Barbizon 63
Barbizon 63 is a mostly residential condominium building at 140 East 63rd Street, at the southeast corner with Lexington Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The 23-story hotel was designed by Everett F. Murgatroyd and Palmer H. Ogden in a blend of the Italian Renaissance, Late Gothic Revival, and Islamic styles. From 1927 until 1981, it was a women-only residential hotel. The Barbizon is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a New York City designated landmark.
The facade consists of salmon-colored brick, with limestone and terra cotta decorations, and is divided into a three-story base, a 15-story shaft, and a five-story tower. The building contains numerous setbacks, as well as a light court to the east, and the upper stories contain large arched windows. When the Barbizon was built, it contained various amenities for its residents, including a gymnasium, private library, solarium, swimming pool, and Turkish bath. Generally, men were only permitted to enter the ground-level stores, the double-height lobby, and the mezzanine-level recital room. The upper stories originally contained 655 bedrooms, which were eventually downsized to 306 hotel rooms, then to 66 condominiums. The modern-day condominium building contains a three-story Equinox Fitness club at its base.
The Allerton Hotel chain, headed by William Silk, developed the Barbizon on the site of a synagogue that dated from the 1870s. The hotel opened on October 31, 1927, and initially catered to women who worked in the arts. The building was sold twice in the 1930s and was profitable by the end of that decade. Between the 1930s and the 1960s, the hotel hosted numerous clubs, and entities such as Mademoiselle magazine, the Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School, and the Ford Modeling Agency rented rooms there. After the Barbizon's occupancy rate began to decline in the 1970s, the hotel was refurbished. The Barbizon was sold three times between 1979 and 1981, and it started accepting male guests on February 14, 1981. The hotel underwent further renovations in the 1980s, during which it was sold twice more. Metromedia acquired the Barbizon in 1995 from Ian Schrager, partially renovated it, then sold it back to Schrager in 1998. The Berwind Property Group bought the hotel in 2001 and renovated it further before converting the building to condos between 2005 and 2006.
Description
Barbizon 63, originally the Barbizon Hotel for Women, is at the southeast corner of Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It occupies a trapezoidal site with a frontage of on 63rd Street and on Lexington Avenue. The site has a total area of.The Barbizon was designed by the firm of Everett F. Murgatroyd and Palmer H. Ogden, who designed the Allerton Hotel for Women and Barbizon-Plaza Hotel in New York City and the Hotel Allerton in Chicago. The structure is faced in salmon-colored brick with limestone and terra cotta decorations. The hotel's architecture combines elements of the Italian Renaissance, Late Gothic Revival, and Romanesque styles.
Form and facade
The Barbizon is 23 stories high. Its facade is divided into three horizontal sections: a three-story base, a 15-story shaft, and a five-story tower that is set back significantly from the shaft. The base occupies nearly the whole site and is rectangular. Above the third story, the south elevation of the facade is visible; there is a light court at the center of the south elevation. The east elevation is also visible above the fifth story; there are various setbacks and smaller light courts on the north, west, and east elevations. The facade mostly retains its original design, but openings for air conditioners have been cut into various parts of the facade.Base
The lowest section of the facade, immediately above the sidewalk, consists of a stone water table. Above the water table, the facade contains alternating stone and brick bands. The north elevation on 63rd Street measures 11 bays wide, while the west elevation on Lexington Avenue is 10 bays wide. The first two stories contain arcades supported by Romanesque-style pilasters made of stone and brick or of plain stone. Each pilaster is topped by Corinthian-style capitals that contain acanthus leaf motifs. The first-story windows and storefronts have been modified over the years, but many of the original second-story casement windows and arched transom windows remain in place.The three center bays on 63rd Street comprise the main entrance, which is accessed by a set of stone steps. At some point after the building opened, the original metal-and-glass double doors were replaced. The main entrance was originally topped by a balcony, but this has since been replaced by a marquee. The 30-foot-long bronze marquee, designed in the Art Deco style and installed in 1940, contained cut-outs of the letters "Barbizon". The entrance is flanked by rectangular windows with Gothic-style frames. The easternmost bay of the 63rd Street elevation contains a service doorway, while the westernmost three bays contain large storefronts with canopies and wall sconces. The second-story windows contain projecting sills with wrought-iron grilles. Above the second story, the center three bays are flanked by a pair of stone corbels, which originally carried flagpoles.
On Lexington Avenue, the ground story only contains storefronts. The design of the first two stories is similar to that of the outer bays on 63rd Street. However, the third and ninth bays from the north have doorways with projecting canopies, while the other bays contain canopies and wall sconces. The doorways on Lexington Avenue lead to the hotel's fitness center. Above the second-story setback on Lexington Avenue is a metal fence, behind which are HVAC equipment.
