South Pierre

 apartment building  Add category

225-foot, 19-story Renaissance-revival residential building completed in 1925 as a hotel. Designed by Maynicke & Franke, it opened as the Alamac Hotel, and was frequently used by Babe Ruth. It is clad in variegated reddish-brown brick above a 2-story limestone base, and has white terra-cotta ornament around the top. There is a grey-painted granite water table at the sidewalk level.

The simple main entrance is at the center of the north facade on 71st Street, with glass double-doors and a window to the left. On either side is a 4-over-6 window, and all three of these bays are covered by a suspended metal marquee with a X-pattern. Farther to the west is a small window and then glass-and-metal storefronts at the west end, which also continue along the west facade on Broadway. To the east there are three more bays of 4-over-6 windows, each with a black metal lintel decorated with swags. The far east end has a small commercial entrance with an aluminum-framed glass door and sidelight, and a set of grey metal service doors.

The upper floors on the north facade are arranged with three bays of 4-over-4 windows above the marquee, with another six bays to the east, and five bays to the west, the 2nd from the end having much smaller openings. Below the 2nd-5th bays from the east end are carved floral garlands in the stone. The base is capped by a thick band course.

The 3rd floor has stone surrounds at the three center bays, each topped by a triangular pediment with a cartouche flanked by swags. The other window bays on this floor have brick surrounds, with small limestone squares at the corners. The rest of the floors have simple stone sills, and there are simple limestone spandrel panels between the floors at the center three bays. The facade is dotted with protruding air-conditioning units. The east two bays set back above the 8th floor, with a series of additional setbacks above.

The remaining three east bays, and the western four bays, have a shallow setback above the 14th floor, where there is a stone string course and a brick parapet with terra-cotta panels at each bay. The next inner bays continue up another floor to a deeper setback, and the middle three bays rise straight to the 18th floor, where they have smaller windows, with a double-window in the middle. There are terra-cotta surrounds at the three middle bays on the 15th-17th floors, with swag-ornamented spandrels between the 16th & 17th. The 18th-floor windows at the middle three bays also have terra-cotta surrounds; this section is narrower than on the floors below. A peaked pediment tops this section, with a central medallion flanked by garlands, and urns at the ends. The white-stuccoed penthouse floor is a bit farther set-back.

There is a chamfered corner at the northwest, by the intersection of Broadway and 71st, with a single-window at each floor. The west facade on Broadway matches the design of the north facade. To the north of the three middle bays it has two bays of 4-over-4 windows and two more bays of narrower 3-over-4 windows that have thinner panes. To the south there are two of the wider 4-over-4 window bays, and an end bay of narrower windows.

The building contains 303 apartment units. The ground floor is occupied by Metro Deli, Pizza Collective, Just Salad restaurant, and R&L Nail Spa.