40-56 West 76th Street

 condominium, townhome, rowhouse, apartment building

A row of nine 4-story (plus raised basements) Renaissance-revival residential buildings completed together in 1889. Designed by George M. Walgrove, they are clad in brownstone painted various shades, and each has an individualized design. All have been converted to either rental apartments, co-ops, or condominiums, except for No. 52, which remains a single-family townhome.

No. 40 at the east end is painted white, with a dog-legged box stoop winding down and to the right from a parlor-floor entrance with wood-and-glass double-doors and a transom, framed by fluted pilasters carrying an entablature with a frieze of floral ornament and a cornice. Behind and next to the stoop the basement level has two single-windows with iron grilles. There are two taller windows to the right of the entrance, with carved foliate panels below; they are separated by around Corinthian column sprinfing from a plinth and carved floral base at the top of the basement level. The column supports the rounded base of a projecting 2-window angled bay at the 2nd floor; the base includes an egg-and-dart molding. To the left of the projecting bay, which is capped by iron cresting, is a single-window in a simple surround. The top two floors have three bays of single-windows, with bracketed cornices at the 3rd floor, and full surrounds at the 4th floor, including a cornice above the center bay. The facade is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with dentils, brackets, and panels - the middle ones having swags.

No. 42 is painted brown has its stoop replaced by a ground-level entrance with a wood-and-glass door on the left. To the right is a 3-story, projecting, bay of three windows with angled sides. The shorter basement windows have iron grilles, with subtle carved ornament above them. At the parlor floor, the tall single-window on the left has a rope molding around it, above which is a carved panel of foliate ornament between a pair of console brackets supporting a cornice. The cornice extends across the projecting bay, which has slender spiral colonnettes edging each facet, and carved panels of Renaissance ornament below. The next floor has a band course and cornice capping the projecting bay, surmounted by iron cresting. The single-window to the left has a full stone surround, as do the three single-windows at the top two floors, with sill courses and small cornices. The facade is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with very large modillions and a row of squares with X-shaped Renaissance ornament across the fascia board.

No. 44 is also brown, and retains its high stoop on the left, leading up to a parlor-floor entrance with glass-and-wood double-doors and a fanlight in a low arch. The stone around the entry is rough-faced and rusticated, with elaborate foliate ornament around the arch, and a keystone bearing a bearded face, surmounted by a thin cornice with an egg-and-dart molding. To the right of the stoop (which has a round-arched basement entrance in its side) is a set of paired windows with short lower panes near the base, each with an iron grille. Flanking this pair are console brackets carrying a 2-story, shallow-projecting bay of paired windows framed by simple pilasters. There is a carved panel of foliate ornament at the base of this bay, and simple rosettes at the upper corners of both floors; the egg-and-dart molding and cornice continue across the top of the parlor floor, with a thin cornice without a molding topping the next floor. There is a single-window to the left, with a full stone surround that has a small peak in the center of the top. The top two floors have three bays of these windows, with lightly incised fleur-de-lys above the small peaks. Both top floors have sill courses, narrow beaded string courses at the shoulders of the windows, and the 3rd floor also has rosettes between the fleur-de-lys. The facade is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with console brackets; the two middle panels are adorned with medallions, and the end panels have urns.

No. 46 is painted white, with the ground level re-faced in orange brick and a new entrance added in place of the original stoop. It has a glass door, down two steps from the sidewalk, with metal numbers "46" above the entry. A modern black metal railing encloses the areaway in front of the facade. There are two windows to the right, with iron grilles, and vents below them. Between the tops of these windows is a white Corinthian base for the projecting, squared, 3-part pilaster at the parlor floor that separates the two single-windows on the right side. Single pilasters framed the ends of these windows, and to the left is a wider window replacing the original parlor-floor entrance, framed by matching pilasters, each of which has a capital with an egg-and-dart molding above a rosette. Above the former doorway is a panel with intricate floral ornament and two short, fluted brackets carrying a balustrade below the single-window on the next floor, which has a full surround and cornice. To the right is a projecting bay of three windows with angled sides. Below the windows are panels with garlands, and the projecting bay springs from a rounded base with subtle leafy designs. The projecting bay is capped by a cornice and iron cresting. The top two floors have three single-windows (the eastern ones set slightly farther apart), and have thin sill courses (with brackets at the top floor) and full surrounds with cornices - the middle one being higher at the 3rd floor. There is also a continuation of the narrow beaded string courses at the shoulders of the windows from the adjoining facade to the east. This house is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with paired brackets.

