Lefcourt Colonial Building

 office building, skyscraper

538-foot, 45-story Art-Deco/Neo-Gothic office building completed in 1930. Designed by Charles F. Moyer for Abraham E. Lefcourt, the building was auctioned off just two years after it was finished, as the Great Depression demolished Lefcourt's real estate and banking empire. The building is L-shaped, with a 6-story limestone base fronting 41st Street and Madison Avenue. The mid-section, clad in tan brick, extends as a very narrow, 1-bay wide wing along 41st Street at the west half of the building, while the east half extends much deeper into the block, supporting the rectangular, set-back main tower portion with its distinctive blue terra-cotta medallions and gilded finials.

The base spans 15 total bays along 41st Street. There is a modernized glassed-in entrance at the east end, a metal-doored service entrance to its right, and modernized metal-and-glass storefront in the other bays. The original narrow piers remain between the bays, ornamented with a pattern of carved scales. A dentiled band course caps the ground floor. The west facade on the avenue matches, with three bays of additional storefronts. The north facade is divided into two main halves, both with six bays. There is a center bay between them, and end bays at both ends; these are flanked by broad, 4-story, fluted Ionic pillars. The six adjoining bays in the two halves are divided by similar narrow piers to those at the ground floor. Every bad has a tripartite window divided by even narrower carved stone pilasters. The spandrels panels between the 2nd & 3rd floors are light blue-grey metal. Between the 3rd & 4th floors the spandrels are fluted stone overlaid with flowing pediments framing cartouches and crowned by floral carvings. The stone spandrels between the 4th & 5th floors are shorter, with carved torches and wreaths in the wider center panels, and rosettes in the end panels. A dentiled cornice sets off the 6th floor, which has paired windows in each bay. Both the wide and narrow piers are clad in brick and ornamented with diamond shapes in the brickwork. Another stone cornice caps the base, surmounted by a stone band with balustrades at each window, transitioning into the brick mid-section.

The three bays of the west facade match each of the floors from the north facade, with the only difference occurring at the 6th floor, where instead of paired windows, the south two bays combine to have three single-windows. The tower rises above the north bay only; above the south end of the base, a light court extends far back to the main bulk of the higher tower at the east end.

On the north facade, the division into two halves continues at the 7th-15th floors. The six bays of each half have paired windows with uninterrupted main and intermediate piers, and brick spandrels with diamond shapes. Like at the base, there is two end bays, and a center bay between the two halves, each of which also has paired windows, but spaced slightly further apart. The extra-wide piers framing these bays have dentiled edges, and the brick spandrels run all the way across each bay, ornamented with a row of three protruding diamond shapes. The 13th floor is capped by a parapet with small pairs of openings above each window (larger single square openings at the three wide bays), and projecting square panels at the tops of the piers. The three wide bays are slightly set back at the 14th-15th floors, with the six bays of the two halves in between set further back. These bays still have paired windows, topped at the 15th floor by incised panels with projecting cross shapes. Stone coping caps both the 13th & 15th floors at these bays. The three wide bays are framed by stone piers at the 14th-15th floors, with paired round-arched windows at the 15th floor, above spandrels with projecting diamond shapes. The mid-section (which could also be referred to as the lower tower at the west end) is capped at the wide bays by incised spandrel panels with projecting diamond shapes above the windows. The narrow single bay of the upper floors on the west facade matches the wide bays of the north facade. This narrow western wing ends at the 15th floor.

At the eastern half, slightly set back above the mid-section, the north facade continues to rise to another setback above the 18th floor at the middle six bays, while the two wide end bays rise to a final setback above the 20th floor. The windows, piers, and spandrels match those on the floors below. Above the final 20th-floor setback, the main shaft of the upper tower rises vertically 22 floors to the building's crown. The upper tower is narrower, aligned to the east building line, with four center bays and that are recessed between the two wider end bays. There are paired windows in each bay, spaced further apart in the end bays. Single-windows line the inward-facing walls of the end bays that are created by the recessed central section. At the 41st floor, the end bays have projecting stone balconies supported by three console brackets; the stone railings have four square openings. The 42nd floor has round-arched windows in the end bays, encompasses under blind round-arches. The crown rises from the 42nd floor, which is capped by parapet walls with corbelled blind arcades in the middle bays; the round-arches that form the arcades are repeated at the end bays, and are open to the small side roofs behind them. The wide piers at the end bays are adorned by bright-blue, projecting, pyramid-shaped terra-cotta medallions.

The south facade is similar to the north, but with single-windows in the two outer-center bays. The two projecting end bays are also bridge by metal beams holding mechanical equipment at the 28th, 33rd, and 38th floors. The narrow east and west facades have three bays of paired windows. There are balconies at the outer bays at the 41st floor, and four of the blue medallions at the top of the 42nd floor.

The crown has two bays on the east and west facades, and four bays on the north and south. Each bay at the 43rd floor has paired windows, except for the outer bays on the south facade, where there are single-windows. This floor has chamfered corners, each with a single-window. Above there are triple-height round-arches; the windows of the 45th floor are double-height. Each of the round-arches and the end piers are adorned with blue pyramidal medallions. Rising above are three pier extensions on the north and another three on the south side, each topped by an obelisk-like gilded finial. Between the piers are screens for rooftop mechanical equipment, with panels of blue glass and white metal. The ground floor is occupied by Davidoff Optical, Dill & Parsley restaurant, SportsLab, and The Escape Game.

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