42 – No. 344 / 346: Elegant tenements with Grecian Details (circa 1910).
14th Street between 6th and 9th Avenues sits squarely in Chelsea, one of the most eclectic, beguiling and bi-curious neighborhoods in Manhattan. Architecturally, one sees a transition from the macho, Type-A glass, steel and cast-iron of contemporary Big Capital, to an alternately fabulous and gritty urban style dominated by beautiful art deco buildings and elegant, gilded tenements.
Chelsea is where the boys come out to play, after all – those fashionable, gym-toned Chelsea boys who set the trends everybody else follows. They are the vanguards of gentrification. In their wake follow the yuppie, metrosexual couples with their manicures and power-prams and confused sexualities.
Chelsea on 14th Street is also a rather more benevolent place, with a handful of major charitable and religious institutions reminding visiting revelers that there are always those less fortunate than one.
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33 – The Art Deco façade of the HSBC 14th Street Office, on the junction of 6th Ave, marking the start of outer Chelsea.
34 – No. 120: The Centennial Memorial Temple, built for the Salvation Army in 1930 as their national headquarters. Yet another beautiful Art Deco building, given over to benevolent and charitable purposes.
35 – 7th Ave Intersection: 1912 loft building by Herman Lee Meader, with exquisite terracotta detailing, framing a fashionable, gym-toned silhouette.
36 – A statue of Joan of Arc, presiding over a building named after her – the Jeanne d’Arc apartments (1888).
37 – 8th Ave Intersection: 1907 Neo-classical building constructed for the New York County National Bank. Now houses the Nickel Spa for Men.
38 – 8th Ave L Train Station, by the New York Savings Bank Building (1896), now housing CVS Pharmacy. This marks the start of central Chelsea.
39 – No. 330: Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Bernard’s (1875).
40 – No. 317: Chelsea Pines Inn, named after the notorious Fire Island resort for gay men.
41 – No. 335/337 – Neo-Grecian apartments (circa 1900).
E – Our Lady of Chelsea
Dream Of A City 