261 West 36th Street

 office building, 1911_construction

150-foot, 12-story office building completed in 1911. Designed by Neville & Bagge, it is clad in buff-colored brick above a 3-story white-painted limestone base. The bottom two floors are rusticated, with a pair of storefronts in the middle and entrances at the ends set under segmental-arches. The western one is the main entrance, with a glass-and-metal door up a single step; the eastern one has metal service doors. Both arches have an ornamental keystone at the top. The 2nd floor has a wide band of iron-framed windows in the middle, covered by a small, sloped metal roof. At the end bays are narrow single-windows with stone sills and triangular pediments supported by console brackets, surrounding carved ornament including acanthus leaves.

The 3rd floor is transitional, above a patterned band course; it has stone piers with inset brick panels, bordered by egg-and-dart moldings, dividing the facade into three middle bays and two narrow end bays. The middle bays each have a tripartite window with black metal mullions. At the top of each pier is a cartouche-like element with a flourish of carved stone ornament; these are surmounted by a modillioned cornice.

The upper floors have the same windows as on the 3rd floor. There are stone lintels above the end-bay windows, and stone spandrels between floors at the middle bays, each with panels of cast-stone decoration, including shields, swags and foliate ornament. Midway up the 10th floor, the piers have stone capitals and support segmental-arches at the tops of the three middle bays; each arch is crowned by a large and elaborate keystone with flanking ornament.

The top two floors, above a stone cornice, have brick piers edged with stone and topped by stylized Corinthian capitals. Carved spandrels separate the floors in each bay, and the middle bays have paired windows, topped by segmental-arches at the 12th floor, divided by single stone columns. A brick roof parapet crowns the facade. The ground floor is occupied by Botani Fabrics and Elegant Garments.