Daily Commerce Building (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, Art Deco (architecture), 1931_construction

437-foot, 35-story Art-Deco office building completed in 1931. Designed by Buchman & Kahn, it is clad in buff-colored brick above a 2-story black granite base. The east facade along the avenue is divided into five bays, and the south facade has nine bays. Each 2nd-floor bay has two large, square window panes, and the ground-floor bays have plate-glass storefronts, with the exception of the main entrances, and a brass service door in the north half of the northernmost bay on the avenue. The main entrance on the east facade is in the next bay to the south, deeply recessed and lined with white marble on the side walls. It has a revolving door flanked by two regular doors, all framed in brass; the bay is covered by a brass marquee topped by lettering spelling out "COMMERCE BUILDING". The entrance on the south facade on 44th Street is in the 3rd bay from the west, also recessed and topped by a matching brass marquee. Above it, the 2nd floor bay is also recessed, the only one that does so.

The 3rd-6th floors have groups of four windows in each bay, framed in black metal and with common sills. The spandrels have geometric brick patterns at each end. At the 3rd & 4th floors, the bay above the entrance on 44th Street is also deeply recessed, including the spandrel between the two floors. A simple stone coping caps the 6th floor, and sets off the main tower portion of the building.

The east facade is symmetrical, with a pair of single-windows in each bay, up to the first setback. The end windows on the facade have simple stone sills, while all the rest in the middle are joined between floors by brick spandrels with geometric patterns. The center and end bays set back above the 13th floor, while the other two bays extend up to the 14th floor before setting back. Above, there are full-floor setbacks above the 17th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, and 25th floors, dropping off one window at the south end at each setback. The top floors have five single-windows up to the final setback above the 35th floor, which is topped by mechanical penthouse levels. At the lower penthouse level the east facade has three pairs of very tall, narrow windows; the middle level has three regular single-windows, and is crossed by four horizontal brick string courses.

The south facade on 44th Street has a setback above the 6th floor at the westernmost bay, and the two middle bays of the remaining eight, creating a central light well. The two 3-bay wings on either side of the light well match up to their first setbacks, above the 14th floor at the middle bay of each wing, and above the 13th floor at each end bay. Like on the east facade, the single-windows at the ends have simple stone sills, and there are geometric brick spandrels at the other windows. The symmetry ends above these setbacks, however. The upper setbacks match the levels of those from the east facade, with the east wing thereby narrowing by a window at each successive setback. The 23rd & 25th floors have horizontal brick banding, and above the 25th-floor setback, the top floors continue with ten windows across (five bays of paired windows). Above the 35th floor, the end bays set back completely, the next bays continue up to the lower mechanical penthouse with paired, tall narrow window slits, and the center bay sets back to the mid and upper mechanical penthouse levels, decorated by a vertical band of projecting Art-Deco geometric ornament. The windows in the middle part of the lower floors (between the two wings of cascading setbacks) are simple single-windows with stone sills, and no ornamental spandrels.

The north facade rises up vertically with no setbacks. It has a group of seven single-windows at the east end at the lower floors, with another bay of single-windows farther to the west, a bay of smaller windows to the right of that, and a recessed western end section with three single-windows per floor. Most of the eastern windows end as the reach the setbacks, but a new bay of single-windows appears at the 15th floor, and another at the 24th floor, joining the with single-windows from in the middle to continue up the east end of the top floors as three single-windows. The bay of smaller windows changes to regular-sized single-windows at the 20th floor, and also continues up to the top floors. The west section, that connects to the adjoining building, sets back and ends above the 20th floor. The ground floor is occupied by Sweetgreen restaurant, Cava restaurant, Inday restaurant, and Little Collins coffee shop.