Every other block of the Gramercy area, it seems, is home to a building designated as a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. In just one afternoon you can stroll past historic houses of worship, the Gilded Age flagship of a major department store, and even the birthplace of a president of the United States. While we cannot cover all the neighborhood’s official landmarks here, we can call attention to some of the more notable, which you might already have passed dozens of times during your travels.
Consolidated Edison Building
Four Irving Place (at 14th Street)
Consolidated Edison Building.
Image: Beyond My Ken/Wikimedia
Taking up the entire block between 14th and 15th Streets and Irving Place and Third Avenue, this 26-story building is crowned by what its promotional materials dubbed the Tower of Light. The base of the “tower” is three stories high, with a clock on each of its four faces. Above it rises what appears to be a model of an ancient Greek or Roman temple, complete with columns, and topping that is a bronze-and-glass lantern—appropriate for a company, originally known as Consolidated Gas, that played a key roll in illuminating the city. Before the building was completed in 1928, the plot had been the site of the original Tammany Hall.
Lincoln Building
103 Union Square West (at 14th Street)
Lincoln Building.
Image: Eden, Janine and Jim/Flickr
Despite being a relatively modest nine stories, the Lincoln Building is a commanding, majestic presence. Designed by acclaimed architect R.H. Robertson and completed circa 1890, the building is an exemplar of Romanesque Revival design, from the rusticated limestone base to the acanthus scrolls and Byzantine capitals to the ornate corner gargoyle resting below the top cornice, which is supported by rows of lion’s heads.
Former Century Association Building
109-111 East 15th Street (between Irving Place and Union Square East)
The former Century Association Building.
Image: Beyond My Ken/Wikimedia
Founded in 1847 as a private men’s club, the Century Association still exists today, though in 1989 it began admitting women. Among its more illustrious members were business titans J. Pierpont Morgan and Cornelius Vanderbilt, presidents Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt, and architects Charles McKim and Stanford White. Before moving to its current headquarters, on 43rd Street, in 1891, the club was located in this former residence, which was expanded and renovated several times after the club purchased it in 1857. Stately limestone window surrounds stand out against the red brick facade, which is topped with a slate-tiled mansard roof. Today this handsome building is home to the New York production studio of the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Friends Meeting House
15 Rutherford Place (between 15th and 16th Streets and Second and Third Avenues)
Friends Meeting House.
Image: Beyond My Ken/Wikimedia
Built in 1861, this three-story brick building is striking for its simplicity, which is in keeping with the ethos of the Quaker movement overall. The gable, supported by Greek Revival columns, over the entrance echoes the angles of the building’s gable roof. Meetings for worship are still held here on Sunday mornings.
St. George’s Church
East 16th Street at Rutherford Place (between Second and Third Avenues)
St. George’s Church.
Image: Eden, Janine and Jim/Flickr
Almost directly opposite the Friends Meeting House, St. George’s Church is far more elaborate in style—and was even more so before its two towering Gothic spires were removed for safety reasons in 1889. Construction of the brownstone Episcopal church began in 1846, and it opened for services two years later. Financier J.P. Morgan was not only a parishioner but a warden as well. The original Romanesque Revival structure was all but destroyed by a fire in 1865, then rebuilt to the same grand standard, from the rose window and the (now spireless) towers to the prominent apse and the elaborate corbelling,
Bank of the Metropolis
31 Union Square West (at 16th Street)
Bank of the Metropolis.
Image: LaylaYang/Wikimedia
Architect Bruce Price is best known for Quebec’s spectacular Château Frontenac hotel and the Gilded Age homes of Tuxedo Park, but his design for the former Bank of the Metropolis is a stately example of his Renaissance Revival skyscraper style. Completed in 1903, the limestone-facade building was inspired by the three-part structure of classic columns: base, shaft, and capital. The base includes a two-story portico and lavish adornments including lion’s-head waterspouts; the capital is topped with a copper cornice. Today the building is home to the Blue Water Grill and residences. Fun fact about Bruce Price: He was the father of etiquette doyenne Emily Post.
Scheffel Hall
190 Third Avenue (between 17th and 18th Streets)
Scheffel Hall.
Image: Beyond My Ken/Wikimedia
When this four-story structure was reimagined as a beer hall and restaurant in 1894, it bordered the neighborhood known as Kleindeutschland, or Little Germany. The Teutonic influence is apparent in its fanciful terracotta facade, modeled after a 17th-century outbuilding of Heidelberg Castle, and its name, which honors German poet Joseph von Scheffel. One of the city’s few German Renaissance Revival buildings, it boasts elaborate pilasters flanking its windows, a curvaceous pediment further embellished with a pair of cartouches, and other adornments that appear all the more lavish for being flanked by unremarkable boxy brick buildings.
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace
28 East 20th Street (between Park Avenue South and Broadway)
Theodore Roosevelt House.
Image: Beyond My Ken/Wikimedia
Though the 26th president of the United States was born at this address in 1858—and lived here till he was 14 years old—he was not born in this actual house. The original house, which was built in 1848, was razed in 1916 to make way for a store. After Roosevelt’s death in 1919, however, the property was bought by the Women’s Theodore Roosevelt Association and a replica of his birthplace was built. The three-story brownstone is now a National Historic Site and a museum as well as a city landmark. Guided tours are available of the five rooms that were restored to approximate what the interior might have looked like circa 1865.
Former Lord & Taylor Building
901 Broadway (at 20th Street)
The former Lord & Taylor building.
Image: Beyond My Ken/Wikimedia
When Samuel Lord opened a shop in 1826 selling hosiery and women’s apparel in what is now Chinatown, he probably never imagined that within a few decades it would grow to become one of the city’s foremost “dry goods” stores. But less than 50 years later, the retail business now known as Lord & Taylor moved its flagship shop uptown, to Ladies’ Mile, so-called for the fashionable stores clustered in the area. Built in 1870 with a cast-iron facade punctuated by a bevy of large windows, the Lord & Taylor building received plaudits for its grace and elegance. A corner tower enhanced with balconies and topped with an elongated mansard roof added to its grandeur. Lord & Taylor inhabited the building for only 44 years; along with other retailers, it moved farther uptown, to its currently flagship at Fifth Avenue at 38th Street. Brooks Brothers currently occupies the ground floor; the floors above have been refurbished into residences.