453 West 54th Street (New York City, New York)

USA / New Jersey / West New York / New York City, New York / West 54th Street, 453
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6-story cooperative-apartment building completed in 1899. It is clad in cream-colored and parged brick with brown-painted stone trim above a tan-brick ground floor with a metal-and-glass storefront at the west end fronting the avenue. A black canvas box awnings tops the storefront. The upper floors on the west facade have four bays of single-windows, round-arched at the top floor. The 2nd floor has eared lintels with cornices, and the 3rd floor has similar lintels with cornices, minus the eared brackets. Band courses join the shoulders of these windows, with the bands narrower on the 3rd floor, where there is also a thin brown sill course. There are projecting brick pillars at the piers between the end bays of the 4th-6th floors, rising from brown-painted, cartouche-decorated bases at the bottom of the 4th floor, and continuing to plain capitals at the tops of the 5th & 6th floors, from the latter of which spring round-arches, with brownstone-lined architraves and keystones. There are brown-painted spandrel panels at the bays between the 4th & 5th, and 5th & 6th floors, with carved foliate ornament. The facade is crowned by a black metal roof cornice with brackets, modillions, and dentils, that also continues on the south facade.

The south facade on 54th Street has, to the right of the storefront at the west end, a narrow wooden door behind a silver wrought-iron gate, flanked by a window with similar silver grilles on either side; all three of these openings have brownstone lintels. Further east, at the center of the ground floor, is the main entrance to the upper floors, with a recessed wooden door, sidelight, and transom atop a pair of steps, framed by brownstone paneled pilasters supporting an entablature. To the left of the entrance there is a row of dentils in beige stone along the top of the ground floor. Right of the entrance are two small, glass storefronts lined by silver metal bars - the show-windows have vertical bars, and the glass doors have diagonal bars. There are metal service doors at the far east end of the ground floor.

The upper floors have two end bays of single-windows at the east, and one at the west, separated from the rest of the facade by projecting brick piers beginning at the middle of the 2nd floor, where they spring from brown-painted bases with cartouches flanked by foliate ornament. These pillars have recessed vertical panels at the 3rd & 6th floors., and brown, carved panels between the 4th-5th floors. The middle bay has a short, small double-window, flanked by three bays of single-windows on either side. All the windows at the 2nd floor & 3rd floors have lintels and joining bands matching those on the west facade. The west end bay is flanked by projecting pilasters matching those on the west facade as well, and there are carved spandrel panels here and at the center bay, also flanked by projecting pilasters. Like the west facade, the top-floor windows are round-arched.

The east elevation is clad in red brick, with two bays of single-windows and a black metal fire escape. The ground floor is occupied at the west end by 10th Avenue Wines & Liquors, and to the east by Cafe Ole, and Huascar & Co. Bakeshop.
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Coordinates:   40°46'1"N   73°59'22"W
This article was last modified 4 years ago