Luxury NYC High-Rise Gets First-Class Treatment with Ellison Balanced Doors

Ellison Bronze, Inc. outfits New York City’s Gotham West with its custom balanced entry door systems, introducing tenants and visitors to the building’s high-end style.

By specifying Ellison doors, the grand entrance creates an impressive tone for New York’s newest luxury rental apartment building and ensures the doors will provide the durability required for a long building lifespan.

The Ellison doors are located at 550 West 45th Street, a 31-story tower featuring 698 rental units. Ellison representative MacKenzie Door Company contracted with Enterprise Architectural Sales to furnish and install Ellison balanced doors, fixed framing and a 35’ long fixed window lite at Gotham West.

Ellison supplied MacKenzie Door Company with two single narrow stile bronze balanced door units with a satin finish for the main entry that opens into a stunning wood paneled lobby. The balanced doors feature a transom and sidelights. Ellison also provided the bronze surround for a revolving door and a fixed window frame.

The narrow stile design features tempered glass construction, containing a top and bottom rail that secures the glass to the hinging mechanism. Its thin, decorative stile edges provide remarkable protection, providing a complete weather seal while allowing abundant natural light into the lobby to create a welcoming space.

Unlike conventional entry doors, an Ellison formed-up door features a solid sub-frame, which is made of minimum .09-inch thick material. The external door skins are spot welded at close intervals to the internal channel components, yielding an extremely durable unitized construction. Due to the excellent craftsmanship and long-term functionality, Ellison doors will stand up to high resident traffic and the New York City climate.

Balanced door systems satisfy aesthetic goals and allows for large and heavy doors to be opened with ease. Traditional swing doors are attached at the frame and the door user must pull the entire weight of the door leaf. A balanced door pivots at two-thirds the width of the door, creating a balance that distributes the weight so the door is easy to operate despite the added weight of a sturdy frame, door leaf, and balanced hardware. This true even against the significant building stack pressure of well air-conditioned high rises.

“The benefits of a balanced door system from Ellison versus a conventional swing door are numerous. They provide better safety, performance and aesthetics,” says Mark Graves, President of Ellison Bronze. “Gotham West is a beautiful addition to the west side of Manhattan and we are proud to be specified for a remarkable building. The balanced door system ingrates perfectly with the building inside and out, creating an aesthetically pleasing and inviting space.”

Gotham West features upscale finishes and luxuries that are not commonly found in rental buildings. Each unit contains wide-plank flooring, full-sized stainless steel appliances, granite counters, custom lighting, oversized vanities, spacious closets and large windows. The building offers a 24-hour doorman, outdoor courtyard, resident lounge, game room, demonstration kitchen, gym and a rooftop terrace.

Taking up almost an entire city block in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, Gotham West also includes three smaller mid-rise buildings with 540 affordable housing rental units. The development also houses the Gotham West Market, a 10,000 square-foot retail and dining destination.

Gotham West was completed in fall 2013 and the project will apply for LEED certification. The project team consisted of architect SLCE Architects, New York City, installer MacKenzie Door Company, New York City, ornamental metal company Enterprise Architectural Sales, Inc., New York City, developer Gotham Organization, Inc., New York City and builder Gotham Construction Co., LLC, New York City.