81 Irving Place (New York City, New York)

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184-foot, 16-story Italian-Renaissance cooperative-apartment building completed in 1930. Designed by George F. Pelham for developer Louis Cowan, it is clad in variegated brown brick with light-tan terra-cotta ornament. It has a 3-story base, with the main entrance at the north end on Irving Place. The doors are framed by terra-cotta pilasters with rope moldings and floral ornament, topped by stylized animal figures, between which a rounded canvas canopy extends out over the sidewalk. The three bays to the south have triple-windows of leaded-glass behind a landscaping bed. They are separated by spiral pilasters topped by gargoyles, and the middle two are topped by carved limestone-and-brick lunettes enclosing terra-cotta medallions of phoenixes. These repeat at the outer bays on the 2nd floor of the east facade, while the middle two bays have simpler gridded casement windows of leaded-glass - one large expanse in the north middle bay, while the south middle bay is split into two narrower window openings, the southern one narrowest. These repeat on the 3rd floor, with the outer bays matching the north-middle bay. Creative brickwork creates dimension at the base, and rectangular decorative shields and plaques also dot the façade. A band of brick dentils and small terra-cotta squares with gargoyle faces lines the top of the base.

The upper floors have three bays of larger casement windows, and two narrower ones. The building's sculpted, projecting terra-cotta balconies with angled sides are terrific and powerful accents that force the eye to dart about the façade, whose brickwork is quite intricate. There are setbacks above the 12th, 14th, and 15th floors, and prominent gargoyles project from the roof line.

The south facade on 19th Street is wider, spanning nine bays of varying widths. At the ground floor two of them have smaller, secondary entrances. The outer three bays on each side have setbacks, while the middle three bays rise to the 14th floor before setting back, again highlighted by impressive gargoyles at the corners. The building was converted to a co-op in 1983, with 102 apartments.

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