415 Madison Avenue (New York City, New York) | office building, bank

 office building, bank

289-foot, 24-story early modern-style office building completed in 1956. Designed by Emery Roth & Sons, it is clad in bands of white glazed brick alternating with windows in grey metal framing. The ground floor is faced in black polished granite, with the glass doors of the main entrance recessed at the north end of the west facade. There are plate-glass windows along the rest of the ground floor, and another set of glass doors at the south end. The west half of the south facade on 48th Street has more plate-glass windows, and the east half is a granite wall, with stainless-steel service doors at the east end. The ground floor & 2nd floor are occupied by a branch of the HSBC Bank group.

The upper floors have numerous terraced setbacks, creating the "wedding cake" effect, beginning at the 13th floor at the south part of the west facade and the west part of the south facade. There are full-floor setbacks above the 14th, 18th, 20th, & 22nd floors as the building narrows to the northeast corner. There is a tall mechanical penthouse on the roof.