/03/overlooked-moder...
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www.scoutingny.com/the-strange-little-building-next-to-...
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