The Coca-Cola Building (New York City, New York)

 store / shop, office building

230-foot, 15-story Neo-Classical office building designed in 1927 by Hood, Godley & Fouilhoux/Bethlehem Engineering Corporation, it served as the headquarters for NBC until 1933, when they moved to their new quarters at Rockefeller Center, having outgrown the space at 711 Fifth Avenue. It was then known as the Columbia Pictures Building, until that company was bought by The Coca-Cola Company in 1982, and the building's name was changed to reflect the new ownership. In 1991, Coca-Cola opened a store on the ground floor, selling clothing, toys, memorabilia and other items that bear its famous red-and-white logos. The Disney Store opened here in 1996, taking the space that used to be the Cote Basque restaurant, occupying almost the entire 3-story base, with the Coca-Cola store existing at the north end. The new Disney store created a very large, undulating, bronze-colored marquee, featuring some of the company's famous cartoon characters. The new store unfortunately removed one of the building's elegant pediments, but it was restored after the store closed in 2010, and the marquee was removed. The Coca-Cola store also closed around the same time.

The facade is clad in limestone, with a double-height 2nd floor that was originally intended for a bank tenant. The ground floor has rusticated piers. Along the avenue there are five storefront bays with plate-glass; the outer two are separated by entrance bays. Both are framed by ornately carved moldings, with triangular pediments above dentils and egg-and-dart moldings; within the pediments are serpents flanking a central torch. The south facade on 55th Street has four bronze-and-plate-glass storefront bays at the west end, and at the east end is a wider storefront bay and a bronze-framed service entrance. A stone cornice caps the ground floor.

The tall 2nd floor has a giant colonnade on both facades, with six bays on the west and eight bays on the south facade. The middle bays are separated by engaged Corinthian columns (with their capitals at the top of the 3rd floor, supporting the modillioned cornice capping the base, and the end bays (set slightly farther apart) by flat Corinthian pilasters. Each bay has a large round-arch at the double-height 2nd floor, with bronze window framing. The keystones are the tops of the arches bear small carved figurines. The 3rd floor has slightly-projecting oriel windows with angled side panes, also framed in bronze.

The upper floors are simpler, with 10 bays of single-windows on the west and 14 on the south, with the end bays again set farther apart. A small, dentiled cornice runs above the 4th & 10th floors, and the end bays project out slightly. A slightly larger, modillioned cornice caps the 11th floor, where there is a setback. There is another setback above the 14th floor, and a small, 2-story mechanical penthouse rises from the north end of the roof. The ground floor is occupied by Omega watches, Swatch watches, Mango apparel, and Polo Bar.