Neuberger Berman Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, 1964_construction, International style architecture

571-foot, 43-story International-style office building completed in 1964 for Olympia & York. Designed by Emery Roth & Sons with Harrison & Abramovitz, it was originally named the Sperry-Rand Building and later the AXA Financial Center. The building was redesignated as the Neuberger Berman building in 2016.

The facades are clad in curtain wall of greenish-tinted glass and black glass spandrels, with thin aluminum mullions, divided into bays by wide limestone piers. The main facade facing the avenue has four bays set between two flanking 12-story, 2-bay wings at the north and south that create a small plaza in front of the main entrance. The entrance, renovated in 2016, has pairs of glass revolving doors in the two middle bays, and glass walls in the other two bays, all covered by a white metal canopy. Above, the 2nd & 3rd floors have glass panels like those at the ground floor, with the regular pattern of the curtain wall beginning at the 4th floor. The north and south wings have storefronts at the ground floor; the 2nd floor has large tripartite windows, with the curtain wall beginning at the 3rd floor. There are black metal vents instead of windows at the mechanical floors located at the 25th floor and the top three levels.

The north and south facades span 20 bays, with the western four rising to a setback above the 12th floor. The next five bays set back above the 8th floor, and the eastern bays set back above the 6th floor. The far east bay is slightly narrower, with only three windows per floor (only two on the north facade), instead of four as in the other bays. It has metal service doors and a metal grille at the ground floor of the south facade on 50th Street. The next two bays to the west have storefronts, and the next six are recessed, with a glass wall and central entrance, and white marble walls at the ends with additional glass doors. The western bays all have storefronts.

On the north facade on 51st Street, the 9th bay from the east has a deeply recessed entrance with a glass revolving door set in a glass wall. The bay to the west is filled by a vertical metal grille, and all the rest of the western bays have storefronts. There are more storefront to the east, with another bay of vertical metal grilles in the 3rd-to-easternmost bay, and a loading dock in the 2nd-from-easternmost bay. The narrow, far east bay has a smaller loading dock. There are metal grilles at the 2nd floor of the three eastern bays. The rest of the 2nd-floor bays have large tripartite windows.

The eastern half of the building, with the 6th-floor setbacks then rises up to meet to setback of the five bays above the 8th floor, except at the three easternmost bays. The east 11 bays then have another shallow setback above the 11th floor, with all but the easternmost three bays setting back again above the 13th floor; this setback continues along to the west and extends two bays into the 12-story wings. Some of the lower setbacks are topped by plantings. The final setback occurs at the east half of the building, creating a lower roof line at the 16th floor, with the west half of the building rising as a sheer east-west tower slab, nine bays wide on the north and south, with a 10th bay at the east end that is set back, creating a 2-bay wide projection on the east facade.

Major current corporate tenants as of 2024 include: Neuberger Berman, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Morrison & Foerster, Hachette, and State Street Bank. The ground floor is occupied by a Chase Bank branch, a Santander bank branch, a TD Bank branch, Global Kitchen Catering, Just Salad, a Starbucks coffee, and Dos Toros restaurant.

www.vno.com/office/property/1290-avenue-of-the-americas...