Seventh Avenue Building

USA / New Jersey / West New York / Seventh Avenue, 333
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249-foot, 21-story Neo-Renaissance office building completed in 1920. Designed by Schwartz & Gross, it is clad in buff-colored brick above a 3-story base of white terra-cotta, with grey granite plinths at the bases of the piers. The long west facade spans nine bays, with the double-height main entrance in the center bay. It has a revolving door flanked by traditional glass doors below a very tall glass pane in a grey stone surround. The other bays are have glass-and-metal storefronts (most with metal vents on top) at the ground floor, and each bay is separated by a 2-story pier with a bead molding around the edges and a Corinthian capital at the top. Terra-cotta spandrels with central roundels separate the lower two floors, and the 2nd floor has 4-pane windows with separate upper transom panes. The 3rd floor is set off by a terra-cotta band with various moldings, and roundels above each pier, and has shorter 4-window bays in a 4-over-3 format. Between each bay the 3rd floor has a terra-cotta pier with elaborate urns within a bead molding border. The base is capped by a band course with an egg-and-dart molding.

The upper floors have a 4-window center bay, while the outer bays have triple-windows. The end bays have double-windows, and there are wider black iron mullions in each bay, as well as stone sills and brick lintels. The wider brick piers around the end bays are banded, and every bay has a brick spandrel between floors with a pair of very small vents (one at each end bay).

A terra-cotta cornice spans across all the middle bays at the top of the 12th floor, with terra-cotta piers at the 13th-15th floors; these also have Corinthian capitals. Another cornice sets off the 16th floor's middle bays, and the piers here have roundels, and another cornice marking a setback above the 16th floor at the middle five bays. The next bay to each side extends up to the 17th floor before setting back. The end bays extend up to the 18th floor, which is set off by thin cornices above terra-cotta shields at the 17th floor. The double-windows at the 18th-floor end bays are topped by round-arches with wreaths, and the piers around them have terra-cotta borders. The end pavilions are capped by pairs of brackets carrying projecting terra-cotta cornices, surmounted by low-sloped pyramidal roofs. The other bays all set back above the 20th floor to the smaller, 21st-story penthouse level.

The north facade on 29th Street has four main bays at the base, with a smaller bay at the east end containing a freight entrance with a loading dock and roll-down metal gate. The other bays have storefronts. Above the ground floor the east end bay has single-windows open to a shaftway, segmental-arched at the 2nd & 3rd floors. The facade is otherwise like the west facade in ornament and trim, with the three middle bays having triple-windows on the upper floors, and the west end bay having double-windows. The three eastern bays set back above the 14th floor, and next bay setting back above the 15th. The west end bay extends up to the 16th floor, forming the north side of the pavilion at the northwest corner.

The south facade on 28th Street is a mirror-image of the north facade. The upper floors of the rear-facing, east facade are clad in brick without any ornament, and have a number of triple-, double-, and single-window bays. The ground floor is occupied by a Duane-Reade by Walgreens pharmacy, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, Shoegasm, and Le Pain Quotidien bakery.
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Coordinates:   40°44'50"N   73°59'34"W
This article was last modified 1 year ago