Upper stories
The four corners of the building are designed in a manner similar to turrets. On the 63rd Street elevation, the five center bays are set back above the second story, while the outermost three bays continue upward as "corner pavilions". In the center bay of each corner pavilion, there is an angular brick-and-stone balcony above the third story. Similar decorations are present on the corner pavilions of the Lexington Avenue elevation. The east and south elevations are asymmetrical. The light court at the center of the south elevation measures five bays wide and six bays deep; this splits the south elevation into a western wing measuring three bays wide and an eastern wing measuring four bays wide. The north, east, and west elevations all have six setbacks. On these elevations, the intermediate stories contain cruciform niches and projecting bricks, while the setbacks are marked by arched Gothic Revival–style corbel tables and trellises.On the north, west, and south elevations, as well as on the northern part of the east elevation, the third through 17th stories are accented by vertical brick corbels and horizontal corbel bands. The eastern light court, and some of the windows on the southern part of the east elevation, contain darker brick. Over the years, many the windows on all four elevations have been lengthened, while some windows on the east and south elevations have been sealed. The north elevation contains iron balconies at the 10th and 14th stories, as well as brick parapets at the 12th and 15th stories, parts of which have been replaced with metal balustrades. Some of the brick parapets on the east elevation have also been replaced at the 12th, 14th, and 19th stories; in addition, there are spherical lamps on the east elevation above some of the 13th- and 16th-story windows.
According to Robert A. M. Stern, the top six stories were designed similarly to a chapel. The 18th through 23rd stories originally featured multi-paned casement windows. The terraces on the 18th floor contain iron balconies and open loggias, and the west side of the 19th floor contained an outdoor solarium. The north, west, and east elevations contain brick corbels on the 18th through 23rd stories, which form a diaper pattern. The 19th and 20th stories contain three double-height arches, topped by molded brick hoods and archivolts; each archway contains iron-framed windows with ornamental spandrel panels. On the north and west elevations, the center of the 21st story contains round windows, which flank a double-height arched dormer with a gable and a brick and stone frame. The dormer, spanning the 21st and 22nd stories, contains a multi-light sash window topped by a quatrefoil. The east and south elevations also have double-height windows at the center of the 21st and 22nd stories. The 22nd story has a parapet with machicolations on all four sides. At the 23rd story, all four elevations contain louvers instead of windows. The building is topped by a standing-seam copper hip roof.
Interior
The building's two basement levels, as well as the first two stories, occupy the entire site. At the 18th floor, a terrace wraps around the Barbizon's tower stories, which taper to. The building contained various amenities for its residents, including a gymnasium, private library, solarium, swimming pool, and Turkish bath. According to the New York City Department of City Planning, the modern-day building contains, split across 86 residential condominiums and two non-residential condominiums.Public rooms
The main entrance on 63rd Street originally led to a double-height lobby, which was surrounded by a balcony. The lobby was designed in a northern Italian style; the original decorations have since been removed. When the Barbizon was converted into a mixed-gender hotel in 1981, the upper portion of the lobby was converted into a palm court, with a 200-seat restaurant and bar. At ground level, there were also eight stores on Lexington Avenue, such as a bookshop, milliner, pharmacy, hosiery store, dry cleaner, and hairdresser. All these stores could be accessed both from the street and from inside.On the second floor, behind the lobby, was an English-style recital room with wood paneling. The room could fit 300 people and hosted performances by both residents and established musical artists. The south wall contained a stained-glass window with a depiction of the Barbizon, above which was a broken pediment commemorating the Barbizon's completion in 1927. On the east wall was a church organ, which had 600 pipes. The organ was seldom used after 1947 and was completely abandoned in the early 1970s; it was restored in 1982.
The swimming pool, in the basement, was clad with ceramic tile and measured. The pool, occupying a double-height space, was completely closed for about 15 years and was used as storage space. By the 1970s, there was a health club adjacent to the pool. The health club had been incorporated into a three-level fitness center, operated by Equinox, by the late 1990s. The fitness center has been variously cited as spanning,, or. The pool's dimensions were modified to, and a whirlpool, steam room, showers, and hot and cold plunges were added next to the pool. The fitness center also contains a juice bar and cafe on the first floor, as well as workout rooms and consultants' offices on the second floor.
The Barbizon's upper stories included a 3,000-volume library, as well as a soundproof, double-height rehearsal room on the 19th story. Other amenities included an art gallery, music rooms, and handball and basketball courts; later on, the building also had a television room. When the Barbizon was converted to condominiums in 2006, its owners added a salon, a dining and reception area, a library, and a screening room with 20 seats.