30-48 West 75th Street

 rowhouse, apartment building

A row of ten 4-story (plus raised basements) Romanesque-revival residential buildings completed together in 1890. Designed by George H. Budlong, they are clad in sandstone, painted different shades on the various facades. Many have had their stoops and parlor-floor entrances replaced by basement level entrances a couple steps down from the sidewalk. The houses have variations of typical Romanesque designs.

No. 30 at the east end is painted white. It has a dogleg stoop winding up to the parlor-floor entrance with wood-and-glass double-doors and a transom with notched upper corners. There is a wide arched window to the left, above a square-headed basement window. Around the arch and above and to the right of the entry are dark-grey stone panels with intricate designs. A modillioned sill course sets off the 2nd floor, and there is a dentiled sill course below the 3rd-floor windows. Both of these floors have two bays of single-windows; at the 2nd floor the windows have surrounds of smooth stone (with ornamented imposts) breaking the rough-faced rustication of the facade. The top floor has a shallow, modillioned black metal cornice below three round-arched windows. The facade is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with a sloped slate roof rising to a peak with an urn on top; a small dormer projects from the front.

Nos. 32 & 34 share a nearly identical design and are both painted brown, a slightly lighter shade at No. 32. Both have glass-and-wood doors down several steps from the sidewalk; No. 34's is more recessed, and No. 32's has a simple stone molding. There are also different decorative iron grilles over the basement windows to the left of the entries. The parlor floors have two bays of round-arched windows - wider on the left, and narrower on the right where the original entrances were. The ornamented keystones above them have been shaved off at No. 32, which also has wood sash dividing the windows into more, smaller panes. Sill courses set off the three single-windows on the next floor of both facades, that on No. 32 being simple, and No. 34's having a pattern of discs and foliate ornament. There are also flat lintels above these windows at No. 34, joined by a thin cornice above. The next floor has paired windows, with a joined sill at No. 34. A grey metal cornice sets off the top floor of No. 32 - both houses have steep-sloped slate mansard roofs broken by paired windows at the top floor; these are flanked by pairs of short rope columns and topped by grey stone gables with foliate ornament.

No. 36 has a rusticated facade, rough-faced at the top three floors, and around the double-window at the basement level to the left of the entrance. Down two steps from the sidewalk are glass-and-iron double-doors below a shallow arched transom with iron tracery. The former parlor floor has two bays of shallow-arched windows, the western one (where the original entry was) being somewhat narrower. Both arches have flowery carved ornament above them, and a rounded base for a projecting bay of three windows springs from the top of this floor. The end windows are slightly angled, and the projecting bay is capped by a frieze of diagonal lines and a dentiled band course. The next floor has two single-windows set far apart, and the top floor a tripartite configuration of round-arched windows, with the larger center arch having two individual arched windows. A tall gable crowns the facade, with a very small arched window at its center.

No. 38 is painted light blue-grey, except at the basement level, which is brown, rough-faced, and rusticated. The stoop leads up to paneled wood-and-glass double-doors set in a round-arch. To the left is a double-window under another round-arch; both arches have drip moldings above them, and below the window is a basement window with an iron grille. A basement door is located in the side of the stoop. The 2nd floor has a sill course decorated with a band of alternating discs and leafy ornament. There are three single-windows on this floor, topped by adjoining splayed lintels, the center one being taller and a flat drip moldings, higher at the center, surmounting all three. The 3rd floor is set off by a string course and has two single-windows set far apart. The top floor is similar to those on Nos. 32 & 34, with a steep slate mansard and paired windows. Instead of spiral columns, they are framed by pilasters with Doric capitals. The gable on top has infill of a large arch with squiggly, winding ornament, and a medallion near the top. The gable and pilasters are all executed in black stone.

No. 40's facade is stripped and resurfaced in 1967, and is now painted light-grey. The entrance at the right side of the ground level has a glass door in a surround of polished grey granite. There is a double-window to the left. The next floor has two bays of double-windows, and the next two have two bays of single-windows, with simple sill courses running below. The top floor is slightly set-back, with a shallow terrace and metal railing in front. It has two bays of double-windows, with a small glass door in between. A concrete parapet with a pattern of diamonds set in squares caps the roof line.

No. 42 is brown, with a good deal of rough-faced rustication. It has a simple wood-framed glass door replacing the stoop on the right, with a double-window with an iron grille to the left. The former parlor floor has two shallow-arched bays of double-windows (the one replacing the original entry being slightly narrower). This floor, as well as the one above with a projecting, rounded bay of three windows, matches No. 36. The top two floors are slightly different, with round-arched windows at the 3rd floor, and square-headed windows in the tripartite composition at the top floor (these are flip-flopped from the design on No. 36). There is again a very small window in the middle of the crowning gable.

No. 44 has also been stripped of ornament and resurfaced, painted beige, with a design very similar to No. 40. The ground floor is rough-faced and rusticated, and painted a darker shade of beige. The entry on the right has a glass door in a surround of polished grey granite, and the double-window on the left has a decorative iron grille. The next floor has two bays of double-windows, followed on the next floor by single-windows. The next floor differs from No. 40 in having its two windows spaced close together. The top floor is the same, with a terrace and metal railing, but the roof line is different, with a metal railing on top instead.

No. 46 is similar to Nos. 32 & 34, but retains its high stoop and parlor-floor entrance. The facade is painted light brown, with the stoop and fluted surround framing the entry in beige. There are glass and wrought-iron double-doors, and the double-window to the left on the parlor floor is also framed by fluted pilasters. A molding with rounded upper corners surrounds the basement window below. The 2nd floor has three single-windows in surrounds with rounded corners, and the 3rd floor has two windows with similar surrounds. The top floor has the slate mansard, spiral columns, and gable to match Nos. 32 & 34, but with an additional skylight window cut into the mansard on either side of the two main windows.

No. 48 at the west end is a slightly darker brown, and is similar to No. 30, except for a rooftop addition, and having a straight stoop. The basement level next to the stoop is rough-faced and rusticated, and has a double-window with an iron grille, behind an iron fence. The parlor-floor entrance atop the stoop has black wood-and-glass double-doors below a transom with notched upper corners. To the left is a large round-arched window. There are intricate carvings above the ends of the arch, as well as above and to the right of the doorway. The 2nd floor is set off by a sill course with a double row of offset modillions; it is rusticated and has two single-windows with smooth stone surrounds with carved imposts and small cornices. The 3rd floor is smooth-faced and the two windows are not ornamented. The top floor is set off by a rounded band course with a pattern of organic loops, above a dentil course. There are three smaller round-arched windows, with short, squat pilasters between them and at the ends, each with a stylized capital. The original roof line has a dentil course below a corbelled black stone cornice. Set back behind this is a small rooftop addition faced in similar materials.