No. 48 is painted brown and also has its stoop replaced by a ground-level basement entry on the left, with a white wood-and-glass door between slender white columns. A white metal fence enclosed the areaway in front of the ground level, which is rusticated, and has a tripartite segmental-arched window in the middle, with white wooden framing, and a narrow window at the right. The parlor floor is fronted by a white metal balcony railing, and has a wide window replacing the former entrance on the left, and paired narrow windows on the right, framed by fluted pilasters. This arrangement is repeated on the upper floors, but with each window the same size. The single-windows on the left have full stone surrounds, topped by a triangular pediment at the 2nd floor, a rounded pediment at the 3rd floor, and a cornice at the 4th floor. Narrow string courses divide each floor. The paired-window bay to the right has fluted pilasters flanking the windows at the 2nd floor, and paneled pilasters at the 3rd floor. The facade is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with console brackets.

No. 50 is a greyer shade of brown, and has a dog-legged box stoop on the left, leading up to a parlor-floor entrance with wood-and-glass double-doors and a transom. The stoop features sloped side rails on both the upper and lower portions, and a carved panel of Renaissance ornament on the front wall, above a wrought-iron basement grille. The basement level is rough-faced and has two windows with iron grilles, the eastern one set behind the end of the stoop. The parlor floor has rough-faced banding, and two narrow single-windows to the right of the entry, with carved panels below. Small fluted brackets frame the doorway as well as the windows; those at the doorway carry an entablature with Renaissance ornament and a cornice that extends across the rest of the parlor floor. The upper floors have three bays of single-windows with full stone surrounds including bracketed sills and cornices - except for the center bay at the 2nd floor, which has a rounded, projecting, shell sill, and two foliate brackets carrying a rounded pediment. The center bay at the 3rd floor has a keystone flanked by foliate ornament, surmounted by a triangular pediment in place of a cornice, and the top floor's center bay has its cornice set higher up. The facade is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with very large modillions and a row of squares with X-shaped Renaissance ornament across the fascia board.

No. 52 is painted bright white, and has a high stoop (with dark-grey steps) on the left leading up to a parlor-floor entrance with black wood-and-glass double-doors and a transom. The upper part of the doorway is flanked by slender Corinthian colonnettes springing from small bases, with more-projecting blocks above that carry a triangular pediment; there is floral ornament in a panel between the supporting blocks above the transom. The basement level, behind a small iron gate and a white stone planter box, has short paired windows with iron grilles. The right side of the parlor floor (which, along with the basement level, projects out to the end of the entry pediment) has tall paired windows with iron grilles, with a wide, carved foliate panel below and two shorter ones above. These are surmounted by a taller panel of elaborate ornament flanked by carved ogees that form the base of a projecting 3-window bay at the 2nd floor, with narrow windows in the angled side facets. The front-facing middle facet is topped by a triangular pediment. To the left is a single-window with a full white stone surround and bracketed cornice. The top two floors have the same single-window on the left, and paired windows on the right with matching surrounds and cornices. The facade is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with large modillions and panels across the fascia board.

No. 54 is painted grey, with a high stoop on the left leading up to a parlor-floor entrance with dark-grey wood-and-glass double-doors and a fanlight in a round-arch. The doorway and the segmental-arched paired windows to the right are both surrounded by rough-faced stone, with keystones of bearded faces below drip moldings. The basement level is also rough-faced, with paired windows with iron grilles. Above the paired-window keystone on the parlor floor, the rounded base of a projecting bay at the 2nd floor is decorated with a wreath and ribbons. The projecting bay has paired windows with a band of medallions across the bay at the shoulders of the windows, and is capped by a cornice. To the left is a single-window with a hooded cornice. The top two floors have single-windows on the left, and paired windows on the right, both with full surrounds including bracketed sills and cornices. The facade is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with scaled console brackets and panels.

No. 56 at the west end is painted dark-brown, with the high stoop on the left painted a lighter tan shade. There is an angled bay at the middle, connecting to the projecting west bay, with these extending the full height of the facade. The basement level has two windows with iron grilles, and there is a round-arched basement doorway in the side of the stoop. The main entrance has wood-and-glass double-doors and a transom flanked by pilasters that bulge out toward the tops, with the capitals adorned by rosettes. Surmounting these, short foliate brackets carry a triangular pediment with a central shell decoration. There are carved foliate panels below the windows in the two bays to the right, as well as below those on the 2nd floor. The windows on the top three floors all have full stone surrounds with bracketed sills and hooded cornices. The facade is crowned by a black metal roof cornice that follows the angled and projecting bays, with scaled brackets and panels that match those on the adjoining house to the east.