Architects presented plans for the 1909 Sofia Brothers storage building on the corner of Franklin and Varick to the Landmarks Preservation Commission last month, showing very modest modifications to modernize and adapt it for residential use. Some commissioners called it “lovely” and while there was some discussion about details, the commission approved the plans with little debate.

Built in 1909 as a warehouse, the 10-story, cast iron, brick and stone building sits squarely in the Tribeca West Historic District. It has 13-foot ceilings and is 53-feet wide.

The project is a collaboration between Broad Street Development, which converted the residential properties 40 Bleeker and 215 Sullivan in the Village and redeveloped office properties such as 80 Broad and 55 and 61 Broadway, and Rawlings architects, which completed the grey and modern 219 Hudson, on the northwest corner with Canal, not too long ago. The building sold in July for $44 million for the building; it last changed hands in 1967.

Discussions at the LPC hearing included the existing wood water tower, which will be traded out for mechanicals surrounded by a bulkhead; the asymmetrical entry doors proposed to make them barrier-free; and the treatment of the replacements for the loading bay doors. Landmarks staff noted that all of these changes are usually approved at the staff level and are common adjustments. (One commissioner called the preservation of the water tower a “literal empty gesture.”)

The commission asked the developers that they discuss changed to the bulkhead materials with staff.

Other changes:

• fire escapes will be removed on the rear facade
• a rear yard extension will be removed
• the loading dock canopy will be restored but clad in glass
• a railing will be added to the loading dock

One fun detail: when the building was built, Varick Street ended at Franklin; by 1916 it was extended to Leonard.

1916 map

1891 map

Here are some more details from the historic district designation report:

Designed by the well-known firm of Maynicke & Franke for the Strohmeyer & Arpe Company, an importing business founded in 1882, it was erected in 1909. Previously on the site stood a two-and-a-half-story Gothic Revival structure which had been the home of the Fourth Associated Reformed Church during the 1850s. That structure received a five-story brick rear addition for a “factory and workshop” in 1873, built by Havilah M. Smith for Taylor & Wilson; by 1887 Beach & Sherwood, produce and grocery merchants, occupied the addition and at some point converted the former church building to commercial use.

Maynicke & Franke’s design, articulated with a cellular treatment typical of early-twentieth-century commercial buildings, is embellished with neo-Renaissance elements. The six-bay facade, which by conforming to the irregular street configuration has a chamfered eastern bay, is composed of a two-story base and an eight-story upper section. Faced in coursed stone, the base retains its segmentally-arched entranceway of polished-stone Tuscan columns and an entablature, containing paired wood doors and a transom. In front of the entrance there is paving of concrete with glass lens. To the west, cast-iron piers and a pressed-metal cornice survive, framing the historic wood infill of the five loading bays. A loading platform and metal awning with skylights extend across these five bays.

At the second story, the coursed stone separates simple rectangular window openings and supports a stone cornice. Giant piers span the brick-faced upper section of the building, broken only by a cornice above the eighth story. Window openings mostly have flat stone lintels, although some have segmental brick arches; two-over-two wood sash windows survive. Spandrels are of unadorned brick except below the third story’s end bays and below the top story, where they support a geometric pattern. The parapet is characterized by corbelled brick and is raised at the end bays. The exposed side elevations are parged brick walls with many historic multipane windows.

In 1920-21 a rear bridge was built to connect this building to No. 27 Leonard Street.