THE GUIDE

Roosevelt Building

Built in 1873 in Neoclassical revival style, taking advantage of all the merits of cast-iron architecture, this building has a decidedly atypical style that is unprecedented in other cast iron buildings.
It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, who later designed several residences for the Vanderbilts, the base of the Statue of Liberty, the bronze doors of Trinity Church and in 1895, a portion of the Metropolitan Museum.
It was built for James Henry Roosevelt, great-uncle of President Theodore Roosevelt, and later donated, at his request after his death in 1863, to nearby Roosevelt Hospital.
It is five stories high and has a façade divided into three sections by four large Ionic columns which are divided into the three intermediate floors with three large windows separated by thinner columns. The attic has a row of nine identical windows separated by columns that echo those of the lower floors.

References

Gerard R. Wolfe. New York, a Guide to the Metropolis: Walking Tours of Architecture and History. McGraw-Hill, 1994, 2° ed. p. 202
Bill Harris. One Thousand New York Buildings. Black Dog & Leventhal, 2005. p. 118
Roosevelt Building (new york architecture)
Richard Morris Hunt's 1874 Nos. 478-482 Broadway (Daytonian in Manhattan)