108 Leonard Street

1894 insurance building, converted, 152 residences across 16 floors.

108 Leonard Street, 10013

108 Leonard was built in 1894 to a McKim, Mead and White design, Italian Renaissance Revival, and converted to 152 residences by Jeffrey Beers International with SLCE Architects. The clock tower is excluded from the conversion by court ruling and remains separate.

The restoration kept the ornamental work rather than stripping it. Three limestone entrances survive, and the Leonard Street lobby retains marble pillars, a double staircase and a chandelier that are themselves landmarked.

Ceiling heights run from around ten feet to more than fourteen. That is a wide spread inside one building, and it comes from a plan drawn for offices where floor to floor heights varied by storey. The window openings are the original architectural ones rather than a modern system, so they are fixed in masonry and sized to the elevation rather than to the rooms behind them.

Floors are five inch oak. The practical consequence of the whole is that room dimensions and window positions were inherited rather than designed, and every apartment resolves that differently.

Within walking distance

Building facts

New York City Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output, version 26v1. Tax lot 1001707501.