Dorchester Towers Condominiums (New York City, New York)

 condominiums, high-rise, 1965_construction, Modern (architecture)

333-foot, 34-story modernist residential building completed in 1965. Designed by S. J. Kessler & Sons, it occupies the full block, with a 20-story wing on Broadway and a 34-story wing on Amsterdam Avenue. The building is clad in white brick, with a landscaped circular drive on 68th Street, between the two wings. The main entrance is at the rear of the drive, with glass sliding doors and a black metal canopy. At the east end of the west wing, there is an entrance to the underground parking garage. Along Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue the ground floor is lined with storefronts, and on the north facade there is a long ramp to the parking garage exit between the two wings.

The east side of the south-facing wall of the 20-story central joining section between the two wings has a bay of triple-windows, a bay of double-windows, and a band with two double-windows joined by a center pane. The west side is slightly more recessed, and has a bay of single-windows and a bay with four window panes. All the windows are set in aluminum framing. The angled, west-facing wall of the south park of the east wing has a bay of four windows, a double-window bay, a bay with two double-windows joined by a center pane, a bay of triple-windows, and a bay of single-windows at the south end. This end bay terminates at a setback above the 18th floor. The west half of the east wing's south facade has two bays of single-windows, a bay of smaller bathroom windows, and a bay of double-windows. A notched corner with west-facing single-windows joins to a the east half of the east wing, which projects farther south. It has a bay of double-windows on its west-facing wall, changing to two single-windows at the 14th-15th floors, with a setback above the 15th. The south-facing wall of this projecting section has only a bay of small single-windows. Above the 18th-floor setback at the two western bays, the 19th & 20th floors are set at an angle, with two bays of single-windows. The east-facing wall of the 34-story west wing's south section has four bays - three with double-windows joined by center panes, and an end bay at the south with double-windows. The end bays set back above the 14th floor, and the next bay splits into a single-window and double-window at the 15th & 16th floors, with a small setback above the 16th, then back to the wide bay configuration at the 17th & 18th floors, where there is another setback, with just double-windows at the 19th & 20th floors, where this bay terminates. The bay closest to the 20-story center joining section changes to a single-window and triple-window above the 20th floor continuing up the east facade of the taller wing. The upper floors of the 34-story wing's east facade have, from south to north, a bay with two double-windows joined by a center pane, a single-window, a double-windows, a 4-window bay, three bays of single-windows, a double-window bay, another bay of double-windows joined by a center pane, and a single-window bay at the north end.

The south facade of the west wing has a single-window bay at the west, followed by a bay of smaller bathroom windows, a 4-window bay, a double-window bay, another bay of smaller bathroom windows, and a single-window bay at the east. The east third sets back above the 14th floor, and the middle third above the 16th, both with angled facets above. The west bays set back above the 18th floor, and there is a final setback across the full south facade of the west wing above the 20th floor. At the uppermost floors the south facade has a bay of single-windows and double-windows on the east end, and the further-recessed west end has a bay of double-windows between two single-windows. The west wing's north facade is a mirror image of the south, with the same setbacks.

The west facade along Amsterdam Avenue has end pavilions both with three bays of double-windows, and an angled bay of single-windows at the inner edge. The center of the facade is set back above the ground-floor storefronts, and has end bay of single-windows; in between are five bay of paired double-windows joined by a center pane, and a double-window bay near the middle. The end pavilions set back above the 18th floor, and terminate at the 20th, along with the single-window end bays at the center section. Above the 20th floor the outer wide bays of the center section continue as a bay of double-windows and one of single-windows up to the roof line.

The deeply-recessed north facade of the connecting section has a bay of 4-windows and a bay of double-windows on the left, then an angled bay of double-windows back to the more recessed east bay, which has 4 windows. The east-facing wall of the west wing's north section has two bays of paired double-windows joined by a center pane at the south end; these continue all the way up to the 34th floor, but the northern one changes to single-windows above the 20th floor. To the north is another bay of paired double-windows joined by a center pane, and a northern end bay of double-windows; these both end at the series of setbacks near the 20th floor.

The north-facing wall of the east wing's north section has two bays of double-windows at the right, and a single-window bay at the left. The west-facing wall of this section has two bays of single-windows with a bay of smaller bathroom windows between them, and a 4-window bay at the rear. The slightly-angled east facade along Broadway has two bays of triple-windows at the north end, followed by five bays of paired double-windows joined by center panes, a double-window bay, another bay of paired double-windows joined by a center pane, a triple-window bay, and a double-window bay at the south end.

The building contains 680 condominium units. The ground floor along the avenues is occupied by Morton Williams Marketplace, Northwell Health Urgent Care Center, Open Sesame Dentistry, Leicht German Kitchen Center, Vanguard wine bar, Upper West Spa, Chateau Drug & Homecare, Tower West Cleaners, and Pottery Painting.