Doc. Toolbox
How to Photograph
Measure & Document
Interviews
Landmarks
Village Survey
|
|
|
|
7 Bond Street
Surveyor's Name: Michele Boyd
Date of survey: July/August 2000
Building Address: 7 Bond Street
Block/Lot: 197/129
Building type: Residential apartment with commercial space at ground floor
Owner's name: B&J Realty Corp.
Building name: Plaza Building
Historical name: Plaza Building
Date of construction: 1931
Architect: F. Albert Hunt & Edwin Kline
Building dimensions: 94’ X 95’
No. of floors: Three and basement
Decorative features: Cast stone door surround at entrance bay and plaque at roofline with festoon, cast stone cartouche over door, arched brick lintels with cast stone keystones; brick and cast stone window surrounds, grillwork security bars on first-story windows
Siding material(s): Brick, cast stone, aluminum
Roof style: Flat with parapet
Roofing materials: Asphalt
No. of entrances & placement: Front entrance to apartments at west elevation on Bond Street; each of four stores has its own Bond Street entrance
Chimneys & placement: Two interior chimneys at center of roof
Architectural integrity: Moderate-High; some original details removed and altered (see below)
Architectural style: Eclectic with Neoclassical and Art Deco elements
Description: This three-story, 11-bay, red brick building has small front and rear courts. The building is designed in an “H”-plan and includes commercial space at the street level. The roofline is varied for interest. (The original cast-stone copings at the roofline have been replaced with aluminum.) The design of the façade is symmetrical. The recessed central entrance bay on the principal façade is located at the connector of the “H,” and is fronted by a small landscaped court. A small plaque with relief ornament is located just under the roofline on this bay. The entrance is enframed with an elaborate NeoJacobean door surround. A small cartouche over the door reads “Plaza Apts.” Projecting wings, decorated with Art Deco stone finials at the top corners, flank this central bay. Storefronts are located in the projecting wings.
The original specifications called for wrought-iron balconies on third-floor windows of the principal facade and wrought iron security bars on the lower-level windows (some are extant).
Interior: The interior was not examined. The building was designed with 33 apartments. Bronze hardware was specified throughout the building, including bronze letterboxes with push-button bells that rang in each kitchen. In addition, a bell at the “private hall entrance” of each apartment rang in each entry hall. Dumbwaiter bells in the kitchen of each apartment rang in the basement at the bottom of the dumbwaiter shaft.
7 Bond was originally a walk-up, and featured marble stairs from the first to the third floor. The vestibule and lobby were decorated with knotty pine paneling and exposed ceiling beams. All public spaces had mosaic terrazzo flooring. The lobby floor design was a black-and-white diamond pattern with a solid black border. The decorative features of the lobby do not appear to survive.
Each apartment was equipped with tiled bathrooms, telephone outlets, white oak floors in living rooms and bedrooms and pine floors in the kitchens and bathrooms. Windows facing the front court were to be “International steel casement with screens attached set in wooden frames.” Casement windows were glazed with antiqued leaded glass (not extant). All other windows were of pine and double-hung (replaced with aluminum). Wooden shutters featured fixed louvers. The main entrance door was to be of pine with glass panels (not extant).
In 1982 the building underwent extensive renovations designed by architect Walter Blum of Great Neck. These included repair of the original lobby paneling, renovations to kitchens and bathrooms, a new asphalt shingle roof, new double-hung aluminum windows, removal of dumbwaiters, removal of Colonial Revival door surrounds at the storefronts and Art Deco stone finials, cleaning of stonework, and repointing of brick. The biggest change was the installation of an elevator, which necessitated cutting through the center of the building to form an elevator shaft, which reduced the available floor space of several apartments. In 1983, Blum designed a new landscaping plan for the Bond Street elevation. These included new brick sidewalks and walkway in keeping with VGNP requirements (which replaced the original walkway of bluestone flags) and plantings of flowering dogwood, cedar, rhododendron, red azalea, little leaf holly, and pachysandra.
Historical information: The original building permit was granted in March of 1931. In June of that year an additional permit was granted for the inclusion of a penthouse. Construction was estimated to cost $96,500.
Source: VGNP Building Department file.
|
|
