Lefcourt Clothing Center Building (New York City, New York)

 commercial, office building, skyscraper

337-foot, 27-story Art-Deco office building completed in 1928. Designed by Buchman & Kahn, it is clad in brown brick above a 4-story base with a ground floor of black stone, and 2nd-4th floors in light-tan brick and terra-cotta. The main entrance is centered on the west facade on the avenue, which spans 11 bays. It has a revolving door flanked by traditional glass doors and tall transom, framed by broad terra-cotta piers on tall granite bases; the piers features a geometric design down the middle of both. The other bays have glass-and-metal storefront, some with glass doors or double-doors. The ground floor is capped by a silver steel band.

The 2nd floor is framed on the bottom by a terra-cotta band with vertical scoring. The 2nd-4th floors have tripartite windows in each bay, with the center section divided into two panes. Black iron mullions separate the three section of each window bay, and these are banded on the 4th floor. The mullions extend through the black metal spandrels panels between floors, each of which is vertically banded, and those between the 3rd & 4th floors also have geometric shield/wing forms at the centers. The base is capped by a terra-cotta band with another geometric pattern along the top.

The upper floors have three single-windows in each bay, separated by thin brick pilasters, with wider piers between bays. The brick spandrels between floors at each window each have a vertical row of thin projecting bricks at the sides. At the end bays the piers and pilasters are interrupted by horizontal double bands below and above the windows. Beginning at the 15th floor, the spandrels have projecting buttons at the centers of each. The full facade sets back above the 17th floor, with shallower setbacks above the 23rd and 26th.

The north and south facades are similar, spanning six bays, with secondary entrances in the 4th bays from the west. These entrances are set in bronze surrounds and have glass-and-bronze doors, with bronze grilles above. There is a freight entrance incorporated into the southern entrance. The other bays at the ground floor have storefronts, except for the east end bay on 25th Street, which has a loading dock. The upper floors match those on the west facade, except that the eastern three bays each have four single-windows instead of three. The same setbacks continue onto these facades, and the north and south ends of the top floor have extensions of black corrugated metal.

The rear, east-facing elevation has eight single-window bays at the middle (two of which are narrower), followed by four triple-windows to each side, narrowing at the setbacks at the upper floors. The ground floor is occupied by Freestyle Barber Shop, Cohen's Fashion Optical, Seven Grams Caffe, and Dig restaurant.