Nomad Tower at 1250 Broadway (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, 1970_construction, International style architecture

447-foot, 39-story modern-style office building completed in 1970 at a cost of $10,500,000 for the Cooper-Bregstein Realty Co. Designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates, the lower floors of the south facade are aligned with the regular street grid, while the lower floors of the western facade and all the upper floors of the main tower follow the angle of Broadway.

The lower section rises straight up to the 12th floor on the west and south sides, with 10 bays of dark-tinted paired windows in silver metal frames on the west side and 11 bays on the south. Thin, white metal piers divide the bays, with the spandrels clad in grey metal. At the top of the 12th floor, the piers extends slightly above the roof line. The south elevation has a recessed entrance and a vehicle freight entrance at the east end. There is one bay of windows at the north end of the west-side projecting lower floors.

Behind this, the upper tower portion rises straight up to the main roof line, and also rises straight up from the north side, where slightly large white piers divide the facade into three sections, each subdivided by thinner piers into two pair of windows. This north facade is set behind a small plaza, and has the lower two floors slightly recessed; the ground floor is mostly glassed in behind the white columns. The west facade has six such sections, and the south facade has three. The less visible east facade has a concrete core at the center, with one bay of the curtain wall on either side. At the top of the tower is a mechanical floor; the glass and metal curtain wall stops just below it, but the piers continue to the roof line and framed the recessed spaces in each bay at this top level.

At the eastern end of the north facade is another small 12-story section that is aligned with 32nd Street. At its far eastern end is an entrance and exit to the underground parking garage.

The building was renovated in 2019 and renamed as Nomad Tower. Tenants include Zillow, StreetEasy, and Perkins & Will Architects. As part of the renovations, a new 2-story base was designed, with black stone piers and spandrels framing the bays of oversize plate-glass windows, with one bay corresponding to two of the smaller original bays at these floors. Additionally, a new northwest corner bay was added, in similar cladding, extending from the ground up to the 13th floor.

The ground floor is occupied by Kang Suh Korean BBQ, and Irving Farm New York coffee house.

nomadtower.com/