124 West 79th Street

USA / New Jersey / West New York / West 79th Street, 124
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160-foot, 16-story Renaissance-revival residential building completed in 1926. Designed by Gronenberg & Leuchtag, it is clad in red brick (with much of it replaced, resulting in areas of lighter/darker shades) and beige terra-cotta with a high, grey granite water table, rising toward the east due to the slope of the site.

The central entrance has black wood-and-glass double-doors in a stone molding, covered by a rounded, green canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. A pair of thin, elongated brackets carry a cornice above the canopy, surmounted by a vertical stone panel at the 2nd floor carved with foliate ornament. To either side of the entry is a bay of double-windows, followed by two bays of paired windows, and end bays with double-windows. The double-windows have black metal mullions, and at the ground floor they have simple stone surrounds; the others have brick surrounds and stone sills. There are some low basement openings at the sidewalk level, in the water table to the east of the entrance, and at the west end is a narrow, recessed basement entrance down a small, steep set of steps with iron handrails. All of the ground-floor windows have iron grilles. The base is capped by a terra-cotta band course.

The upper floors have two center bays of tripartite windows. These are flanked on either side by two bays of paired windows and end bays of double-windows - except for at the 3rd floor at 14th-15th floors, where all the outer bays have double-windows. There are terra-cotta surrounds at the 3rd floor bays, topped by bands with wavy patterns and small cartouches, surmounted by cornices. A band course with a wave motif sets off the 5th floor. At the 9th floor there are projecting terra-cotta balconies at the two center bays, with paneled front and side walls, decorated by centered shields. Protruding air-conditioning units also dot the facade.

The 13th floor has a string course below it and a dentiled band course above, and the 14th-15th floors have 2-story fluted pilasters framing the bays, topped by large round-arches. The terra-cotta spandrels between these two floors have cartouches flanked by garlands. The main roof line at the 15th floor is marked by a parapet with a row of shields and a stone coping. Set back above the roof line is a penthouse level, faced in white stucco on its western half and red brick on the east.

The east and west elevations of the building have light wells. The building contains 64 apartment units.
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Coordinates:   40°46'55"N   73°58'35"W
This article was last modified 7 years ago