The Van Gogh

USA / New Jersey / West New York / West 94th Street, 210
 apartment building  Add category

7-story Beaux-Arts residential building completed in 1900. Designed by George Hill, it opened as apartments, but was then joined to the 12-story hotel building to the south via a 1-story commercial annex in 1908, and together they operated as the Bonta-Narragansett Hotel, continuing in this capacity until it was sold in foreclosure in 1941. By 1942 the Bonta portion of the hotel was converted back to apartments, now called the Van Gogh.

The facade is clad in red brick with tan brick trim above a 2-story banded limestone base. The entrance is near the center of the 9-bay north facade on 94th Street, in the 4th bay from the west, with a glass-and-wood door and sidelights atop three granite steps, below a rounded red canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. On either side are two small openings, now filled by either vents or metal panels and screens. Farther to the east are two small storefront fronts, one with windows and the other with glass door, and then a 2-bay restaurant space at the end - the narrow first bay having a wood-and-glass door and the wider second bay having similar double-doors with an arched fanlight. The west end of the ground floor has a black stone, metal, and glass restaurant storefront with a projecting glass-and-stainless-steel seating area with a sloped roof. This storefront continues on the west facade facing Broadway, with another two storefronts to the south.

The upper floors on the north facade has single-windows in each bay. At the 2nd floor they have projecting stone sills and splayed lintels, and a band course sets off the brick upper floors. The 3rd-5th floors have slightly-projecting surrounds of tan brick flanked by tan brick quoins. The 4th-floor windows have shallow iron Juliet balconies carried on pairs of stone brackets. Spandrel panels between the 4th & 5th floors have tan terra-cotta garlands flanked by ribbed, square brackets with rounded bases. Triglyph brackets at the top of the 5th floor are topped by scrolled bracket forms that interrupt a ribbed stone band course, with dentils and a cornice on top, and scrolled brackets flanked by garlands within each bay. There are red brick panels on the piers at the 3rd floor, and spanning the 4th-5th floors.

The 6th floor has simpler tan brick surrounds, with decorative terra-cotta panels on top. The top floor has browner brick on the piers, and the windows have blue-grey stone pilasters at the sides. The corners at the ends are chamfered.

The upper floors on the west facade have six bays of single-windows, with the same design elements as the north facade.The iron railings are missing from the 1st and 3rd bays from the north on the 4th floor.

The south facade has lighter colored brick with a bay of single-windows at the west end. Next to it is a projecting, grey metal extension rising the full height of the building. There is a light well at the middle, with red metal fire escapes on both wings.

The building contains 60 apartment units. The ground floor along Broadway is occupied by Pro Image Photo, a Verizon wireless store, and Corner Cafe, with the commercial spaces to the east on 94th Street occupied by Xtra Kleen cleaners, and Plum Vietnamese restaurant.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   40°47'34"N   73°58'20"W
This article was last modified 2 years ago