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About 140 Franklin Street
One of the city's most handsome Romanesque-Revival-style buildings, this structure was erected in 1887 and designed by Albert Wagner, who was also the architect of the famous Puck Building on Lafayette Street at Houston Street.
It is distinguished by its very lively facades that feature balustraded rooflines, large arched windows on the fifth floor and small arched windows on the third and fifth floors, and strong rustication on the first floor which has very wide windows in contrast with the very narrow windows on the top floor. Windows are inset on the richly modulated facades and the corner is highlighted by a protruding element on the top floor that is a particularly nice and interesting design touch.
Sanba International Inc., of which Aldo Andreoli, an architect, is the principal, has renovated this building and converted it into 14 condominium apartments that range in size from 3,021 to 6, 226 square feet. The lobby has a mural of Sol LeWitt.
The street is cobblestoned and there is a subway station at the corner.
The cream-colored-brick building has a doorman and a superintendent. It was originally erected for the Walton Company, a manufacturer of wrapping papers.
This building is not far from several of TriBeCa's most important landmarks such as the former New York Mercantile Exchange Building of 1884 at 6 Harrison Street that was converted to condominiums in 1987, the great Art-Deco-style Western Union Building at 60 Hudson Street between Thomas and Worth Streets, and the fine Art-Deco-style A. T. & T. Long Lines Building of 1918 at 32 Sixth Avenue between Walker and Lispenard Streets.
This building is also very convenient to the City Hall and Battery Park City and this area abounds in attractive restaurants including El Teddy's at 219 West Broadway opposite Franklin Street where Antonio Miralda created a 1-ton façade sculpture of the crown of the Statue of Liberty in the late 1980's when the statue was closed for repairs.
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