Avalon Clinton North Tower

USA / New Jersey / West New York / West 52nd Street, 515
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300-foot, 27-story postmodern residential building completed in 2007. Designed by Fox & Fowle, it is clad in a mix of red brick, silver metal, and blue glass. The complex has complicated massing, with the main tower portion straddling the block, spanning from 53rd Street almost down to 52nd Street, and a shorter wing, angled along its south face, extending out to Tenth Avenue.

The main residential entrance faces 52nd Street, at the east end of an angled, 27-story facade. It has a revolving glass door and a traditional glass door below a suspended steel canopy that slopes gently upward and narrows toward the end. There is a 2.5-story section of glass-and-metal curtain wall around the entrance, angling outwards towards the top; it has pale-green opaque glass panes above the entrance and at the top, and wraps around the southeast corner. To the west, projecting out from the angled facade, is a 6-story section that aligns with the street, clad in white stone on its east face at the ground floor, where it frames the entrance. The south facade of this shorter section has five bays separated by brick piers - at the double-height ground floor they are white stone, with a subtle pattern of horizontal ribbing. The bays at the ground floor have grey metal-framed windows, with horizontal metal panels halfway up, and metal louvers at the top, and the eastern bay has a commercial entrance with glass-and-metal double-doors; this space is occupied by Le Bergamote restaurant. The 2nd-6th floors of this short section have tripartite windows with grey metal panels at the bases of each (at the top on the 3rd floor, and both below and above at the 6th floor), and there are black metal vents built into these panels at the 4th-6th floors.

Behind this 6-story section angled main facade has a west end bay of double-windows with thin brick spandrels between floors. To the east are three bays of tripartite windows with vents below them. At the east end, past the 6-story section and above the main entrance, is a bay of uneven double-windows (one narrow pane next to a wider one) joined with a bay of windows that extends down lower on each floor, incorporating a metal vent into the lower pane of the wider main window that is flanked by a narrower pane on the right and an even narrower one on the left. This end bays wraps around the corner, continuing with a another medium pane pared with two very narrow ones at the south end of the east facade. These end bays extends all the way up to the 27th floor, while the western four on the south facade end at the 26th. Behind the south bay on the east facade is a bay of single-windows, and then a projecting section of glass-and-metal curtain wall that cantilevers out from the top of the 3rd floor, supported by round steel columns at the base.

The narrow south elevation of this projecting section has uneven double-windows (with narrower outer panes). The east facade has brick spandrels between floors (up to the 23rd floor), beginning near the south end and extending north to another section that projects out further; is also has a curtain wall cladding system, but without the brick spandrels, and extends almost to 53rd Street, overlooking the shorter east wing that extends to the avenue. This section sets back above the 23rd floor, with the south curtain wall section continuing north above it, but angling back. This north end of this section terminates above the 26th floor with a roof deck.

On 53rd Street the north facade of the tower rises from a 2-story base that is set back from the street, except at the east side. This base is largely clad in grey cast-stone panels, except for the middle section at the 2nd floor, which is dark-red brick. There is an entrance to the New Theater for Manhattan Class Company (MCC) here, at the east end of the recessed section next to the, west-facing wall of the non-recessed part. It has multiple sets of glass-and-metal doors recessed slightly below the 2nd floor, between large, round, grey columns. Above, the 2nd floor has one long band of windows extending most of the way across the brick section. To the west of the entrance are several poster boxes at the ground floor, and at the far west end is a set of metal service doors below cladding of metal louvers extending somewhat above the rest of the base. The upper floors of the tower are clad in a glass-and-metal curtain wall, with brick spandrels between the middle of the floors starting at the 5th floor.

The east, non-recessed section of the base has more poster boxes, and the grey stone cladding drops down to only the ground floor where it merges with the shorter east wing. At the end of this cladding section is another theater entrance with glass doors, this one for the Art New York Theatres. Continuing east past this, the ground floor cladding changes to brown granite, and there is a secondary building entrance, a ramp down to the underground parking garage, a metal service door, and a band of storefront show-windows at the east end. A band of metal louvers caps the ground floor, with the 2nd-4th floors clad in red brick.. These floors have mostly very tall and narrow windows, arranged and spaced into various groupings. There is also one wider opening on the 4th floor. Above a shallow setback, the 5th-7th floors are clad in silver metal paneling, with the 7th floor set farther back.

The east facade of the lower wing, along the avenue, continues the granite cladding and storefronts windows along the ground floor. Near the south end is a 2-story open corridor leading back into a courtyard, spanned across the 3rd & 4th floors by a narrow skybridge section of glass with metal spandrels. The 2nd-4th floors are red brick, with silver metal panels at the south edge, where there are no openings. North of the skybridge are a mix of very narrow and wider windows. The top floors are again set back, clad in metal and glass, with recessed terraces.

The south facade of the 7-story east wing is angled back toward the main tower, clad in red brick on the lower floors, with random groupings of mostly narrow windows. The upper floors have more metal and glass cladding, with metal railings, and are also angled along the 5th & 6th floors.

The building contains a total of 345 apartment units, as well as theater spaces. The ground floor along the avenue is occupied by Flower Studio florist, and Cellar 53 Wine & Spirits.
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Coordinates:   40°45'59"N   73°59'28"W
This article was last modified 6 years ago