Wood, Dolson, & Co. Building (New York City, New York)

 commercial building  Add category

3-story Louis XVI-style commercial building completed in 1922. Designed by F. R. & A. Ware & John D. Boyd for the real estate firm Wood, Dolson & Co., it is clad in white marble. The facade is not quite aligned with Broadway, instead it is slightly faceted, angling back toward the north. The ground floor has a modernized storefront of plate-glass and aluminum with a central glass door (covered by a rounded, red canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk), and another glass door at the north end to the upper floors. The 2nd & 3rd floors each have three large windows set along the three facets of the facade, set in frames of ornamental black cast-bronze. It features Neo-classical urns on the spandrels. A band across the top is carved with the words "WOOD DOLSON CO INC", and the facade is crowned by a dentiled marble roof cornice.

Wood Dolson remained in its marble headquarters until 1940 when its lease expired and the company moved to another building on West 72nd Street. No. 2091 was renovated to house an office on the ground and top floors, with a "meeting room" on the 2nd. The 1st floor was leased by the West Side Defense Council in 1942 for use as a "master information center." While the West Side Defense Council continued its wartime work downstairs, the brokerage firm of Newburger, Loeb & Co. opened a branch office on the third floor. The 2nd floor became home to the Amsterdam Democratic Club. Today the ground floor is occupied by Bolton's clothing store.