730 Third Avenue (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, 1958_construction, International style architecture

364-foot, 28-story International-style office building completed in 1959 as the General Telephone Building. Designed by Carson & Lundin, it had a 20-story matching addition to the south and west designed by Schuman Lichtenstein Claman & Efron and completed in 1993. The ground floor is clad in grey granite and lined with metal-and-glass storefronts, most of which spans two bays. The piers rest of bases of darker-colored granite, and darker shade of grey granite also lines the tops of the storefronts and bottom edges of the 2nd-story windows. The main entrance is at the center of the east facade on the avenue, in a double-height, deeply-recessed area; the real wall of the entry vestibule is a glass wall with two sets of revolving doors flanked by regular doors, a pier at the front of the entry area divided it into two halves. There is a smaller side entrance on 45th Street, only one story in height, but also recessed with glass revolving doors, and loading docks with metal roll-down gates the the west end.

Above the base, light-grey brick piers separate the bays, each of which has a double-window in aluminum framing, and grey metal spandrels. The east facade on the avenue spans 18 bays, with 19 bays along 45th Street and 11 bays on 46th Street. The west ends of the building set back above the 6th floor, and above the 10th floor along the east end. There are setbacks again on the north and south sides of the east end of the building, from where the main tower rises sheer to the roof line, offset slightly to the north. The building's light-grey brick-clas core extends out from the main tower to the west, with one bay of small windows on its north side. The shorter, 20-story tower addition at the southwest has a small setback at its east end above the 18th floor. It spans five bays on the western side, with a small 1-bay section at the northeast where it connects to the core shaft. On the main tower, the top three floors are mechanical levels, with metal screens instead of windows shielding the mechanical equipment.

The ground floor is occupied by a Citibank branch.