Reade57, 57 Reade Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 57 Reade Street by Carter Horsley

This mid-block, L-shaped condominium apartment building at 57 Reade Street is squeezed between two of Lower Broadway’s more attractive older structures. 

It is known as Reade 57 and also has an address of 281-5 Broadway.  It is just to the north of City Hall Park. 

The building has 84 apartments and was completed in 2012. 

It was designed by SLCE Architects and built by The John Buck Company of Chicago.

Bottom Line

While it pays no attention to its architecturally prestigious neighbors on Broadway, this 20-story apartment building has a prime location near City Hall Park and TriBeCa and the World Trade Center.

Description

The cast-in-place reinforced concrete structure has two stories of retail space on Broadway and its glass façades have some setbacks.

Amenities

The building has a doorman and a live-in superintendent. It also has a roof deck, a bicycle room, cold storage, personal storage and allows pets. 

Apartments

Several of the apartments have balconies, some of which are on Broadway and some are on Reade Street. 

Apartments F on the 3^rd, 4^th and 6^th floors at the western end of the building are two-bedroom unit that has an entry foyer that leads to a 12-foot-wide home office, a 12-foot-wide wining area with an open kitchen and a 20-foot-long living room. 

Apartment 15B is a three-bedroom unit with a 16-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 17-foot-wide living room with an open kitchen, a balcony and an 8-foot-wide dining alcove. 

Apartment 14F is a two-bedroom unit that has a long entry foyer that leads past an open kitchen to a 18-foot-wide living/dining room. 

Apartment B on the 10^th through the 14^th floors are one-bedroom units with an entry foyer adjacent to an open, pass-through kitchen off the 18-foot-wide living room with a balcony and an 8-foot-wide, windowed dining area.

History

The site is just to the north of the landmark Broadway Chambers Building at 277 Broadway that was designed by Cass Gilbert, the architect also of the great Woolworth Building a couple of blocks to the south at 233 Broadway. The Broadway Chambers Building, which is very ornate with colorful terracotta ornamentation and a rich architectural vocabulary, is at the northwest corner of City Hall Park. 

Reade57 is just to the south of a very handsome, 6-story, cast-iron building at 287 Broadway on the southwest corner of Broadway and Duane Street. 

During foundation work for the planned new mid-block building, the stability of the low-rise building was endangered and work on the project stopped while bracing was put in place for the low-rise building. 

The low-rise building at the corner was designed by John B. Snook in French Second Empire style in 1871 for the estate of Stephen Storm, a wholesale grocer and tobacco seller.  According to the daytonianinmanhattan.blogspot.com, the building had a bank on the lower level and offices above and one of the first Otis elevators in the city. 

“Snook’s cast-iron façade spilled over with sophistication and class,” according to the website, which added that “the steep, slate-shingled mansard was punctuated by robust dormers with arched pediments and the roofline was edged in filigree cast iron cresting.” 

During excavation for Reade57, the corner building began to tilt and in November 2007 it was ordered to be vacated and heavy shoring propped the building up.  

With the completion of Reade 57, the building at 287 Broadway was secured. 

A few years ago, the John Buck Company year completed a 32-story rental apartment building with Madison Equities at 400 East 92nd Street on the southeast corner at First Avenue. The 192-unit building was also designed by SLCE architects. 

The John Buck Company is a major developer in Chicago where it completed the 40-story apartment tower at Two East Erie in 2002, designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, the 50-story Plaza 440 in 1991 at 440 North Wabash, designed by Solomon, Cordwell & Buenz, and the 24-story Park Evanston in 1997 at 1630 Chicago Avenue, designed by Harry Weese Associates. Its major office towers in Chicago include the 51-story, 111 South Wacker Drive, designed by Lohan Caprile Goettsch and the 50-story One North Wacker Drive, designed by Lohan Associates and completed in 2001, the 50-story, 35 West Wacker Drive building, which is known as the Leo Burnett Building and was designed by Kevin Roche and completed in 1989, the 30-story 515 North State Street Building, which is known as the AMA Building and was designed by Kenzo Tange and completed in 1990, and the 40-story 190 South Lasalle Building, designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee and completed in 1987.