538 West 50th Street

 apartment building  Add category

5-story modernist residential building completed in 1946. Designed by John H. Knubel, it is faced in salmon-colored smooth-stucco on the lower two floors, and similar colored brick on the upper floors. The facade is organized into four bays, and the lower two floors are much taller than the upper floors.

The entrance is in the 2nd bay from the west, with a metal-framed glass door and sidelights below a very large, square transom window. The other three bays at the ground floor have short, low-placed double-windows with iron grilles, and taller double-windows above them. The 2nd floor has double-height triple-windows, and the top three floors have regular-height triple-windows. The windows all have simple stone sills and air-conditioning vents below them. The roof line has notches between each pier, with metal railings.