Wellston Apartments

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Two 166-foot, 15-story Renaissance-revival cooperative-apartment buildings completed in 1925 and 1926. Designed by Rosario Candela, both buildings are clad in brown brick above limestone ground floors. The two are physically separate, except for a joined basement level. The south building is larger, U-shaped around a deep but narrow light well on the north side.

Its main entrance is near the center of the south facade on 75th Street, with an iron gate topped by a rounded, green canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. Above is a dark-green marble panel, all of which is set in a rope molding surmounted by a cartouche and ornate hanging fruit garlands. The two pilasters flanking the doorway have simple capitals with rosettes. To the right of the entrance there two narrow, paired windows (with low, basement windows below them at the sidewalk level), two more narrow windows with a narrow secondary door between them, and three wider windows, two of which have basement windows below them. To the left are two of the wider single-windows, and at the west end is a show-window. Along the avenue the ground floor has metal-and-glass storefronts, with a small 1-story extension at the north end.

The edges of the upper floors have stone quoins, and there are stone quoins at the 2nd-floor windows. On the west facade there are five single-windows in the center, followed to either side by a wider window, another narrow window, and wider windows in the end bays, with stone sills. There are shallow, balustered stone balconies at the inner wide bays on the 5th floor, also across the five center bays at the 10th. The 15th floor is set off by a stone string course, and has stone surrounds at the wider bays.

The upper floors of the south facade on 75th Street have two center bays of paired windows, followed by a tripartite window bay, a wide single-window, a narrow single-window, and another wide single-window in the end bays. There are more stone balconies at the tripartite bays on the 5th floor, and the middle two bays on the 10th. A modillioned stone roof cornice marks the roof line on both facades.

The east elevatoin of the south building is is mostly faced in parged white concrete, and has a bay of single-windows at the south edge. The north part is set back, with seven bays of windows, one of which is double-windows. The two wings of the north facade, split by the light well, are also partially faced in parged brick. The west wing has two single-windows to the west, and a double-window on the east, covered by a metal fire escape. The east wing has three bays of double-windows.

The north building, with a separate address of 174 West 76th Street, is smaller; its main, north facade spans four bays of paired windows with a center bay of single-windows. The central entrance at the ground floor has gated double-doors in a rope molding, covered by a rounded, green canvas canopy, and surmounted by a cartouche flanked by cornucopiae and pilaster that match those on the south building. A black metal service door takes the place of the westernmost window on the ground floor. There are balconies at the 5th floor, and one more at the center bay of the 10th floor. The top floor and roof cornice designs match those of the south building as well. The west elevation is parged and has a bay of single-windows at the front edge; the rear two-thirds of this facade are set back and have multiple bays of single- and double-windows. This is repeated on the east elevation as well.

The buildings have a total of 132 apartments. The ground floor of the south building along the avenue is occupied by Pour Wines, Delice Macarons, Paris Framemakers, and 16 Handles frozen yogurt shop.