Manhattan Automobile Company Building (New York City, New York)

10-story Art-Deco office/commercial building originally completed in 1927 as an 8-story building. Designed by Albert Kahn for the Packard Motor Company, it was renovated for adaptive reuse by architect Rafael Viñoly in 2015-2018, with two new floors on top.

The facades are clad in limestone painted a cream color, with a 2-story base of dark-grey-painted cast-stone panels along most of the south elevation and southern half of the east facade, and silvery white panels on the northern half and the north facade, framing bays of plate-glass, each with rather thick framing of silvery white metal. The main entrance is centered on Eleventh Avenue, with multiple sets of revolving doors and traditional glass door at the ground floor, and a painted cast-stone area at the 2nd floor with large metal numbers "787". On the south facade at 54th Street, there are large show-windows at the east end of the ground floor, and then a set of service doors, a few bays of smaller windows, and two garage doors at the west end of the grey-paneled base section. The far west end continues the cream-colored limestone of the upper floors at the base, and has four more bays, with two service entrances and two garage doors at the ground floor. The north half of the east facade's ground floor is interrupted by a bay of warm, light-colored stone near the north end. The north facade on 55th Street also has several service doors and garage doors along the ground floor, and the paneling of the base (partially two-toned, with darker grey and a lighter silver color) ends before the west end.

The upper floors of the east facade are divided into 10 main bays and narrower end bays with wide piers. Each main bay has a triple-window with upper transom panes on the 3rd-5th floors; these change to tripartite configurations with very narrow side panes and no transoms at the 6th-8th floors. The stone spandrels between lower floors are ribbed and edged with various decorative patterns, and feature urn-like ornaments in the center of each, in two alternating styles. The windows of the 6th-8th floors are slightly taller, and as such, the spandrels between the floors in each bay are shorter than those below, also ribbed but otherwise decorated only by panels at each end and a dentil course along the tops. At the 7th-8th floors the piers are fluted and topped by square medallions with large, floral ornament.

The north and south facades have similar upper floors, each with 12 main bays and narrower end bays. The new 9th & 10th floors are set back from the 8th-story roof line, and are clad in a glass curtain wall, with a mechanical penthouse rising from the rear of the roof.

The lower five floors contain space for car dealerships (specifically Jaguar and Land Rover), with offices above, topped by a 12,000-s.f. roof deck.

www.manhattanjaguar.com/
www.manhattanauto.com/index.htm

 office buildingArt Deco (architecture)automobile / car dealer (sales)historical building