Fashion Tower

 office building, Neo-Gothic (architecture), interesting place

267-foot, 17-story Neo-Gothic office building completed in 1925 for the Mor-Ro Realty Corporation. Designed by Emery Roth, it is organized into five bays. The 3-story base is clad in limestone and sandstone, with a double-height ground floor. The storefront at the center of the ground floor has been modernized, with tall show-windows and thin metal frames. There are twin entrances to either side, the main entrance on the left and the service entrance on the right, which has grey metal doors. The main entrance has a glass-and-metal revolving door, slightly recessed. Both are set under shallow segmental-arches, surmounted foliate carvings around panels that read "NO. 135" at the west entry, and "FREIGHT" at the east. Both are topped by a square-headed window with wrought-iron grilles, flanked by elaborate and colorfully-painted stone reliefs of peacocks. A small cornice tops both entrances.

The 2nd floor is separated by a row of ornamented black cast-iron panels in the center, and has three sets of double-windows joined by 2-over-1 narrow windows in between. The end bays have tripartite windows in black iron frames. The whole center section from the ground floor to the top of the 2nd is framed within an intricately patterned molding. At the 3rd floor the facade is split into five individual bays, each with a tripartite window. The piers between the bays are ornamented with semi-abstract vertical panels of carved stone reliefs, edged in blue backgrounds. Below the center bays of the 3rd floor is a stone band with reliefs of winged angels holding drapery fabric inscribed "FASHION TOWER". Just to the outside of the angels are a pair of smaller square reliefs with rosettes and foliate carvings. The 3rd floor is capped by a cornice that serves as the base of the 4th-floor, with rosettes projecting down from the cornice at each of the piers above.

The 4th floor has paired, tall round-arched window openings in each bay, with spiral surrounds and other ornament. The 5th- and 6th-floor windows continue the five-bay division, with tripartite windows with intricate ornamental spandrels set in double-height bays defined by double-height stone piers (fluted at the top halves) and topped by segmental-arches with elaborate reliefs, including colored figures at the ends of each arch of seated figures admiring themselves in handheld mirrors.

In the upper floors, the brick-faced shaft has paired square-headed windows in each of the five bays, with more intricately carved stone spandrels. The three center bays set back above the 16th floor, while the end bays continue to the 17th. Each of the bays terminates with pointed projections topping each spandrel.

The ground floor is occupied by Damee New York women's clothing store.

daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2014/11/emery-roths-1925...
old.skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/URBAN_FABRIC/wall06.php
books.google.com/books?id=HdLMDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT115&am...
www.grtarchitects.com/projects/fashion-tower