343 West 71st Street

343 West 71st Street 

Date: 1894-5

NB Number: 420-94

Type:  Townhouse

Architect:  Horgan & Slattery

Developer/Owner/Builder: Horgan & Slattery Co.

NYC Landmarks Designation:  Historic District

Landmark Designation Report: West 71st Street Historic District

No. 343 is one of eight five-story houses designed in the Renaissance Revival style, with Venetian influences. The unified row has brick facades with elaborate terracotta ornamentation, common stoop level and cornice and sill lines. Decorative terracotta stringcourses are at each level. On some of the houses, the brick and the terracotta have been painted but the brick is yellow where it remains unpainted. No. 343, in particular, is not painted. All but one of the other houses have doors with full-height glass panels divided by curving mullions, which were installed early in the twentieth century. The historic windows on this group were one-over-one double hung, wood sash. They remain on some or all of the windows of most houses in this group. Many of the houses, including No. 343, retain decorative wrought iron grilles on the ground story windows. No. 343 also retains some of the wrought iron railings with swirling patterns, as well as newel posts that frame the small stoop and areaway. Behind each areaway railing a steep, narrow stairway leads down to a basement door which is located under the small stoop. Broad modillioned stamped metal cornices with identical designs top each building in this row.

Two designs alternate within this group of houses, arranged in a rhythm of A B B A B B B A (from east to west). No. 337 is of the “A” type, which has two round-arched openings at the ground story, one with a door and the other with a full-height window, with a small oval window between the two. The three middle stories are marked by a frontispiece composed of tripartite window groups at each level with a variety of terracotta ornamental features, including pilasters and bracketed balconies, crowned by a round-arched pediment which extends into the fifth-story level. Two oval windows are at the top story.

National Register Designation:

Primary Style:  Renaissance Revival

Primary Facade:   Brick and Terra Cotta

Stories: 5

Window Type: Originally one-over-one double hung, wood sash

Alterations:

This building has all replacement windows, including metal paning around the windows at the second, third, and fourth stories. The windows on the parlor and top stories have non-historic wood-framed windows. The door has the same curving mullions as its neighbors. An awning and light fixtures have been added. The lower three stories have been sandblasted while those above were cleaned chemically. The basement stairway has been removed and the window bricked over.