437-443 West 43rd Street (New York City, New York)

 apartment building  Add category

A row of four 4-story (including raised basements) Italianate residential buildings completed together in 1872. The western three buildings have stoops on their lefts sides leading up to parlor-floor entrances, while No. 443 at the east end has been converted to a ground-level entry. The facades are all faced in painted brownstone.

No. 437 at the west end is painted a very pale cream color. An iron fence next to the stoop encloses a small patio area with red tile. There are two segmental-arched windows behind the patio, and a basement entry below the stoop. The parlor-floor entrance is round-arched, with a glass-and-wood door and fanlight in a stone surround with a keystone. The two tall parlor-floor windows to the right have segmental-arched oepnings and also have decorative interlocking metal screens similar to those at the basement windows. The upper floors have three bays of single-windows in segmental-arched openings, with simple stone sills. The facade is crowned by a grey metal roof cornice with acanthus-leaf brackets and ornamented panels.

No. 439 is painted white. The entrance has been altered to a shorter, wider doorway with a decorative iron gate. The parlor-floor windows are smaller and also have decorative screens (as well as metal vent above the eastern one). Next to the stoop is a grey metal door and a window with an iron grille. The upper floors have three bays of square-headed single-windows with stone sills. The roof cornice matches that at No. 437, but painted a very light grey.

No. 441 is very close in appearance to No. 439, but painted beige. Its entrance has blue paneled wooden double-doors, and it has a different style of parlor-floor windows. The roof cornice is painted black.

No. 443 at the east end is painted white, and has had its stoop replaced by a ground-level entrance, down a step from the sidewalk. It has a glass door in a simple stone surround. To the right are two small segmental-arched windows with iron grilles, and the ground floor is covered by a shallow, wavy, black metal canopy. The upper floors have three bays of single-windows in segmental-arched openings with black stone sills; the one replacing the original parlor-floor entrance is slightly wider. Air-conditioning vents are cut below the middle bay on each floor, and the facade is capped by a simple metal coping.