The Sanford & The Rexford

USA / New Jersey / West New York / West 79th Street, 230
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145-foot, 13-story completed in 1913. Designed by Schwartz & Gross, it appears as one building with a unified facade, but there are separate addresses for the northern half (The Rexford at 230 West 79th) and the southern half (The Sanford at 231 West 78th).

The facade is clad in brown brick above a beige-painted limestone ground floor that is lined with metal-and-glass storefronts along Broadway, most of which have navy-blue canvas awnings. There were originally two residential entrances centered on the north and south facades. The south entrance has been altered into an entrance for a commercial space on 78th Street, but otherwise both entrances remain visually identical, with the only difference being the wood-framed glass double-doors on the south side, instead of the metal-framed glass double-doors and transom seen on the north, which also has a rounded, blue canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. Both entries are framed by thin pilasters with scrolled brackets that support a balustrade across the round-arched tripartite window at the center of the 2nd floor, which has a large keystone with a roundel on either side. This bay is framed by larger, paneled, paired pilasters with Gothic lanterns mounted between them, supporting broad bases for a stone cornice snapping the top of the center bay at the 2nd floor.

On the north facade, to the east of the entrance, is a plate-glass windows and a glass door with narrow sidelights, forming one commercial space; farther east is another commercial space with a separate wood-and-glass door and one sidelight, and a narrower window. To the west are two bays that had single-windows, now filled-in, and a small show-window at the end bay.

The upper floors on north facade have two center bays of tripartite windows (with thick, black iron mullions), and two bays of wide single-windows on either side flanking narrower windows; those on the west side are divided unevenly by iron mullions into two panes. The windows all have stone sills, and the narrower single-windows have recessed brick surrounds. A terra-cotta band couse with an elaborate frieze decorated with swirling ornament and small cartouches at each bay tops the 3rd floor, which has brick panels on the piers, outlined by terra-cotta with delicate patterns. The 3rd floor is topped by another band course, this one with a patterned molding along its top edge.

The 11th floor is set off by a band course with balusters below each window bay, and projecting brick panels on the piers, with terra-cotta squares at each corner. This floor is crowned by a projecting cornice with small brackets, an egg-and-dart moldings, and dentils. The 12th floor has terra-cotta surrounds at the outer bays, with dentiled cornices on top. The roof line at the 13th floor is marked by a smaller terra-cotta cornice.

The ground floor on the south facade has two smaller and one larger plate-glass window to the west of the entrance, and to the east is a tripartite window, followed by two large single-windows flanking a black wooden service door. The upper floors match those on the north facade.

The long Broadway facade spans 14 bays, all with double-windows, except for those on either side of the four center bays, which have tripartite windows. The band courses, cornices, and pier decorations match those on the north and south facades. The rear, east-facing facade, also clad in brick, is organized into four wings by three deep light wells. The north and south wings both have three bays of single-windows, the innermost one on each wing being set farther apart and having wider windows. The middle two wings have double-windows toward the inside, and two single-window bays on the outer part. The light wells are lined with tripartite and single-windows

The building contains 100 apartment units. The storefront at the east end on 79th Street are occupied by Cleanlab Cleaners and 79th Street Wine & Spirits. The rest of the Broadway storefronts are occupied by City Browns threading salon, Jimmy's Custom Framing, Meet Me Nail Studio, Sky Locksmith & Hardware, Blossom Jewelry & boutique, Sam & Chris Hair Salon, New Wave Cafe, Carlos Shoe Repair, Blooming Couture Flowers, Unique News & Smoke, and The UPS Store.
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Coordinates:   40°47'0"N   73°58'47"W
This article was last modified 2 years ago