A new building planned for 52-54 Wooster Street in SoHo has a split personality and the city's Landmark Preservation Commission today tried, without success, to tip its balance.

As designed by Arpad Baksa, a new six-story building that would rise on an existing parking lot at the southeast corner of Broome Street and would have its narrow frontage on Broome Street and half of its much longer frontage on Wooster Street in a light-gray grid facade treatment whose fenestration pattern would relate substantially to its immediate neighbor on Broome Street, an attractive cast-iron building.

On Wooster Street, however, the new building's neighbor is a masonry structure and so Mr. Baksa designed the new building's adjoining facade in red masonry for its south half.

The building would have five, full floor, three-bedroom residential condominium units with about 2,000 square feet each.

Most of the commission members seemed generally pleased with the design but were tempted to tinker. Vice chairman Pablo E. Vengoechea indicated he has some "trouble with the material," but Commissioner Steven Byrns said he was "relatively comfortable with the material," adding that he liked the "sliver" on Broome Street where the adjoining building leans into it by about 22 inches because it shows the pecularity of old buildings.

Mr. Byrns, however, suggested that perhaps the metal grid facade on Wooster should be reduced to just two bays at the corner.

Commissioner Margery Perlmutter, on the other hand, responded next and said "rather than reducing the metal extend it more" along the Wooster Street frontage.

Commissioner Roberta Brandes Gratz liked the architect's use of two distinct facades butr said that what "troubles" her was the building's awkward "alignment with the Broome Street" neighbor's windows.

Chairman Robert Tierney decided to close the hearing and ask the applicant to try to address some of the commission members' ideas.