Bloomingdale Branch Library / Riverside Health Center

 library, health center

3-story early-modern style library/public health facility building completed in 1959. Designed by Harry M. Prince, the east wing of the building contains the branch library, while the west wing is occupied by a clinic operated by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The building is clad in variegated orange brick and white metal panels.

The east wing is two stories tall, with the entrance in the west facade, where the rest of the building is set back and encircles a plaza area. Steps lead up to the entry, with a long, winding ramp in front; it has glass-and-metal double-doors with a tall transom below a metal canopy. There is a bay of double-windows at the rear of this facade. The front, north facade has a central section of white metal paneling with grids of small, rectangular window panes on both floors (4-over-8 on the ground floor and 3-over-8 on the 2nd floor). The east facade has seven bays of double-windows on both floors.

The recessed center section of the building is three stories, with a set of steps at its west end, where the ground floor has glass-and-metal double-doors in a glass surround, below a metal canopy. There is a band of windows to the left, with window bands on the top two floors, organized into seven bays with narrow panes paired with wider ones. Except for around the entrance, there are white metal spandrels separating the floors. At the corner where the recessed center section meets the west wing is a taller tower projecting out from both facade. Its northeast corner is faced in bright-orange panels, with a short window just above the entry canopy on the narrow, east-facing wall, and a single-window on the upper floors. At the 3rd floor, the north-facing wall has the seal of the New York City Department of Health, also painted orange.

The west wing has bands of windows on its north and east facades, also with white metal spandrels between floors. There are light-grey (instead of white) thin and wider mullions separating the window panes.