40 Central Park South (New York City, New York)

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255-foot, 22-story modernist residential building completed in 1941. Designed by Mayer & Whittlesley, an architectural firm that also the same year designed 41 West 58th Street directly the south across a garden courtyard, it's facade has a very striking terraced top that culminates in a large, glass-enclosed elevator "house". Like the building to the south, this one is clad in grey brick. The ground floor has a central section of black polished granite with storefront on either side; the western storefront bays feature white marble. The main entrance has bronze-and-glass double-doors and sidelights, below a stainless-steel, upturned marquee supported by poles attached to frog sculptures on the façade, a feature repeated on the building to the south. It has a large, windowed lobby with a glass wall waterfall. At the east end of the ground floor there is a set of bronze service doors below a vent.

The two end bays project out slightly from the rest of the facade, and have narrow triple-windows above the ground floor. In between there are eight more bays, with the same narrow triple-windows at the middle two. Continuing out, there are double-windows, and then two bays on each side with wider tripartite windows, all with silver metal framing. There are metal air-conditioning vents below all of the windows except in the double-window bays.

Beginning at the 6th floor, the four wide window bays next to the end bays have projecting concrete balconies edged with metal, and topped by glass railings. As such, these bays have glass doors incorporated into the openings, next to triple-windows. The end bays terminate with glass railings at the 16th floor, and the balconies at the four wide bays end here as well. At the 17th floor the middle four bays have a wide, shallow balcony with glass railing. These bays are set back above the 17th floor, with angled corners with small, projecting, angled balconies at the 18th. The 19th floor features large windows in the middle bays. To either side there is a projecting balcony, wrapping around to the recessed middle section, and a tall section at the ends, with a band of windows consisting of tripartite windows flanked by single panes, all topped by a simple cornice. These end units at the 19th floor have windows wrapping around to the sides as well.

The middle bays continue up to the 20th floor, set a little farther back behind a glass railing. Here the facade splits into two bays of tripartite windows, flanked at the ends by balconies wrapping around the corners at the 20th-21st floors. The 22nd-floor penthouse extends up in the middle in a final, double-height, glass-enclosed box topped by a projecting roof cornice.

The building contains 139 apartment units. The ground floor is occupied by Sarabeth's restaurant, and Gabriel's restaurant.