180 Madison Avenue (New York City, New York)

 office building, clothes store / boutique

300-foot, 24-story Art-Deco office building completed in 1927. Designed by Helmle & Corbett and Henry I. Oser, it is clad in buff-colored brick above a 4-story limestone base. The north facade on 34th Street is five bays wide, while the east facade on Madison Avenue has six total bays - three regular-sized bays flanked by two smaller end bays, and an additional wide bays at the south end that ends at the top of the base.

The stone piers rest of pink granite bases, and there are 2-story pink granite surrounds at the two narrower end bays on the avenue. The north one has a storefront entrance, and the southern contains the main building entrance, with brass and glass infill and three doors. The lower two floors are grouped together in each bay, with paneled brass spandrels between them on the avenue, and paneled cast-iron spandrels on 34th Street (the western three bays have newer storefront signage over the spandrels). The exception are the two northernmost of the center bays on the avenue, which contain a single, double-height floor with metal grilles at the top. The 2nd floor at the westernmost bay on the north facade also is filled by metal louvers in place of tripartite windows.

The stone spandrels between the 2nd & 3rd floors are fluted (except at the two bays with the granite surrounds), and decorated with simple white medallions. Each bay on the 3rd & 4th floors has tripartite windows (although the center panes on the 4th floor are further divided into two halves by metal mullion), except for the end bays that have double-windows on the 4th floor and single panes on the 3rd floor, and the wide south bay on the avenue, which has four windows. Additionally, the southern of the three middle bays on the east facade is filled by metal louvers. The base is capped by paneled stone spandrels with bases for the brick piers at the upper floors.

The wider main piers and narrow intermediate piers divide each bay on the upper floors into three windows in the middle bays, and two windows at the end bays (on the north facade every bay has three windows). The spandrels are a redder shade of brick, and about half of the window openings in the western bay on 34th Street have been filled with metal vents.

At the three western bays, a series of setbacks begins above the 17th floor, with the piers projecting slightly above each setback, and additional small projections above the center of each window. The eastern two bays set back above the 19th floor, with similar decoration at each setback; the entire east facade also sets back above the 19th floor. Above the two setbacks at the northeast corner, a small tower is formed, with a final small setback above the 23rd floor at the corner tower. The ground floor is occupied by Tumi luggage, and a Wells Fargo Bank branch.