857 Broadway (New York City, New York)

 restaurant, apartment building

4-story Neo-Grec residential building originally completed in 1847 as a rowhouse. It was converted to commercial use in the 1860s. In 1884 a cast-iron facade was constructed on Broadway and a 4-story extension of about thirty feet was added to the rear. It was converted back to residential on the upper floors around 1980.

The Broadway facade is clad in cast-iron painted dark red. It is three bays wide with an angled corner bay and a 1-bay return on East 17th Street. The ground floor has a modern glass and aluminum storefront and doors. The storefront is surmounted by a molded cornice supported by simple brackets, a frieze accented with fleurons, a dentiled stringcourse, and a paneled frieze which together form the base of the projecting 2nd floor. The 2nd-floor windows are separated by slender colonnettes and retain the original transom openings, although the transom glazing has been replaced by panels. The wood-framed tripartite windows appear to be replacements for the original. Shallow molded cornices cap the 2nd & 3rd floors. Pilasters separate the windows; those at the northern end on Broadway, at the corner where they conform to the angled bay, and at the western end of the East 17th Street 1-bay return are embellished with diagonal ribbing, foliated bands, vertical flutes, and simple capitals with festoons. The narrower pilasters flanking the center bay on Broadway have scalloped moldings. The Broadway and East 17th Street facades are surmounted by a continuous modillioned cornice.

The East 17th Street facade is constructed of brick, painted red, with a 1-bay return of the cast-iron Broadway facade at its eastern end. The ground floor has three modern glass and aluminum storefronts capped by a simple iron cornice remaining from earlier storefronts. Above, irregularly placed square-headed window openings with stone sills pierce the facade. The 2nd floor has two projecting iron-framed bays, one at the western end and the other near the center of the facade, with paneled enframements and a simple cornice. The show windows have transoms. A fire escape with decorative railings is suspended from the eastern end of the facade.

The ground floor is occupied by The Soft Serve Fruit Company, and Pret A Manger cafe.