Encore

 condominium  Add category

243-foot, 25-story modernist residential building completed in 1980. Designed by Schuman, Lichtenstein & Claman, and Liebman & Liebman Architects, it was previously called The Metro and Encore, before being converted from rental apartments to condominiums in 2015 and rechristened Fifty Third and Eighth.

The tower is clad in orange brick, set back on all four sides atop a podium base that is faced in grey pre-cast concrete with a grey granite water table. The base is lined with storefronts along the avenue and north side on 54th Street. The south side of the base contains the main entrance, deeply recessed at the center with glass doors, and has a parking garage entrance/exit at the west end. There are five wide bays along the north and south elevations of the base, and seven along the east side on the avenue.

The tower above has 14 bays across the east and west facades, with the four outer bays on each side slightly set-back. Each bay has a double-window with an offset metal mullion. There are air-conditioning vents below each window, and white-painted concrete bands at the tops of the windows across each floor. The north and south facades have two bays of double-windows in the center, with a bay of smaller, square windows on either side. The white horizontal bands at the floorplates continue around these facades as well. There is a broad, grey concrete band around the top of all four sides of the tower.

The ground floor is occupied by Gristedes grocery, Da Tommaso restaurant, Metro Cleaners, and Pick-A-Bagel restaurant. The building contains 262 condominium units.