The Graybar Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, high-rise, Art Deco (architecture), 1927_construction

351-foot, 30-story Art-Deco office building completed in 1927. Designed by Sloan & Robertson for John R. Todd, it incorporates multiple train platforms, as well as a broad public passageway that connects the station with Lexington Avenue. While the west part of each floor has an H-shaped plan, the east part, facing Lexington Avenue, is U-shaped. Above the base are three light courts, facing east, north and south. The 70-foot-deep east court, which contains numerous side windows, opens towards Lexington Avenue. Clad with tan brick and limestone, the Lexington Avenue facade has a granite water table and three limestone-clad portals.

The south portal opens to the Graybar Passage. There are three sets of doors in the south portal, each with its own marquee. The large center marquee is supported by three metal struts (the other portals have two), on which metal rats climb toward “inverted, funnel-shaped guards” known as “bafflers” on ships. The struts are attached to a slanted limestone bas-relief, above the gridded windows. A pack of eight rats, with ears erect, encircle each strut. Additional rats, depicted in profile with long tails, slither around the circle that entwines each pack. The sculpted rats are depicted as if they are climbing the anchor ropes on a ship, a quirky reference to New York’s maritime roots. The three recessed entrances have glazed doors and capital lettering for Grand Central Terminal. Each portal incorporates two standing bas-relief figures. Depicted in profile, the figures on the south portal represent air (birds) and water (fish), while the bearded figures in the north portal hold symbols of the earth and fire. The youthful robed figures in the center portal had a more contemporary focus, symbolizing communication or electricity, and transportation. One holds a candlestick telephone, and the other, a delivery truck, representing the types of equipment that the Graybar Electric Company sold, as well as the firm’s national distribution network. Additionally, each figure’s head is surrounded by lively electric rays.

Above the marquees are grids of Vitrolite glass windows and slanted limestone relief above windows. Animal heads support struts over side entrances, and figurative bas-reliefs at the 4th-5th floors flank the windows above the center door. There are also polychrome metal panels between the 5th-floor center windows. The 5-bay center section has an entrance portal has a recessed entrance; above are three window openings. To either side are four brass-and-glass storefronts. Figurative bas-reliefs flank the polychrome base of the flagpole at the 3rd floor, where the center section sets back; chains hang down from the bas-reliefs to lighting fixtures flanking the brass entry marquee. The three north bays are centered around a recessed secondary entrance in the middle bay. It has a slanted limestone relief above a window grid; the other two bays have storefronts with sets of three narrow windows above. There are figurative bas-reliefs at the 4th-5th floors above recessed the entrance, and decorative polychrome panels between the center 5th-floor windows.

There is hardly any ornament or carved detail above the base, only limestone bands that trim the lower windows and setbacks. Black brick fills some window spandrels, creating subtle vertical bands. Centered within the more highly-visible sections of the facade, these bands accentuate the structure’s height and verticality. Near the top of the Lexington Avenue facade, aligned with the flagpole, are four projecting elements. Reminiscent of gargoyles, these water spouts give the building a somewhat medieval feel. The secondary facades adjoin private streets. Though the south and north facades have deep light courts, these facades were not required to setback and contain numerous rows of lot line windows. 43rd Street is now mostly occupied by a low structure housing the Grand Central Market (adjacent to the Graybar Passage) and 44th Street contains a low section of the Graybar Building. The unassuming rear facade also has no setbacks. It faces onto Depew Place, as well as the viaduct that travels northbound around the east side of Grand Central Terminal.

The ground floor retail spaces are occupied by a Verizon wireless store, Bluemercury cosmetics, Medly pharmacy, and Equinox fitness center.

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