Salvatore Ferragamo Building

 office building, 1912_construction, commercial building

105-foot, 9-story office building completed in 1912. Designed by John H. Duncan, the building is leased in large part to Italian luxury goods company Salvatore Ferragamo SpA for its flagship store. It is clad in limestone above a 2-story base that was renovated in 2003, also clad in stone. The main entrance is at the north end on the avenue, with simple glass double-doors below a pair of projecting flagpoles. To the south is a double-height storefront with three enormous plate-glass show-windows; the outer two are wider and the middle one is set above a set of glass storefront doors. The south part of the base has plate-glass show-windows on both the ground floor and 2nd floor; the two floors are separated by white stone panels, and a vertical white stone section (with a small window display box at the ground floor) separate a narrower north storefront from the wider windows at the south end. At the north end of this south storefront are glass double-doors set in stainless-steel frames, and at the southwest corner, the corner pier is visible behind glass that wraps around the corner. The white stone and glass storefront continues along the south facade on 52nd Street, with two plate-glass display-windows at both floors at the west end. To the east the ground floor has a row of four small, square display-boxes with textured metal panels between them, and the 2nd floor has two wider and shorter display-windows, with a pier behind the glass. Further east, the white stone ends, with darker limestone taking over. There is a recessed entry with glass double-doors below a pale green glass panel, topped by another pair of flagpoles near the east end. The far east end has a narrow building extension (possibly dating from 1924) that is clad in beige brick above a grey granite water table. At the ground floor it has a service entrance with beige metal double-doors below a tripartite window. The 2nd floor here has a double-window topped by a short stone cornice.

The upper floors facing the avenue are separated into two slightly different facades, the north one wider than the south one. The north section has three bays of three windows each, with joined sills, while the south section has three bays of paired windows with individual sills. The north section is crowned by a tan metal roof cornice at the 8th floor with modillions alternating with rosettes above an egg-and-dart molding. The south section is crowned at the same level by a tan metal roof cornice with dentils and a slightly smaller egg-and-dart molding.

The south facade on 52nd Street has seven bays of paired windows, with a continuation of the cornice from the south end of the west facade, plus an extra bay of double-windows at the narrow brick-clad extension at the east end. There are paneled brick spandrels between each floor at the eastern extension, which is topped at the 8th floor by a short, simple, tan metal cornice.

The east elevation is clad in buff-colored brick with no openings at the front or back edges. In the middle there are two bays of paired windows. A small penthouse level is located at the south half of the building, slightly set back behind the cornice and not visible from the street. The 2-story base is mostly occupied by the Ferragamo flagship store, with a separate double-height storefront near the north end occupied by Ermenegildo Zegna menswear.