181-199 Columbus Avenue

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A complex of five 5-story Romanesque-revival residential/commercial buildings completed together in 1893. Designed by Gilbert A. Schellenger, they are clad in orange brick and terra-cotta above brownstone ground floors that are lined with modernized storefronts along the avenue. The buildings are grouped into three on 69th Street and two on 68th Street with a narrow space in between; they are linked by a 1-story commercial space at the middle of the Columbus Avenue frontage.

At the ground floor along the avenue the piers are banded with rough-faced stone, and there are a variety of plate-glass storefronts capped by a stone cornice. The rusticated south facade on 68th Street has a large, segmental-arched display-window at the west end, followed by a small round-arched opening with metal louvers, set up high on the ground floor. Next there is a slightly-projecting entrance bay atop a low stoop. It has wood-and-glass double-doors recessed within a round-arch, flanked by short, paired columns with stylized capitals there is large-scale foliate ornament above the arch. To the east is a segmental-arched double-window and another entrance and stoop matching the other one.

The upper floors span five bays with single-windows topped by brownstone lintels, except in the 2nd bay from the west, where the openings are simply filled with brick. The piers between the bays project, and are topped at the 3rd floor by stylized terra-cotta capitals; the 3rd-floor windows are round-arched and brick voussoirs lining the arches spring from the piers' capitals. There are terra-cotta spandrel panels between the window bays between the 2nd-4th floors, each carved with intricate foliate ornament. The top floor is set off by a black metal cornice and has square-headed windows; an egg-and-dart molding runs across the brownstone lintels and across the piers. There are paneled spandrels above the bays, some with carved terra-cotta ornament. A black iron fire escape runs down the easternmost bay.

The southwest and northwest corners of both the south and north facades along the avenue are rounded with single-window bays. The pattern of windows and ornament matches that established on the south facade. Both west facades on the avenue span 10 total bays (not including the rounded corner bays). The south end bay on the south facade, and the north end bay on the north facade, have blind opening without windows. The other bays have single-windows, except for the slightly wider bays flanking the two middle bays on each facade, which have tripartite windows at the north facade, and off-set double-windows at the south facade, with wide black metal mullions. Above the 1-story connecting section, the upper walls facing each other are clad in plain brick with no openings.

The north facade on 69th Street is similar to the other facades, but somewhat wider than its southern counterpart on 68th Street. It spans a total of 11 bays, with no windows in the 2nd bay from the west. It has three round-arched entrances at the ground floor, with segmental-arched storefronts in the other ground-floor bays. Another fire escape runs down the 2nd & 3rd bays from the east. All of the main facades are crowned by a black metal roof cornice with slender brackets, modillions, an egg-and-dart molding, and a frieze with garlands, rounded around the corners.

There is a basement restaurant space on 68th Street, occupied by La Boite en Bois restaurant. The ground floor along the avenue is occupied by Rothy's women's clothing, Warby Parker eyewear, Joe Coffee, Vive la Crepe restaurant, Gas Bijoux Accessories, Wade Maxx Art & Framing, Empire Szechuan Chinese restaurant, and Reiss clothing store. On 69th Street is Barry's Gym, with Ecowash laundry in the basement.