35 West 81st Street

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133-foot, 12-story Renaissance-revival cooperative-apartment building completed in 1914. Designed by Neville & Bagge, it was originally named The Orvista, after its developer Charles E. Orvis. The 5-bay facade is clad in white brick and terra-cotta above a 3-story limestone base, banded on the lower two floors. The central entrance is recessed atop two granite steps, with glass-and-metal double-doors below a rounded, grey canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. A paneled stone plinth on either side supports two pairs of 2-story, engaged, fluted columns with based carved with shields surrounded by Renaissance ornament, and with Corinthian capitals. There are three panels above the doorway, the center one is wider and has a cartouche, and the other two have flowers. The ground floor bays on either side of the entry have tripartite windows with black iron mullions. The west end bay has a wide single-window at the ground floor, and the east end bay has a narrow single-window paired with a shorter single-window that has a black metal service door below it. There are low basement windows at the sidewalk level in the west end bay and the two tripartite bays. The 2nd floor has wide single-windows in both end bays, and a double-window in the center bay, between the columns. A modillioned band course caps the 2nd floor. The 3rd floor has the same arrangement of windows, with a balustrade in front of the center bay. The base is capped by another band course, projecting out at the end bays where it is supported by pairs of scrolled brackets. There are balusters on the top side of this band course at each bay.

The upper floors continue the same window arrangement with brick spandrels between the floors at the middle bays, each decorated with three outlined brick rectangles - the center one wider in each spandrel. The end bays have simple stone sills and paneled stone lintels with rosettes at the centers. A projecting stone balcony fronts the three middle bays at the 9th floor, supported on short brackets framing each bay. Lintels like those at the end bays also top the middle bays at the 9th floor, only wider. The end bays at the 10th floor have projecting stone balconies, with shields adorning the piers on either side. The 10th floor is capped by a band course with a row of incised squares.

The top two floors have brick banding at the end bays, and 2-story, paneled pilasters flanking the middle bays. Every bay has a brick spandrel with three outlined panels between the 11th & 12th floors. The facade is crowned by a terra-cotta cornice with modillions, paired brackets at the end bays, small cartouches between these brackets, and triangular pediments rising above the end bays.

The building was converted to a co-op in 1986, with 68 apartments.