Crystal Pavilion (New York City, New York)

 commercial, office building

331-foot, 29-story postmodern office building completed in 1983. Designed by Emery Roth & Sons, the lower three floors of this glass office building comprise a soaring public atrium with many shops and restaurants. These levels, including the ground-floor entry, are recessed, revealing stainless-steel-clad round columns supporting the upper floors along the avenue and 50th Street. Expansive glass storefronts admit light into the shopping atrium at the lower floors. There are several glass storefront areas that project out back to the building line, topped at the 2nd floor by sloped glass roofs, with the steel columns continuing up above them. At the east end of the north facade on 50th Street there is a 2-story extension of the base; here the ground floor (housing a restaurant) is faced in grey cast-stone with six bays. The 3rd bay from the east has a glass door and a peaked canopy extending out over the sidewalk, while the others have plate-glass windows. Above is a continuation of the glass curtain wall.

The upper floors of the tower, supported on the stainless-steel columns, are clad in a reflective silver glass curtain wall with rounded corners. The east side of the tower rises two floors higher than the west.

Current tenants of the Crystal Pavilion include Extell Development Company, Poten & Partners, and Sonoma Capital Management. Retail tenants, which occupy the atrium on the lower three floors, include Bebe, Cache, Cohen's Fashion Optical, RH Plus Salon, and This Pix photography, as well as several cafes and restaurants. Also on the ground floor are Super Runners Shop, Madison Jewelers, a liquor store, Gyu Kaku restaurant, and Radiance Tea House and Books.