Verizon 37th Street Exchange

 production, telephone exchange building

10-story telephone exchange building originally completed in 1911 as a 6-story telephone exchange and office building. Designed by McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin, it was enlarged, with new floors on top in 1976. It is now occupied by Verizon.

The building is separated into two main masses, on the north and south halves of the block, both clad in reddish-brown brick.. The north half has a grey granite water table, while the south half has a higher limestone base with grey granite at its lower level. The main entrance is recessed on 37th Street, near the west end, with three metal-and-glass doors set in a black metal surround (with a vent above the doors) that extends up from the base into the brick of the first main floor. Directly to its right is a metal service door in the base, and there is also a low, horizontal vent with a metal grille farther east.

Above the base there are seven bays of paired windows, and the brick on the lower two floors is banded. A stone string course sets off the 3rd floor. Above the 7th floor the brick is lighter and redder, and the top floor is set back from the lower roof line.

The north facade on 38th Street has a gated service entrance at the east end, with four bays of single-windows to the west (the first three grouped together in the middle of the facade and the last one filled with metal louvers). The upper floors have the same four bays (with some openings filled by metal louvers), and a bay of narrower openings at the east end, also filled by metal louvers. The end bays set back above the 5th floor, with the middle section extending up to the 6th floor. There are then terraced setbacks to the roof.

The west facade along the Tunnel Exit Street visualizes the division of the building into north and south halves. The north half has a slightly different shade of brick, and a few bays of small windows at the upper floors. The south half is set back a little, with a metal fence enclosure running along the ground level. There is brick banding on the two lower floors above the stone base, and above the stone string course that continues from the south facade, there are a few bays of narrow windows, with vertical grooves in the brickwork.

The exposed southern end of the east elevation is faced in white stucco up to the 3rd floor. The 4th-7th floors have a bay of paired windows with a single-window on either side.