Ritz Plaza Apartments

 skyscraper, apartment building, 1990_construction, postmodern (architecture)

403-foot, 40-story postmodern residential building completed in 1990. Designed by Schuman, Lichtenstein, Claman & Efron, it is clad in beige brick, glass, and dark-grey metal. The symmetrical tower takes the form of a slab with a smaller, projecting section at the north. The main, south facade has nine major bays, six of which are slightly-projecting brick bays separated by four narrow mini-bays of metal and glass. The center bay and end bays are also clad in metal and glass.

At the 2-story base, the center bay entrance projects out farther than the brick bays on either side, with angled edges and top, with dark-grey metal framing dividing numerous small panes of glass. The glass doors (including a revolving door) are covered by a peaked, grey canvas canopy extending out onto the sidewalk. The main bays of either side have tripartite display-windows, and the next main bay to the west has similar tripartite divisions with glass double-doors in the middle. The corresponding bay to the east has an entrance/exit to the underground parking garage. The eastern end brick bay has a storefront with a glass door offset to the left, and the western end brick bay has a tripartite division with metal double service doors. Each of these bays has a steeply-angled, grey canvas awning with the Ritz Plaza logo projecting slightly out from the facade. The narrow bays between the main brick bays have windows at the ground floor (with a metal service door instead in the west bay closest to the main entrance), with 2-over-3 opaque glass panes above. Two horizontal glass spandrels separate the 2-over-3 windows at the 2nd floor. The brick bays have limestone spandrels, and the 2nd floor at these bays have large, octagonal windows divided into nine panes. The wide, glass-and-metal end bays have numerous small panes of opaque and clear glass. The eastern one has a loading dock at the ground floor, and the west end bay has a restaurant storefront with patio seating in front of it. The base is capped by a broad limestone spandrel band.

The upper floors continue the pattern of main, projecting brick bays and glass-and-metal end and center bays, interspersed by narrow, intermediate glass-and-metal bays. The end bays, center bay, and narrow bays have spandrels of darker-brown brick. Each of the six brick bays has a large 4-pane window with short panes at the top and bottom, and the recessed narrow bays have two such panes (also with top and bottom transom panes). The center bay has five panes (plus top and bottom transoms), and the end bays have seven panes (plus top and bottom transoms). There are small, black, metal air-conditioning vents below each bay, doubled at the center and end bays. Beginning at the 5th floor, each brick bay has a projecting concrete balcony with angled ends and glass railings. The balconies run all the way up the facade on these six bays, with the middle five bays of the facade extending one floor higher than the ends. A tall mechanical penthouse and water tank enclosure rises from the rear of the roof.

The east and west elevations are clad in the same beige brick. The exposed concrete floor plates are more visible, due to the lack of balconies. There are three bays of single-windows, with individual spandrels of darker brick, and corner bays of double-windows with top and bottom transoms that wrap around from the front and rear facades.

The rear, south facade has a 3-bay projecting section in the middle. The center bay is clad in metal-and-glass, with five panes, and darker brick spandrels, while the two flanking bays are clad in beige brick, with three panes each. The side elevations of the projecting middle section are each one bay wide, with projecting balconies matching those on the front facade. To either side of the projecting center are two brick bays with projecting balconies, separated by a metal-and-glass bay with five panes. Narrow end bays with two panes wrap around to the main side elevations.

The building contains 479 apartment units. The storefront near the east end of the ground floor is occupied by Masseria Cafe and Bakery, and the one at the west end by La Masseria restaurant.