Park 53

 office building, bank, postmodern (architecture)

264-foot, 20-story Postmodern office building completed in 1991. Designed by Rogers, Burgun, Shahine & Deschler, the building was the United States headquarters for Banco Santander, the largest bank in Spain, founded in 1857. It is clad in grey granite and blue-green glass. While the building fronts 53rd Street, the more interesting facade is the east elevation that faces the 2-story plaza of the neighboring Lever House. This facade has a glass curtain wall framed by granite, with thin, silver metal mullions. At the front edge are two bays of single-windows in vertical strips, ending at setbacks above the 5th and 9th floors. A horizontal stone beam runs above the 13th floor on the main curtain wall, with another above the 17th. The square space in between features a 4-story circle of grey metal. Flanking this section, the corner edges of the wide stone end sections are chamfered, with a narrow, vertical strip of windows. The curtain wall resume above the circle for two more floors, bisected vertically in the middle by a spire, and is capped by a steep-sloped metal roof at the mechanical penthouse level, with the spire attached to the side and extending slightly above the roof line.

The south facade facing the street has end sections of grey granite panels in staggered rustication. At the inner edges of these are vertical strips of glass framing a center section of four bays of 2-over-2 windows. The double-height ground floor is recessed at the center section, behind four square granite piers, and has a read glass wall with glass doors. A red metal sign band fronts the piers about two-thirds of the way up the ground floor, with the bank's name and logo in silver lettering. The entire south facade has setbacks above the 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th floors, culminating in the steep mansard roof. The rear, north facade is clad in grey granite with punched, square windows.

In 2022, Santander departed and the structure repositioned for leasing tenants. Renovations were made by Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects with Vocon Partners for ZG Capital.

www.mdeas.com/park-53