Crowell-Collier Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, commercial building

293-foot, 22-story Art-Deco/modern office building originally completed in 1949 as a 19-story limestone building. Designed by Leonard Schultze and Associates for magazine giant Crowell-Colliers, it had a new extension with a glass curtain wall added above the 10th floor in 2004, which was designed by Kohn Pedersen & Fox. The 35,000-square-foot glass "jewel box" top is clad in green glass.

The 3-story base was renovated in 2016. Except for the west end of the south facade on 51st Street and the north end of the east facade on the avenue, the ground floor is clad in ribbed, black polished granite, with a clear glass curtain wall on the 2nd-3rd floors, with thin stainless-steel mullions and capped by a stainless-steel band across the top. The windows are criss-crossed by vertically-oriented, randomly angled, white opaque streaks, some ribbed and some flat, lit from below in soft pink.

The west end of the south facade is limestone with a grey granite water table, with the double-height main building entrance in a recessed vestibule with beveled edges, each featuring a column of five stacked bas-reliefs representing various human activities and institutions. From top to bottom the left side has Religion, Government, Ex Libris, Transportation and Commerce while the right has Family, Science, Arts, Communications and Industry. Each of these emblems is captioned in sunken sans serif letters. A metal canopy covers the recessed glass doors, and there is a square glass panel above the canopy. Topping the entry is a large bas-relief depicting a central, robed, angel figure flanked by smaller figures and animals. To the right, the renovated ground floor includes a large square display windows, three small square display windows, and two wide display windows at the end, all recessed within beveled edges. A black metal canopy also covers the east half of the ground floor on the south, and all of the renovated portion of the ground floor on the east facade. Here, there is an entrance to the storefront with four glass doors, flanked by a wide display window on each side. The north end of the east facade has a 3-story clear glass curtain wall framed by black marble; it is divided into nine sections (3-over-3 panes with a glass double-door in the lower, center panel), and contains a smaller storefront.

On the east facade the original limestone floors have five bays, with double-windows in the end bays and triple-windows in the middle. A pair of projecting flagpoles are mounted on the piers at the 4th floor, around the center bay. Above, at each floor, the three middle bays are separated by short, ribbed panels on the piers, but connected by continuous sill courses across the three bays. There is a setback across the middle bays above the 8th floor, and across the whole floor above the 9th & 10th, where the glass box begins. The first two floors of the glass box project out closer to the limestone facade at the south half of the east facade, and most of the south facade, before setting back, with a notched southeast corner.

The south facade matches the five bays of the east facade, with an additional three bays at the west end; these have double-windows, with the western two grouped together. The west bays have a shallow setback above the 6th floor, a wider setback above the 7th, and another shallow setback above the 9th.

The site was once the location of one of two almost identical mansions built for William Henry Vanderbilt and his wife Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt. In 1878, William instructed architect John B. Snook and decorator C.B. Atwood of the prestigious Herter Brothers firm to design and execute plans for twin mansions on the avenue. The mansions were to be constructed on the entire block between 51st and 52nd streets. Upon completion Henry moved into the mansion at 640 (51st street corner) and 2 of his daughters resided in the Northern mansion. The two were linked internally but normally operated as individual houses. Following Vanderbilt's Death in 1885, his Wife continued living in the house at 640 until her death in 1896, at which point their youngest son George Vanderbilt inherited the house. The house at 640 passed hands again in 1914 upon George's death. The old 640 5th Avenue finally saw the wrecker's ball in 1946.

The ground floor of the current building is occupied by a Victoria's Secret flagship store, and a Dyson vacuum store.