101 West 68th Street (New York City, New York)

 apartment building, 1886_construction

5-story Neo-Grec residential building completed in 1886 as tenements. Designed by Babcock & McAvoy, it is divided into five 3-bay sections along the avenue. The northern four (also known as 182-188 Columbus Avenue) are clad in brownstone above modernized ground-floor storefronts. The south section (also known as 180 Columbus Avenue) is painted white with brownstone trim, and the south facade on 68th Street is clad in beige-painted brick with the ground-floor storefront extending across the east half.

Each of the east facade's sections has three bays of single-windows with full brownstone surrounds. They feature bracketed sills, fluting at the upper parts of the sides, and eared lintels topped by small cornices, with stylized capitals on the ears, just above the fluting. A string course runs below the top floor, and the facade is crowned by a brown metal roof cornice with console brackets alternating with rosettes. Three metal fire escapes run down the facade; the southern one has basket-style landings.

The south facade's ground floor has a small storefront at the west end, with a glass door up a couple of steps next to a narrow window. East of the small storefront is the main residential entrance, up two steps, with a glass door, sidelight, and transom framed by pilasters (fluted at the tops) with brown-painted stylized capitals surmounted by brackets supporting a small cornice. Farther east there is a metal service door adjacent to the main storefront at the east half of the ground floor. This storefront is metal-and-glass, and projects out on both facades, topped by a sloped, black-and-white striped canopy roof. A double string course tops the ground floor, and another sets off the top floor. The upper floors have two single-windows at the west end, and three more widely-spaced single-windows near the center. The east part has two more bays of single-windows, spaced far apart. The brownstone window surrounds match those on the east facade. A black metal fire escape with basket-style landings runs over the three bays near the middle, and the roof cornice continues onto this facade.

There are two shallow light wells at the rear, west-facing facade, with more fire escapes. The ground floor is occupied by Traviata Pizza, Il Violino restaurant, Rag & Bone menswear, Bluemercury skincare spa, Francesco Pizzeria, and Tea Too tea shop.