5 Penn Plaza (New York City, New York)

 commercial, office building, high-rise, 1916_construction, Beaux-Arts (architecture)

343-foot, 24-story Beaux-Arts office building completed in 1916. Designed by John & Edward Larkin, it was originally known as the Printing Crafts Building. It is clad in white-painted stone, rusticated at the 4-story base. The main, east facade is 12 bays wide, with 7 bays on the north and south sides. All of the piers sit on stone plinths; those in the center of each facade are fluted, with brown and bright-gold colored stylized capitals at the 4th floor. The 2-story main entrance is recessed in the two center bays on 8th Avenue, split by the center pier, and set under a brass marquee with a flagpole. The other bays have storefronts with plate-glass windows; a broad, brown metal spandrel tops each storefront. The 2nd-4th floors have double-windows in brown metal frames; in the center bays the 2nd & 3rd floors are separated by brown-painted spandrels with ornate foliate carvings around literary symbols, all in gold leaf. At the same bays, the spandrels between the 3rd & 4th floors have red central panels outlined with egg-and-dart moldings. On the north and south facades, the eastern bay is double-wide, with a band of four windows instead of the double-windows at the other bays. A brown metal dentiled cornice caps the base.

The upper floors have the same pattern of windows, with the center sections of all three main facades slightly recessed between the outer bays. At the 5th floor the piers are paneled and a narrow brown string course runs above this floor. A white stone cornice tops the 18th floor. The next three floors have paneling on the outer piers, and a band course sets off the 22nd floor, which is topped by a projecting bracketed cornice, marking the main roof line. A smaller, 2-story penthouse rises above this.

The rear, west elevation is clad in brown brick. There are two bays of paired windows at the north and south ends, with another two bays of very small windows closer to the center. The ground floor is occupied by a TD Bank branch, CityMD Urgent Care, and a CVS Pharmacy.

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