Carter's Review

This 1939, red-brick building at 20 Fifth Avenue on the southwest corner at 9^th Street is one of the prime buildings of Lower Fifth Avenue, one of the city’s toniest neighborhoods.

The 17-story building has 107 rental apartments.

Designed by Boak & Paris, it was described in the Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report for the Greenwich Village Historic District as “a transitional work…when few large-scale luxury dwellings were being constructed in the city.”  “Its architecture represents an intriguing inter-period mix of jazz-era historicism and the post-war functionalism to come,” it continued.

“Details are heavily Neo-Classical, but applied to a surprisingly dynamic and asymmetrical series of bays suggestive of the sculptural turn later modern architecture would take.  Seen from below, the structure gives its corner a jolt of cinematic drama,” the report said.

According to Christopher Gray, the architectural historian, the architects “survived and even prospered during the 1930’s when more established architects would not, and they developed and elegant model for the urbane but down-size apartment building in Depression-era.”

Russell M. Boak parted from his partner, Hyman F. Paris, in 1941 but went on to form a new partnership with Thomas O. Raad and among their works was The Brevoort apartment building at 11 Fifth Avenue.

Bottom Line

An elegant, pre-war, red-brick apartment building on Lower Fifth Avenue with a fluted limestone base, sidewalk landscaping and some sunken living rooms.

Description

The building has a canopied entrance with a handsome limestone entrance surround.

There is a wide, banded limestone bandcourse that intersects with the limestone base elements of red-brick masonry piers.

The center of the building’s façade on the sidestreet and the avenue are indented with angled corner windows and the buildings also has a corner windows.

There is another bandcourse above the 14^th floor.

The building permits protruding air-conditioners.

Amenities

The building has a doorman, some fireplaces, a live-in superintendent, storage and is pet friendly.

Apartments

Apartment 12 C is a two-bedroom unit with a 17-foot-wide entrance gallery that lead to a 23-foot-long, sunken living room.  There is also a 12-foot-long dining balcony next to the 9-foot-long enclosed, windowed kitchen.

Apartment 2A is a one-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads to a 16-foot-long gallery and a sunken, 21-foot-long living room.