The Flats and Old School (New York City, New York)

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7-story residential building originally completed as two separate structures in 1895. Knows as The Flats (554 West 53rd) and Old School (552 West 53rd) they were combined into a joined building, providing integrated affordable housing for families and formerly homeless individuals, with the project completed in 2006.

Old School is clad in red brick, and The Flats in dark-red brick, with the new combined entrance at its east end, with a glass-and-metal door, sidelights, and fanlight in a brick round-arch with a terra-cotta keystone. To the west the ground floor of the north facade has a single-window, a smaller window, and then a triple-window. At the west end is a blind arch. The upper floors are set off by a ribbed terra-cotta band course, and have three bays of single-windows on each side, with a center bay of smaller windows. At the 2nd floor the windows have brick surrounds, and there is a brick lintel course. The 7th floor has brick outlines on the piers and brick courses above and below. A black iron fire escape runs down two of the western bays, and the facade is crowned by a corbelled brick cornice with a stone coping.

The west facade of The Flats has a low, white granite water table that grows slightly higher at the south end. At the center of the ground floor is a round-arched double-window with a terra-cotta scrolled keystone. To the north is a square-headed double-window, a short single-window, a longer single-window, and a commercial space with a green metal-framed glass door, sidelight, and tall transom, with a blind brick arch at the north end. To the south is a double-window, a single-window, a smaller window, and two more single-windows; all the ground-floor windows have dark-green iron grilles. The upper floors are divided into two wings by a deep setback at the center bay, which has three single-windows at its rear wall, and another single-window at the back of both sidewalls. Both the north and south wings have four bays of single-windows on the upper floors, with a bay of shorter windows at the middle of both wings. The trim matches that of the north facade. The south facade is clad in lighter, browner brick, and has several bays of single-windows and another fire escape.

The north facade of Old School (named for its one-time use as a school building) is organized into three main bays, and has a brownstone water table at the base. At the ground floor the western two bays have four windows, divided by green iron mullion, with keyed brownstone surrounds; the east bay has a much shorter but equally wide window with a brownstone sill and eared lintel.

The 2nd-4th floors have two sets of double-windows in each bay (with grey-green iron mullions and upper transom panes), except for the east bay at the 2nd floor, which has a large expanse of four windows and an eared lintel; the other lintels are flat, and the 2nd floor is set off by a brownstone band course. The narrow brick piers slightly project, and they have pointed terra-cotta capitals at the base of the 3rd floor, continuing up to another set of capitals at the top of the 5th floor, where they end. The 5th floor has smaller paired windows in the outer bays, and two double-windows in the middle bay. The 6th floor has even smaller, segmental-arched paired windows in the outer bays, and two sets of the same paired windows in the middle bay. A cornice with two rows of dentils sets off the 7th floor, which takes the form of a steep metal mansard with three dormers - arched with double-windows in the end bays, and peaked with two double-windows in the middle.

The front of the east facade has a bay of large double-windows on the lower floors, and smaller ones on the 5th, with paired windows on the 6th, and a dormer on the 7th, where the mansard continues partway down the side. The rest of the east elevation has a few more single-windows, but some have been bricked-in.

The building contains 80 apartment units.