340 Madison Avenue (New York City, New York)

 office building, commercial building

233-foot, 21-story modernist office building originally completed in 1921. Designed by Pickering & Walker and Starrett & Van Vleck, it was originally called the Canadian Pacific Building, and included the 4-story Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist at its base, at the west end of the south facade on 43rd Street. The church received a long-term lease for the space it still occupies (see separate entry).

The Canadian Pacific Building, after being known as 342 Madison Avenue for years, is now 340 Madison Avenue and was been extensively remodeled in 2004 to present a modern glass exterior by Moed de Armas & Shannon and Gensler architects. When first built, two mid-block lowrise holdouts on Madison Avenue had to be built around, leaving gaps in the facade. When the building was remodeled with a new facade, these properties were finally incorporated into the structure, giving it a uniform facade along the avenue. The curtain wall has pale-green glass and silver aluminum mullions. The east facade on Madison has ten wide bays; the center bay has four window panes, the flanking bays each have three, and the outer bays have two window panes. The north facade has nine 2-window bays, and the south facade spans 11 bays, the western four above the church.

The recessed main entrance is at the center of the east facade on Madison Avenue, under a stainless-steel canopy. To either side are glass storefronts topped by metal louvers. There is a recessed secondary entrance on the south facade, just to the east of the church. There are shallow setbacks above the 16th, 18th, and 20th floors.

The ground floor is occupied by a former Verizon wireless store, a PNC Bank branch, a Starbucks coffee, Alden Shoes, Allen Edmonds men's shoes, Christian Science Reading Room, and Le Pain Quotidien restaurant.

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