981 Columbus Avenue

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A row of eight 5-story Romanesque/Renaissance-revival residential buildings completed together in 1895. They originally had separate entrances, but have been joined internally, with residential entrances at the south and north buildings, with the official addresses of 73 West 108th Street and 72 West 109th Street. The ground floors along the avenue have metal-and-glass storefronts at the northern two and southern two facades, with the ground floor remodeled into a large, single commercial space across the middle four facades.

All of the west facades on the avenue have four bays of single-windows on the upper floors. The southern two and the northern two present unified facades and cornices that appear as one. The southern three of the middle four facades all match, clad in tan brick, with each set just a little lower than the one to the south. They have round-arched windows on the 3rd & 5th floors. This design is also seen around the corner, at 67 West 108th Street a couple of lots down. 2-story brick piers slightly projecting around the bays at the 2nd-3rd and 4th-5th floors, with simple stone capitals topping each section, and stone bases at the bottom of each pier. There are paneled brick spandrels between the floors framed by these piers, and a sill course below the 4th floor. The round-arched windows have stone voussoirs topped by narrow keystones. These three facades have grey stone roof cornices with a small diamond shape above each bay. The facade to the north of the trio is set a bit lower, and clad in red brick. It also has round-arched 5th-floor windows, but the rest are all square-headed with splayed stone lintels. The windows all have bracketed stone sills, and the arched ones on the top floor have brick voussoirs and short keystones. There is another grey stone roof cornice here, with a row of panels each highlighted by a single dentil. The unified ground floor of the four middle facades is divided into bays by cast-iron piers. There is a set of double-doors near the south end, and three single-doors spaces to the north between bays filled by glass blocks above orange brick. Red canvas awnings cover the entire space.

The unified west facade of the two southern buildings is clad in orange brick, with eight bays of single-windows. The ground floor also has cast-iron piers framing the glass-and-metal storefronts, with orange brick at the base, and green canvas awnings. The 2nd and 5th floors have brick banding, and there are dark reddish-brown stone lintel courses above the windows on these floors. The 3rd & 4th floors have splayed stone lintels of the same color. There are thin sill courses below the 3rd & 5th floors, and brown terra-cotta spandrel panels between the 2nd & 3rd floors (above the lintel course) decorated with light foliate ornament. A unified grey stone roof cornice caps the facade, lined with elongated, shallow dentils.

The unified west facade of the two northern buildings is clad in light-orange brick, also with eight total bays. The ground floor has metal-and-glass storefronts, and there are thin stone sill courses at each upper floor, where the windows have hooded lintels of beige stone. Flat stone bands also connect the lintels at each floor. The facade is capped by a grey stone roof cornice similar to the one at the south end of the row. Each of the facades has a pale grey-green metal fire escape running down the middle bays.

The south facade of 73 West 108th (the south building) has the same cladding and trim as the west facade on the avenue. The ground floor is also brick, in a slightly brighter shade, and has some thin stone banding, especially at the base. At the center is the main residential entrance next to a commercial entrance. A small stoop with brick risers and metal handrails fronts the round-arched main entrance, which has a red wrought-iron-and-glass door and sidelights recessed in a brownstone surround that includes fat, paneled pilasters with stylized capitals, an acanthus-leaf keystones, and rich foliate ornament in the architraves of the arch, as well as another foliate panel above, featuring a a shield and framed by ornamented brackets, surmounted by a dentiled cornice at the base of the 2nd floor. The commercial entrance to the right is placed lower at the sidewalk level, and has a green metal-framed glass inner door and a green wrought-iron and glass outer door below a copper-colored, canvas clamshell canopy with a cornice above it. The only other opening on the ground floor is a single-window to the left of the main entrance.

The upper floors have a center stairwell bay of single-windows, with the 2nd-floor window shorter, and the others spaced between each floor; this bay is framed by projecting brick piers with ornamented, brown terra-cotta capitals above the 2nd floor, and a terra-cotta round-arch topping the upper window, with the piers ending in a larger brown terra-cotta arch across the top floor, with foliate ornament in the architraves and an elaborate foliate keystone. To either side of the center bay are two single-window bays, with paired windows near the east end, and another single-window near the west end. There are also three slightly-projecting brick chimney shafts beginning at the top of the 2nd floor, one between the paired windows on the east side and the single-windows near the middle, and the other two framing the west window bay. The same stone cornice as the west facade crowns this side, with a red-brick mechanical penthouse rising up above the cornice at the center bay.

The north facade of 72 West 109th has some limestone banding across the ground floor, and two entrance bays near the middle. The main entrance is the west one, with a red metal-and-glass door, narrow sidelights, and a transom in a stone surround with a round-arch on top; within the arch, and on the architrave around it is a cross-hatch pattern, and the surround is capped by a cornice. The other entrance is to a commercial space - the doorway is similar, but painted pale-green and with no decorative wrought-iron bars on the door. It is flanked by stone pilasters that are thinner are the top, where small brackets support slender colonettes flanking the arch above the door. These have small Corinthian capitals, and a cornice capping the surround is placed higher than the one at the main entrance. A round, navy-blue canopy extends a short way out from the arch over the door. There are two, high-set former window openings to the right of the main entrance, both now bricked-in, although they retain their hooded stone lintels. There is orange-red brick at the west end, with the stone banding continuing across it. To the east of the entrances the street slopes down and the basement level emerges, with four low window openings, each a little taller than the previous one; the last two have been filled-in. A wide stone band tops the basement level. To the left of the commercial entrance, above the basement, are four single-windows with iron grilles, hooded lintels, and sloped awnings covering the lower portions. The upper floors have a center bay of single-windows that is spaced between floors. To either side is a single-window, a bay of smaller narrow bathroom windows, and then four more single-windows. The single-windows all have hooded stone lintels, with a triangular pediment above the top window at the center bay. The 2nd bay from the west, and the east bathroom window bay have been bricked-in. Each floor has a thin stone sill course and a stone band between the lintels. The facade is crowned by the same roof cornice as on the west facade, and rising above the center is a brick mechanical penthouse.

The rear, east-facing facades of all the buildings are brick, painted either off-white or beige, each with four single-windows and more pale grey-green fire escapes. The south and north buildings extend farther back than the others. The complex has a total of 128 apartment units. The east half of the ground floor at 73 West 108th is occupied by Manhattan Valley Development Corporation. The ground floors along the avenue are occupied by SLN Cleaners, The Above Ground Beauty Salon, Bloomingdale Family Program (a head-start preschool program for young children from low-income families - in the large space in the middle of the complex), Freda's restaurant, and Garcia Hardware Store. The commercial space at the east half of 72 West 109th is occupied by Special Taxi Radio Dispatch.