Riverbank West Apartments (New York City, New York)

 high-rise, apartment building, 1987_construction, postmodern (architecture)

476-foot, 45-story postmodern residential building completed in 1987. Designed by Schuman, Lichtenstein, Claman & Efron, it is clad in a polychromatic pattern of red and beige brick. The tower is situated on the south side of the block, and is entered via a gated, 10,000-square-foot landscaped courtyard with a circular driveway on 43rd Street. There is an entrance to the underground parking garage off the circular drive. The glassed-in entrance is covered by a curved metal marquee, topped by a limestone arch reading "RIVERBANK WEST". To either side is a window bay framed in red brick with a segmental-arched window at the bottom and stone panel at the top. The piers of these bays are surmounted by stone spheres.

The symmetrical, main north-facing facade is 13 bays wide. The middle bay is red brick with small, square windows. The next three bays on either side are beige brick and have paired double-windows or French doors; at the inner and outer of these bays at the 6th-11th floor, there are projecting concrete balconies with glass railings; and from the 12th-19th floors, the two inner bays are joined by wider balconies. From the 19th floor up to the crown above the 36th floor, the outer two bays have separate balconies, and the inner bays have one set of double-windows. Up to the 11th floor, the base has end three bays, the middle ones with very small, square windows and the framing bays with double-windows. The far end bay on each side sets back above the 11th floor, and the two remaining end bays on each side continue with double-windows. The end bays have horizontal stripes of red and beige brick. All of the windows have silver aluminum framing.

Above the 36th-floor setback, the top floors span seven bays. The center bay is the same, and the next two bays on each side have triple-windows. The end bays are wider, with paired double-windows; there are projecting balconies wrapping around the corners of the facade at the 38th, 39th, 41st, 42nd, & 43rd floors. A final setback above the 44th floor leads to a tall, narrow mechanical penthouse, giving the building its distinctive syncopated top. It is faced in red brick, with four projecting beige bands enclosing it.

The south-facing facade on 42nd Street is organized into 14 bays above five wide bays at the 2-story base. These wide bays have glass storefronts topped silver metal panels at the top, and patterned brickwork on the piers. The western bay is pierced at the 2nd floor by a single large window on its east side. The tower is set back on both sides from the ends of the base. The middle eight bays are clad in red brick, framed by beige brick piers at the ends, up to the 12th floor. From here, the middle two bays are red brick, and the others are beige. The middle two bays have paired double-windows, as do the end bays of the middle section; the bays just outside the middle two have triple-windows, and the next bays have double-windows. The three end bays on each side of the facade are banded in red and beige. From the 3rd-11th floors, the middle of the three has very small, square windows, and the other two have regular double-windows. The far end bays set back above the 11th floor; the remaining two bays continue with the small square windows shifting over the the inner side, and the outer bay having double-windows. These bays end at the 36th floor setback.

Balconies begin at the 6th floor, at the middle two bays and outer bays of the middle section. Beginning at the 12th floor, the balconies at the middle bays are staggered in width. These balconies end at the 40th floor, above the setbacks at the ends, while the end balconies turn into the wider wrap-around type above the setback.

At the lower floors the east elevation has five bays of banded brick; alternating double- and triple-windows. Above the 11th-floor setback, the middle bay changes to solid red brick and has two widely-spaced single-windows, and the two triple-window bays instead have French door with projecting balconies. On the west facade, the balconies extends all the way down to the 6th floor.

There is a low, retail wing extending along 11th Avenue and enclosing the courtyard on the north side. It is two stories high at the south end, where the tower rises, and increases in height to the north through three small jumps. Glass-and-metal storefronts line the avenue, split into upper and lower halves and topped by metal louvers. Above these are small square windows set in patterned beige brick, with narrow bands of red brick above and below. A red brick parapet, topped by a metal railing caps the roof line of this wing at the south end, with similar parapets at the higher section toward the north. At the two northern bays there are large, double-height windows at the upper floors, and another at the east end of the retail wing's north facade on 43rd Street.

The building contains 418 apartment units. The ground floor is occupied by Grand Cru Wine & Spirits, La Vela restaurant, a 7-Eleven convenience store, Romeo & Juliet Coffee House, a Subway sandwiches, and The Upright CIitzens Brigade Theater.