Sperry & Hutchinson Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, 1964_construction, Modern (architecture)

563-foot, 41-story office building originally completed in 1964. Designed by Kahn & Jacobs, it was clad in a rather unattractive mix of clear windows with white curtains, grey metal spandrels, and black vertical piers, and named after the trading-stamp company Sperry Hutchinson.

The north and south facades are seven bays wide, with nine bays on the east facade along the avenue. The three middle bays on this facade are slightly recessed and contain the main entrances, with the glass doors covered by a stainless-steel canopy. There are storefronts in all the other bays, except for the western two on the north facade, which have freight entrance with roll-down metal gates, and the next bay to the east, which has a secondary entrance with glass doors. On the north facade, silver metal louvers separate the upper and lower levels of the base.

The lower floors above the base rise straight up to the first major setback, above the 10th floor at the northwest corner, the 12th floor at the northeast corner, and the 15th floor at the south side of the building. The second major setback is above the 16th floor at the northwest corner, the 17th floor at the rest of the north side, and the 20th floor at the south side. From here the upper tower rises vertically as a rectangular slab oriented north-to-south, west a projecting concrete core on the west side. There are three bays of single-windows on this west elevation, while the glass curtain wall continues on all the other facades. The top three floors are mechanical, with vents integrated into the curtain wall at the north facade (all three floors), the east facade (the lower mechanical floor only), and the south facade (the lower and upper mechanical floors). There are also vents on the east facade, just above the northern part of the first setback.

The ground floor is occupied by a Bluestone Lane coffee, a Banco Santander bank branch, and a Citibank branch. Major tenants include Guggenheim Securities and Abbott Downing (a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co.) The exterior was re-clad in 2011 with a curtain wall of silvery-blue glass and aluminum mullions above a 2-story base of black marble and glass, designed by MdeAS Architects for Vornado Realty Trust.

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