The Gardens at 780 Office Tower (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, 1983_construction

570-foot, 49-story postmodern office building completed in 1983 for Cohen Brothers with Cadillac Fairview Corp. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the building's exterior is patterned with polished red Balmoral granite panels from Finland alternating with grey-glass window openings in a diagonal pattern, covering the concrete panels which form the structural truss tube. The diagonal bracing can be seen on the building's facades in crisscross patterns created by omitting openings for windows. Unlike other X-type designs such as used on the exterior of the John Hancock Center in Chicago, also designed by S.O.M., the Third Avenue tower's bracing is within the walls. It rises as a sheer slab on all four sides in a slender rectangle form. The building is similar in design and height to Onterie Center in Chicago, completed in the same year.

There is a 7-story attached wing at the west end of the south facade, extending out to the building line. It is clad in dark-grey brick, with a garage door at the ground floor and black metal louvers at the 2nd. The upper floors of the wing have bands of four windows and spandrels of darker glass. The east-facing wall of the wing, facing the south plaza, have bands of lighter-colored brick across each floorplate; at the rear (where it joins the main tower) is a narrow curtain wall of metal and glass, two windows wide.

The building incorporates, among other business-related facilities, a 154-seat auditorium as part of the largest office building conference center in Midtown Manhattan. The plaza around the tower is paved in red Hastings brick and rose granite with a row of trees flanking the street (with a double row along 48th Street).

Besides the lobby, the ground floor is occupied by Devon & Blakely Catering, and Aperitivo Pizza Bar. The interior was renovated by A+I Architects for Nuveen Real Estate.

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