32-40 West 89th Street

 rowhouse, apartment building

A row of five 4-story (plus raised basements) Northern Renaissance-revival residential buildings completed together in 1893. Designed by Thom & Wilson, they are clad in painted brownstone and arranged in a symmetrical A-B-A-B-A pattern.

No. 32 at the east end has a dog-legged box stoop winding down and left from a parlor-floor entrance with wood-and-glass double-doors and a transom. The upper sidewalls of the stoop descend in steps, and the sidewalls around the mid-landing have square cutouts. Enormous foliate brackets frame the entrance, topped by short, fluted columns with modified Ionic capitals supporting an entablature with foliate ornament and a cornice with two rows of dentils and an egg-and-dart molding. The basement level is rough-faced and has two single-windows with iron grilles; there are a round-arched, gate basement entry in the side of the stoop. To the left of the parlor-floor entrance is a triple-window with upper transom panes (each opening surrounded by a rope molding) and foliate panels below. A dentiled lintel runs above the windows, and an egg-and-dart molding extends from the cornice over the entrance to cover the rest of the parlor floor. The 2nd floor is set off by a band course with three sets of garlands, ribbons, and bows, and has three bays of single-windows in surrounds with double bead moldings; there are egg-and-dart cornices above each window, and a dentiled string course below. A fan-shaped flourish of foliate ornament tops the center window. The 3rd floor has three smaller single-windows, with a dentiled sill course and a thinner dentil band across the top of the windows. The pilasters between these windows have foliate ornament. A modillioned cornice sets off the top floor, which has three windows separated by columns with Corinthian capitals. A seashell pediment tops the center bay, and the facade is crowned by a dark-green metal roof cornice with brackets, dentils and an ornamented frieze.

No. 34 has a high stoop on the right, leading up to a parlor-floor entrance with wood-and-glass double-doors and a transom. The sidewalls of the stoop stair-step down to newel posts with panels of foliate ornament and round caps. The basement level is rough-faced and has two single-windows with iron grilles. The two parlor-floor single-windows and the entrance all have surrounds with intricate leafy patterns, topped by thin cornices. There are also foliate carved panels below the windows. The 2nd floor has a bowed, projecting bay at the center, with three windows; its rounded base is lavishly carved with foliate ornament, and a band course along the bottom of the bay is bordered on top and bottom by egg-and-dart moldings extending the full width of the facade. There are three foliate panels below the windows, and unified surrounds around all three, ornamented with equally elaborate floral patterns and bead moldings. A panel along the top is adorned with ribbons and swags, and the projecting bay is capped by a dentiled cornice. The 3rd floor has two widely-spaced bays of single-windows with surrounds edges in delicate rope moldings. The top floor is set off by a modillioned cornice like the one to the left, and has a triple-window with wide paneled pilasters at the edges decorated with foliate ornament, and thinner pilasters in between with Renaissance ornament. A dentiled cornice across the top projects out slightly above the end pilasters' Ionic capitals. The facade is crowned by a bracketed black metal roof cornice that is interrupted at the center by a square stone panel rising above the center window; this panel is framed by fluted pilasters and has a fluted bottom half with a round-arch at the top. The top floor also has fluted pilasters at the edges of the facade.

No. 36 is painted bright white and matches the "A" design of No. 32. The steps of the stoop are brown, and the entrance has brown wood-and-glass double-doors and a transom. The roof cornice is also painted white.

No. 38 is dark-brown and repeats the "B" design of No. 34. It has black wood-and-glass double-doors and a transom, and a black roof cornice.

No. 40 at the west end is also dark-brown at repeats the "A" design. Its stoop has been replaced by a ground-level entrance with a paneled dark-brown wood-and-glass door down a step from the sidewalk. It is set in a yellow brick surround, with an angled facet to the left of the door. A large single-window replaces the original parlor-floor entrance, in a rope molding, but the rest of the facade is unchanged. The roof cornice is dark-brown.