B&H Photo Video (420 9th Avenue)

 photography shop, apartment building

4-story mixed-use building originally completed in 1928 as a 2-story storage, store and loft building. Designed by F.P. Platt & Bro., it spans the full blockfront along 9th Avenue. Two floors of residential apartments were added to the top in the 1990s. They are faced in beige stucco and set back slightly from the lower two floors. It stretches 12 bays along 9th Avenue, with each bay deeply recessed, creating inset balconies, all fronted by metal railings except for the center two and end pairs, which have concrete fronts. At these bays, the roof line has raised pediments, peaked at the center (with a shallower peak at the center bays). The entire roof line is capped by a metal coping. The north and south facades each have a single, square window on each floor, offset from one another.

The original lower floors are clad in orange brick. The ground floor is lined with storefronts, nine bays wide, with the 2nd floor having large triple show-windows, except at the center bay, which has four large windows framed by a grey stone band that extends down to the ground floor as well. All of the bays on both floors have green box awnings, except for the middle bay. A dentiled stone band course runs along all three facades just below the brick roof parapet. The north and south elevations have two matching bays, and a shorter bay at the east end. On the north side, it has a stone framed entrance crowned by an entablature with a carved wreath. On the south side, one of the ground-floor bays is filled-in with brick except for a small service door, and the smaller one has another service entrance, topped by stone.

In 1997, B&H Photo Video moved into the building's ground floor. In 2007, B&H opened a second floor above its original sales floor, and leased ground-floor space in the former YMCA building next door as well. Billed as the world's largest photo and video store, it targets professional photographers and videographers. The store originally opened in Tribeca in 1973, and obtained its name from the initials of owners Blimie Schreiber and her husband, Herman. It now has more than 1,500 employees, including at its Brooklyn warehouse, and is known for employing hundreds of Orthodox Jews. The first floor sells professional lighting, binoculars, scopes, video, audio, darkroom, film and both home and portable entertainment; the second floor focuses on film and digital photography, computers, printers, scanners and related accessories. The store is noted for having an extensive conveyor belt system that runs along the ceiling.

www.bhphoto.com