175 West 81st Street

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5-story Romanesque/Renaissance-revival residential building completed in 1890. Designed by A.B. Ogden & Son, it was built at the same time as the four apartment buildings to the west, all of which were by the same architect, but with a differing design.

The ground floor along the avenue has cast-iron piers separating four bays of metal-and-glass storefronts, the southern one with a 1-story projecting metal-and-glass area that extends onto the sidewalk. A row of rosettes decorates an iron band that tops the ground floor. On the south facade on 81st Street has a section of storefront at the west end, with the rest of the ground floor clad in rusticated, brown-painted stone. There is a gated storefront entrance with a stone surround next to the plate-glass of the storefront, and to its right is a narrow window with a rounded top and bottom. At the east end is the residential entrance, with iron-and-glass double-doors and fanlight recessed in a round-arch. The entrance is very similar to those at Nos. 167-173 next door, with plinths supporting angled pilasters with engaged columns flanking the doorway, and foliate ornament above the arch, which is capped by a cornice.

The upper floors are clad in pale orange brick with beige stone trim. String courses run below each floor, and thinner string courses cross the facades a little more than halfway up each window. The south facade has a bay of paired windows at the east end, with three bays of single-windows to the west. The west end bay has pilasters framing the windows at the 2nd-4th floors, fluted at the 2nd floor, with hooded lintels on short, scrolled brackets at all three floors. The two middle bays have matching brackets carrying rounded lintels with Renaissance ornament at the 2nd floor, and peaked lintels at the 3rd & 4th floors. The paired-window bay has a wider, carved pilaster between the windows at the 2nd floor, and paneled pilasters between the windows at the other floors, each topped by a wider scrolled bracket carrying a hooded lintel. The top floor has round-arched windows with corniced lintels. The two middle bays project out just slightly from the outer bays, and a metal fire escape runs down the eastern of the two middle bays.

On the longer west facade there is a slightly projecting shaft at the center that is only crosses by the string courses framing the 4th floor. Between these is a large roundel with compass-point keystones and an inscribed rosettes. At the 2nd floor there is a segmental-arched, eared lintel with a keystone, framing a small stone panel instead of a window. To the south is a bay of segmental-arched double-windows paired with a single-window, and then two more single-window bays. To the north there is another segmental-arched double-window paired with a single-window, followed by two paired-window bays (at the top floor all of the windows are round-arched paired or single-windows). The double-windows have brown iron, grooved mullions dividing them, topped by splayed lintels with keystones. The other windows match those on the south facade, with the same pilasters, brackets, and lintels on each floor. A beige metal fire escape runs down the 2nd bay from the north, with another spanning two of the single-window bays near the south end. Both main facades are crowned by a beige metal roof cornice with brackets alternating with decorative square panels.

The north elevation is also brick, and has a few bay of single-windows without any embellishment. The ground floor along the avenue is occupied by St. James Gate Irish Pub, Gazala's restaurant, and Blondi's Hair Salon.