131 Fifth Avenue

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8-story Beaux-Arts residential building completed in 1903. Designed by Israels & Harder as an annex for the Lord & Taylor department store, it is faced in brick, limestone, and terra-cotta. Sharing a common roof line with Robert Maynicke's 133 Fifth Avenue of 1898-99, the top three floors of 131 Fifth's facade seem to have been designed to harmonize with that building.

The ground floor is faced with limestone and framed by simple piers, with six tall transoms above the storefront. The 2nd-7th floors are articulated by pairs of superimposed giant segmental-arches with keyed terra-cotta surrounds, each rising two stories. As the arches ascend they diminish in height, and their enframements become less elaborate. The enframements for the 2nd- and 3rd-floor grouping have limestone pedestals, long narrow keyed blocks, and elaborate console keystones. Within the arches, steel mullions and iron spandrels provide a 3-bay frame for wood-framed windows. All the windows are topped by wood-framed transoms. The 3rd floor is topped by a dentiled terra-cotta molding resting on a dentiled brick course.

In the 4th-5th floor grouping the arches have console keystones and square keyed blocks with a vermiculated finish. The arrangement of windows is identical to that on the 2nd and 3rd floor save for the loss of the second row of lights on the lower floor. The dentiled terra-cotta molding topping the story aligns with the 7th-floor sill course at 133 Fifth.

In the 6th-7th floor grouping the arches have cartouches in place of keystones and square key blocks with paneled faces. The arrangement of windows is identical to that of the 4th-5th floors. The terra-cotta molding crowning this story aligns with the 8th-floor cornice at 133 Fifth.

On the 8th floor the attempt to relate to Maynicke's design seems apparent both in the placement of cornices and in the use of similar arched window openings. Here the arches have flat buff-colored terra-cotta surrounds. The building is crowned by a galvanized iron Corinthian cornice resting on a terra-cotta molding.

The building's 100-foot wide brick eastern elevation steps back over a 1-story extension that adjoins the rear yard of 125-127 Fifth Avenue. Towards Fifth Avenue this wall is punctuated by three rows of windows with single-leaf metal shutters; a faded mural advertises Justin Tharaud China and Earthenware, a long-time tenant in the building. Over the court there are two rows of triple-sash windows. A modern stuccoed 1-story addition above this section of the building is topped by a roof garden.

The building was built as an expansion of the Lord & Taylor store just down the street. In 1915, following Lord & Taylor's move uptown, the building's upper floors were converted to showrooms and lofts. From the 1920s through the 1940s most of the tenants were dealers in china and glass. In 1979, the buildings were converted to residential use with the entrance to the apartments located at 4 East 20th Street.

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