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Photo Credit: NYC Daily).
The site NYC Daily posts (almost) daily photos of New York City. Here is one photo I found especially interesting. The photo is titled: "Downtown Manhattan - at City Hall Park and New York by Gehry building" (I've posted the image above, credit due to NYC Daily).
I wasn't interested in the Gehry building (that post-modern horror), but in the red (brick?) building in front.
I did some searches around the web, and finally identified the ornate brick-red building. It is called the Potter Building after Orlando B. Potter, the real estate developer who commissioned its construction. It was designed and built by architect N.G. Starkweather from 1883 to 1886. The building is located at 35-38 Park Row in Manhattan.
The red stone is terra cotta, originally obtained from Orlando Potter's New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company. Although no longer producing terra cotta, the building still stands.
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The Potter building replaced the New York World Building which was destroyed by a fire in 1882. The New York World was a newspaper published in New York between 1860 and 1911. Joseph Pulitzer bought the paper in 1883, when it became (notoriously) successful. Internal disputes caused the paper to fold in 1931. In 2011, the Columbia University School of Journalism launched an online version of the paper "to provide New York City citizens with accountability journalism about government operations that affect their lives." The latest title on the New York World website is the slogan "Get inside your government," so I doubt this is a review of the socio-cultural happenings in the city.
There is more on the architecture and design history of the building here, as well as photos of the building's details. The building was built mostly in terra cotta.
More on the terra cotta facade:
The [Potter Building] facade was constructed of brick and terracotta, which was chosen by Potter due to its fire resistance and low cost. This soon led to terracotta becoming a popular element in other New York skyscrapers. It was a revolutionary structure in that it was virtually fireproof, made possible by the iron frame and the terracotta, and was the first use of fire-protected steel frame. [Source]There are many more interesting buildings surrounding the Potter Building. I don't know why blogs and websites which post such architecturally interesting buildings don't provide information on the buildings. I will search around to identify these buildings, and post on them some time soon.