515 Park Avenue

 skyscraper, condominium, 1999_construction, postmodern (architecture)

532-foot, 43-story Postmodern residential building completed in 1999 for Zeckendorf Development. Designed by Frank Williams & Associates with M.Arch Architects, it was the tallest residential building on Park Avenue when completed. The slim tower is clad in limestone, beige cast-stone, and brown brick, with a grey granite water table, and its design seeks to carry on the avenue's predominantly Italian Renaissance-palazzo tradition, albeit here exploded to a huge scale.

The main entrance is deeply recessed and centered on the west facade of the 3-story base, facing Park Avenue. It has geometric bronze-and-glass double-doors. Flanking them on either side are 3-tiered windows with complementary decorative bronze framing, and there is a square transom pane above all four of these openings. A light fixture hangs from the ceiling of the recessed entry, with a rounded, grey canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. A 6-pane window is also slightly recessed at the 2nd floor, between the wide, fluted, 2-story piers that frame the entrance. They carry a stone entablature that has 515 PARK AVENUE inscribed in it, surmounted by three stone posts at the 3rd floor that are decorated by simple roundels and joined by a pair of decorative bronze railings. The 3rd floor has two bays of double-windows above the entrance, divided by cast-stone mullions. To either side is another double-window bay and a triple-window end bay. Below, these bays are all double-windows, taller at the ground floor, and they are all framed by fluted piers that are topped by slightly-projecting blocks with roundels at the top of the 3rd floor.

On the north facade on 60th Street, the base is organized into three bays. The ground floor has a double-window in the west bay, like those on the west facade, while the other two bays have open service bays enclosed by giant bronze screens with geometric patterns like those at the front doors. The piers at the base also have wide fluting, and the same roundels at the tops. The middle bay also has double-windows at the 2nd & 3rd floors, and the east bay has triple-windows.

The upper floors have brick piers, except for at the corners, which are cast-stone. The north facade has triple-windows in the east bay, and double-windows in the other two. The west facade has four middle bays with double-windows and triple-window end bays. These bays have thinner metal mullions than the stone ones at the base. The stone end piers are crossed by pairs of thin, slightly-projecting bands between each floor. The windows have simple stone sills and brick lintels. The west and north facades have shallow setbacks above the 14th, 31st, and 43rd floors, with two cast-stone-clad mechanical equipment enclosures set atop the building. The two floors below each setback have cast-stone overlays on the middle piers. There are slightly-projecting, beige cast-stone balconies with geometric metal railings at each setback, and two floors below.

The south and east facades rise vertically with no setbacks until the top. The south facade has three bays of double-windows on the upper floors, while the lower floors have single-windows in the east bay instead. The east facade has only window bays at the ends, with double-windows at both ends on the upper floors, and single-windows at the north bay on the lower floors (three single-windows at the bottom levels). The two bays are separated by an expanse of brown brick.

The building has only 38 condominium units. Most of the apartments above the 15th floor have stunning vistas in many directions.

marcharch.com/515-park