Pictorial Review Co. Building

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13-story office building completed in multiple stages. The original structure was completed in 1910, at No. 216-220, designed by Frederick C. Browne, with 12 floors. A matching 12-story addition by Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker was completed in 1915, at No. 222-226. At this time, the existing 4-story townhouse at No. 214 was acquired to preserve light and air to the taller buildings, but was already replaced by 1917 with a narrow 12-story addition, which then served to connect to the latest and easternmost addition, a 12-story structure at the corner of 7th Avenue & 39th Street, which was completed in 1919, also by Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker. This last addition was grander and stylistically different than the original building, and only lasted 10 years before it was torn down and replaced by the 30-story Adler Building. The 12-story connecting addition survives, and today, along with the matching facades at 216-226 West 39th (now with a 13th floor added) are all joined as a complex and unified under the address of 214 West 39th.

The matching, larger facades at Nos. 216-226 are clad in banded, buff-colored brick above a 3-story stone base. A grand central entrance is set in a 2-story round-arch of glass and brass. The arch is framed by a pair of projecting limestone piers on black granite bases, supporting a large entablature bearing the name of the building's former occupant, "THE PICTORIAL REVIEW COMPANY". The two piers have wall sconces at the 1st floor, and projecting flagpoles at the 2nd floor. To either side, the ground floor has glass, black granite, and brass storefronts, and end bays also framed by limestone piers on black granite bases. The entrances in the end bays are topped by black granite panels surmounted by modillioned limestone cornices. There are large windows at the 2nd floor, on either side of the central arch. The entire 2nd floor is capped by a stone cornice. The 3rd floor, with limestone piers, has deeply-recessed single-windows in the end bays, two single-windows in the center, and five windows on either side (three wider windows flanked by two slightly smaller panes).

There are similar single-window openings in the upper floors; from the 5th-9th floors the 5-window groups on either side of the middle bay have dark-red colored stone in place of the banded brick. Here the piers are paneled and the spandrels are ornamented with diamond shapes. A simple entablature above the 9th floor and another above the 10th create a transitional 10th floor with square-headed windows separated by plain brick piers. The 11th & 12th floors reflect the organization of the base; the bays are defined by double-height brick piers with stone bases and capitals, supporting a simple entablature with ornamental cast-stone roundels. A plain 13th floor, added later, has no ornamental detail at all. The western elevation is clad in reddish-brown brick, almost void of windows.

The narrow 12-story facade at the east side is clad in a lighter shade of brick above a 3-story limestone base. There is a 2-story pointed-arch at the lowest floors, with a brass-and-glass storefront matching those on the main facade, and topped by a matching granite and brass panel. At the 2nd floor, the pointed-arch is filled by multi-paned windows divided into three main sections of small square panes. The 3rd floor, above a narrow cornice, has one large openings flanked by paneled piers (topped with small stone urns) and filled with a similar grid of small square panes, separated into three window groups.

The upper floors have similar tripartite grouped windows with small square panes between the brick piers. Each floor has a projecting cast-stone sill and projecting cast-stone label lintel. Treatment of the upper floors becomes progressively more ornamental, with cast-stone detailing. The top two floors have three windows set in a very shallow segmental-arch.

The ground floor is occupied by The Dean NYC bar, ASD Leather Goods, Ayazmoon Fabrics, and Bao Bao Cafe.

hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015034804636?urlappend=%3Bseq...