Plaza West

 high-rise, apartment building, 1990_construction

200-foot, 18-story postmodern residential building completed in 1990. Designed by Avinash K. Malhotra Architects, it is clad in variegated red brick. There is landscaped plaza space extending out in front of the tower on the north and east sides, enclosed on the east by an orange brick wall, and on the north by a lower red brick wall topped by an iron fence. At the center of this wall is an opening with glass doors, behind which is a set of steps and a grey canopy leading back to the main entrance, which has another set of glass double-doors. The opening at the sidewalk is framed by an attractive brick porte-corchere with a stepped portico whose motif is repeated on the building's roof line.

The upper floors of the north facade have a small center bay with two narrow vertical panes above a horizontal pane. On either side is another set of two narrow vertical panes (but with a metal air-conditioning vent below instead of another glass pane) and a tripartite window with another vent below its inner portion. The windows have red metal framing, and there are exposed floor plates of white concrete between each floor. At the top floor the middle bay is replaced by a decorative circle outlined in blue brick, with its top half in stone, rising above to the stepped-up area that crowns the roof line.

The east facade facing Dyer Avenue has the same exposed floor plates. The south end has a tripartite window paired with a narrow double-window (with vents only below the double-window), and then two narrow double-windows, both with vents below. Continuing north is a bay of small bathroom windows, a smaller double-window, and another double-window of the same size as those to the south, again with a vent below. A second north-end double-window bay begins at the 10th floor. Most of this facade sets back above the 17th floor, with the 18th floor at the north end consisting of two narrow double-windows. The west facade is a mirror-image of the east elevation.

The south facade is crossed by exposed floor plates, but has no openings. The building contains 86 apartment units.