French Apartments

 interesting place, apartment building

141-foot, 13-story Beaux-Arts residential building completed in 1928 as the French Hospital. Designed by Crow, Lewis & Wick for the Société Française de Bienfaisance, the hospital was operated by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. A later 9-story addition was built to a design by Welch, Smith & Provot; this smaller building is location to the south, on 29th Street, with the two connected by a narrow corridor. Its owner, the French Benevolent Society, merged with the Polyclinic Medical School and Health Center in 1969. The French and Polytechnic Medical School and Health Center closed May 13, 1977 for a lack of funding, and the building was converted to residential use in 1981, for Section 8 housing. The original French Hospital building was located on West 14th Street and built in 1881.

The buildings are clad in buff-colored brick above a 2-story limestone base at the north building, and a 1-story base at the south building, which has an address of 329 West 29th. The north building's middle section is set back from the sidewalk, with end pavilions projecting forward. A low stone wall with a colonnade extends from the pavilions, enclosing basement areaways. In the middle is a patio area enclosed by a low brick wall and iron railing, with a ramp on the west side extending down toward the west end. The wall and railings are interrupted in the middle by a low set of steps, where the main entrance is located, in the center bay of a 5-bay, 8-story section that projects slightly forward from the rest of the set-back middle section. The entrance has glass-and-metal double-doors below a green canvas clamshell canopy. At the base, the middle three bays project forward yet slightly more, and are framed by 2-story fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals. The bay on either side of the entrance has a single-window; all three center bays at the ground floor are framed by small, squared pilasters, and topped by round-arches - larger at the center entrance bay. The outer arches encompass flower medallions surrounded by floral ornament, and the center arch around the canopy has an acanthus-leaf keystone, and flowering garlands above it. The 2nd floor has shorter single-windows in these three bays, in beveled surround, and fronted by bracketed stone sills with elaborately carved panels. A band across the top of this section is inscribed "SOCIETE FRANCAISE DE BIENFAISANCE" with rosettes at each end, surmounted by a dentil course and a balustrade with urns topping its four posts. The projecting, 5-bay middle section of the facade is not quite symmetrical, as the west bay has single-windows at each floor, while the east bay has narrow double-windows above the ground floor. At the 3rd floor the middle three bays have stone surrounds, with a peaked pediment at the center bay, and rounded pediments on the other two.

A dentil course sets off the 4th floor, extending across the entire facade. Another dentil course caps the projecting section at the 8th floor, and also extends across the rest of the facade. The 8th floor has medallions located between each bay, and is set off by a pair of narrow string courses with five simple stone panels between them.

To either side of the projecting middle section are three bays of single-windows (the inner bay at the west side has been bricked-in at each floor). The end pavilions have two single-windows on their inward-facing side walls, and three single-windows facing north (the ground floor has two smaller windows flanking a secondary entrance at each pavilion). These have been bricked-in, and have stone surrounds and are bordered by quoins that also frame the round-arches on top. The western one depicts a medicine jar within a wreath above ribbons, while the eastern one has the same ornament but also with a panel below reading "CLINIC ENTRANCE".

The middle bay at the 3rd floor of each pavilion has a stone surround with a rounded pediment, and is fronted by a small stone balcony with acanthus-leaf brackets and balustrade. The pavilions terminate at the 8th floor. All of the 9th-floor windows are set in round-arched surrounds. There are setbacks at the ends above the 11th floor, and the 12th floor is capped by a modillioned cornice. At the center section, the 12th floor has a stone surround and keystone at the middle bay, topped by a peaked pediment. The outer bays are combined into larger 4-over-3 windows, and all three of these bays have bracketed, projecting panels below the windows, decorated with floral ornament.

The three bays on either side of the center section continue up to the 13th floor, with round-arched surrounds. In between them the center section is set-back, with five bays in round-arched surrounds, but three of them have been bricked-in. A sloped tile roof rises above this section. While the west end has its roof line at the 12th floor, the east end continues up to the 13th floor, with two single-windows on the north face.

The east facade of the north building has eight bays, all originally with single-windows except for one double-window, but several have been either partially or completely bricked-in. There are setbacks above the 8th floor at front and rear, with three bays of single-windows at the 9th-11th floors, also now bricked-in. Smaller setbacks occur above the 11th floor. The west facade is similar. The south facade of the north building has three projecting pavilions.

The south building on 29th Street is nine bays wide, with the main entrance in the center bay. It has glass double-doors atop two steps, below a green canvas clamshell canopy, in a stone enframement. This entry is flanked by a pair of Corinthian columns, between the capitals of which is a panel of elaborate carved ornament, surmounted by an entablature with two simple roundels and a cornice. The end bays are rusticated and have frieght entrances in wide segmental-arches. Both have iron gates, and the eastern one also has grey-painted metal doors in front of the gates. The other bays have single-windows with iron grilles, except for that to the west of the main entrance, which has a black metal door atop a small landing with a ramp descending to the left.

The upper floors have single-windows in each bay, with brick lintels. At the 2nd floor the center bay has a stone surround, with ogees scrolling out at the base, and a a rounded pediments on top; there is also a shallow metal balcony railing. The end bays have stone surrounds with ornamented top panels and iron railings at the base. The end bays are framed by stone banding from the 2nd-8th floors. Flanking the center bay at the 3rd floor are two medallions with flowers. The 5th floor has stone surrounds with round-arches at each of the middle seven bays, with shields and wreaths in the arches, and bracketed stone panels below the windows ornamented with urns and flower spirals. The 8th floor has simple stone surrounds at the middle seven bays, with iron railings at the bases, and simple stone panels above. The end bays have roundels above them. The 8th floor's main roof line is marked by a stone cornice with alternating modillions and rosettes. The 9th floor is set far back rising mainly from the north wing that extends toward the corridor that connects the two buildings. The side elevations have three bays of single-windows at the front (now all bricked-in), with stone quoins at the front edges. The rear side elevations are set back on the north wing.

Combined, the complex contains 223 apartment units.

esd.ny.gov/sites/default/files/ESC-08-Historic.pdf
hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433089994655?urlappend=%3Bseq...
findingaids.library.nyu.edu/nyhs/ms233_frenchbensoc/
archive.org/details/practicalrequire00clut/page/n11/mod...
www.urbanarchive.org/sites/FqVtXk5wHqS