Bartholomew Building (New York City, New York)

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233-foot, 21-story Neo-Classical office building completed in 1929. Designed by Starrett & Van Vleck, it is clad in red brick with structural elements by Guastavino Fireproof Tile Co. The main facade in on 42nd Street and has a ground floor of red polished granite, nine bays wide, with a entrance in the 4th bay from the west, and storefronts in the other bays. The entrance is framed by wide, projecting piers with thin brass bands, and has recessed glass-and-brass revolving doors. The storefronts are of stainless-steel and plate-glass, separated by granite piers and topped by a broad granite band. The site slopes downward from east to west.

The upper floors are set off by a stone sill course. There are two windows in each bay, most recessed between and separated by alternating wide and thin brick piers, with a slightly darker shade of red brick around the windows. The exceptions are the windows at the ends of the facade (the outer window of the end bays), and the inner window of the next bay inward, each of which has single-windows set in non-recessed brick of the same shade as the piers. The 2nd floor has round-arched windows under pointed-arches with alternating voussoirs of stone and brick. Simple stone roundels ornament the spaces above the shoulders of each arch, and the stone sills of the windows on the next floor are underlined by sawtoothed stone bands and corbelled brick. The middle bays set back above the 12th floor, with the end bays setting back one floor higher. At the recessed bays, the setbacks are marked by rows of vertical brick blocks. The second, shallower setback is above the 18th floor at the middle bays and the 19th floor at the ends.

In the middle of the lot, the building has a shallow but long light well on the west side, and a shorter but deeper light well on the east side. The north facade on 43rd Street is narrower, spanning five bays of paired windows. The ground floor has a mix of secondary entrances and storefronts, with piers faced in stone, metal or brick. A brick band with an arcade of small segmental-arched niches (with alternating niches opening to wrought-iron grilles) runs across the top of the ground floor, bordered on the bottom by a cast-iron lintel and on the top by a dentiled string course. Metal vents cover the band at the west end. Above a stone sill course, the upper floors are similar to those on the south facade. The first setback is above the 7th floor at the middle bays, and the 8th floor at the ends. Additional setbacks occur above the 12th & 13th floors, and the 18th & 19th. The north-facing elevation of the east wing on 42nd Street has a bay of paired windows at the east and a bay of three windows at the west.

The east-facing elevations have three windows on the south wing, three bays of paired windows on the middle section, and three more windows on the north wing. The ground floor is occupied on 43rd Street by Sushi Yasuda, and on 42nd Street by a Citibank branch, Aroma Espresso Bar, Osteria Laguna restaurant, Alisan Florist, Pret-a-Manger restaurant, and CUNY Welcome Center.