640 Broadway: Review and Ratings

Review of 640 Broadway by Carter Horsley

This handsome, 9-story building at 640 Broadway at Bleecker Street was called the Empire State Building when it was erected in 1897, two years after the former structure on the site that housed the Empire State Bank, on the first floor, was destroyed in a fire.

It has 21 rental apartments and is in the NoHo Historical District.

It was designed by DeLemos & Cordes, which designed Macy’s at Herald Square and Joseph Pell Lombardi was the architect for the conversion by 640 Broadway Owners.

It has good public transportation and is convenient to Cooper Union and New York University.

Bottom Line

An attractive late 19^th Century building in NoHo, on Broadway, with high ceilings.

Description

The red-brick building is distinguished by an oculus window on the 5^th floor facing Broadway and a large curved window on the 8^th floor, also facing Broadway.

The building has two bandcourses, some decorative façade elements and a cornice.

Apartments

Apartments have 12-foot-high, barrel-vaulted ceilings, washers and dryers, central air-conditioners and kitchen appliances by Viking, Miele, Bosch and Liebherr.

Apartment 3A is three-bedroom unit with a 45-foot-long living/dining room with an open kitchen.

Apartment 7B is a one-bedroom unit with a long entry foyer leading to the living room with an open kitchen. The bedroom is triangular.

History

An article in the April 18, 1909 edition of The New York Times reported that “someone dropped a cigar or a cigarette into a box of feathers” on the building’s ground floor and before long “a girl on the tenth floor shouted ‘Fire.’”

“A hundred other girls took up the cry, and there was a dash for the elevator… Tony Sarino, the elevator boy, ran his car to the tenth floor and the girls tried to crowd into it. Tony had to throw some out before he could close the door and drop to the ground floor.  He made six trips and finally got all the girls out. On the sidewalk a score or more of the girls swooned, but those who recovered their composure rushed at Tony. ‘You hero,’ shouted one girl, and grabbing the astonished Tony around the neck, kissed him. Two other girls followed suit and several were prepared to do likewise when Tony fled.”

In 1919, according to an article in The Times, “a crowd of more than 10,000 persons witnessed rescues by police and firemen” as flames shot through the building’s upper floors.

In 1921, the building had another fire and two elevator operators, one crippled, rescued scores of female employees.

An April 16, 2000 article in The Times by David Kirby reported that some neighbors and local businesses were upset a sign on the building that showed “a woman with purple hair and the words ‘Lil’ Kim Wet. Shocking, Raw. Uncensored. The Nastiest Flix ever.”

The building was in an official historic district that had been created the previous June and in most historic districts outdoor advertising is banned without special permission from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The building extends along the southerly Bleecker Street block front to Crosby Street.