380 Lafayette Street Building

History and architecture

This six-story building standing resolutely on its site is unusally imposing for its mass. It was completed in 1888 when buildings of this size were still considered high. Handsome dark brown brick piers form five bays for windows on the Great Jones Street side and four on Lafayette Street. These tiers of windows are four stories high and terminate in segmental arches, also of brick. The piers, supported at the first floor by interesting dwarf columns of sandstone, rest on polished gray granite bases. Handsome ornamental sandstone blocks are a conspicuous feature of the piers at the third story and may also be seen at the intersection of the arches with the piers. Solid sections of light colored brick wall terminate the succession of arched bays at both ends of the building signalizing the location of entrances, strairs and elevators.

In this building the architect proved that a utilitarian structure need not be devoid of ornament but may have attributes of real artistic merit and make a lasting contribution to the beauty of its neighborhood. It was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenborgh, architect of such elegant structures as the old Walforf-Astoria, the Hotel Plaza, the Dakota Apartments and the American Fine Arts Society Building in New York, and the Copley-Plaza in Boston.