20 West 55th Street

 office building, commercial building

172-foot, 13-story office building completed in 1985. Designed by Richard Roth, it is clad in beige pre-cast stone. The ground floor has paired sets of glass double-doors in the center, with a recessed service door at the left and another set of recessed glass double-doors at the right. The 2nd-5th floors have four bays of square windows with simple sill, and the 6th floor has a recessed band of windows.

The upper floors are set back above the base with six bays of closer-spaced windows at the 7th-9th floor and another recessed band of windows at the 10th floor. Another setback leads to the top floors, with eight bays of narrower windows at the 11th-12th floors, and a recessed band of windows at the 13th floor. A final setback leads to the a mechanical floor on top, capped by a barrel-vaulted copper roof. The side elevations are clad in the same materials with bands of windows on the east side, and windows to the front and rear of the vaulted roof on the west side. The rear, south-facing facade has angled, dark-tinted atrium glass at the 8th floor, above which is a setback to the 9th-12th floors, which match the front facade. The 13th floor is setback almost to the mechanical penthouse level. The ground floor is occupied by Certe caterers.