American Machine & Foundry Building

 commercial, office building, skyscraper

355-foot, 28-story International-style office building completed in 1953. Designed by Sylvan Bien, it fills the whole blockfront along Madison Avenue. The west facade on the avenue is clad in a curtain wall of silver metal and dark-tinted glass. The rows of windows are almost square, and the metal spandrels have small vertical bars. Below the curtain wall is a modernized 2-story base with large plate-glass windows and piers covered with opaque glass panels featuring patterns of small ovals. The base was renovated in 2015, when it was expanded from one to two floors (removing the original cladding on the 2nd floor). The building's primary tenant is Tommy Hilfiger, which is a subsidiary of PVH Corporation.

The north and south facades are clad in light-grey brick with bands of windows. The first of a series of shallow setbacks begins at the west half of both facades, above the 8th floor, and above the 10th floor at the east half. There are additional setbacks every two floors up to the 16th level, from which the narrow upper tower extends. The rear, eastern facade is divided into bays of triple-windows. There is a recessed notch running up the center of the upper tower portion, which has window bays only at the ends.

During the renovation, on May 30, 2015, a crane was lifting a huge air conditioning unit to a mechanical space at the top of the building, when a support suddenly gave way. The equipment fell down 30 stories, smashing into the building facade at the 30th and 11th floors and causing considerable damage. Repairs and the ongoing renovated work were completed in 2016. There are service entrances at the east end of the south facade, and an entrance to the underground parking garage at the east end of the north facade. Besides the lobby, the ground floor is occupied by Zuma Japanese restaurantl, and Signature Bank.