The Bayard–Condict Building – Bleecker Street at Crosby, New York, New York

The Bayard–Condict Building at 65 Bleecker Street between Broadway and Lafayette Street, at the head of Crosby Street in the NoHo neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York City is the only work of architect Louis Sullivan in New York City. It was built between 1897 and 1899 in the Chicago School style.

This commercial office building is clad in white terra cotta over a masonry wall. The Bayard Building was one of the first steel skeleton frame skyscrapers in New York City and the Department of Buildings raised numerous objections to the design before the plans were finally accepted. The division of the building into three sections – an ornamented base, a shaft of identical stacked floors, and a decorated crown – illustrates Sullivan's views on skyscraper design. At 13 stories and 162 feet (49 meters) high, the building does not attempt to disguise its height, but rather accentuates it by leaving relatively undecorated mullions and pilasters. Sullivan's signature ornate floral designs decorate the base and top of the facade, and across the spandrels below the window openings. Figural sculptures of angels were added at the request of the client, Silas Alden Condict, over Sullivan's objections.

As rococo as the Bayard-Condict Building at Bleecker and Crosby Streets is, it’s regarded as a precursor to the skyscraper boom that commenced with the Flatiron and then Woolworth Buildings in the early 20th Century. And, the relatively large windows look ahead to the glassy International Style that commenced mid-century. This is the only building in NYC designed by Chicago architect Louis Sullivan, whose pupil, Frank Lloyd Wright, would design buildings that broke away from the ornate Beaux Arts style completely.

The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1975, and has been a National Historic Landmark since 1976.