CUNY Graduate School of Journalism (New York City, New York)

 university, office building

292-foot, 20-story office building completed in 1929. Designed by Lockwood Greene & Company, it has a main tower on 41st Street, and a lower 7-story section on West 40th that was designed by Schwartz & Gross and completed in earlier, in 1923. The north facade on 41st is clad in buff-colored brick above 3-story cream-colored limestone base, while the entire south facade in clad in limestone.

The 7-story south facade is symmetrical, with five main bays and two narrower end bays. The stone on the 2-story base is lighter colored, and the two end bays have entrances, with a stone shield over the secondary entrance at the west. The main entrance is in the eastern bay, with glass doors under a metal canopy. Above these entrances, pairs of stone torches frame the bays, and the paired windows at the 2nd floor are flanked by intricately carved pilasters rising from the torches, and topped by a stone panel with modillions at the top and bottom. The piers between every bay have peaked capitals, joined by a modillioned band course across the top of the 2nd floor that caps the base. The five main bays have modernized storefronts at the ground floor, except for the western main bay, which has a freight entrance with a roll-down metal gate. Above stone spandrels with trios of stone shields, the 2nd floor has triple-windows in large segmental-arches lined with modillions.

The upper floors have three windows in the main bays, and two windows in the end bays, divided by narrow stone piers with beveled edges. The 3rd-floor windows are taller than the other floors, and the spandrels above are also taller, each decorated with a simple circle and incised edging. The higher spandrels simply have the incised edging. A wide, outlined stone band tops the three middle bays, with the other two bays having individual panels each with three recessed rectangles above the windows. A dentiled stone band course caps all the middle bays. The end bays have shallow peaked pediments between the piers that extend slightly higher than the piers in the middle, ornamented by a simple circle.

The north facade on 41st Street has three main bays, with an additional narrow bay at the east end. The main entrance is in the eastern of the three main bays, in glass and stainless-steel, with a pair of double-doors, a transoms and sidelights. The other two bays have storefronts with red canvas awnings, and the narrow bay has a narrow blind opening, corresponding to the narrow open shafts on the 2nd & 3rd floors, which are fronted by iron railings. The brass and translucent glass light fixture is attached to each pier at the ground floor. The main bays have three windows on the 2nd & 3rd floors, with segmental-arches at the 3rd floor. The details of the base all match the south facade, with shields in the spandrels, modillions, and peaked capitals on the piers.

The brick upper floors also have three windows per bay, with narrow open shafts in the east bay. The windows have stone sills and brick lintels. There is a setback above the 8th floor, with the next setback, above the 12th floor, not including the narrow east end, thereby creating a narrow projecting tower at that end. Further setbacks occur across the full facade at the 15th and 18th floors.

The west elevation is clad in buff-colored brick with brown brick spandrels. THere is a bay of paired windows near the front, and four windows across the middle of the facade. At the rear there is a 1-bay notched corner, with paired windows facing west; the south-facing side of the notch has single-windows at the lower floors, increasing to two, and then three windows at the upper floors with the setback levels at the 8th and 15th floors. The south-facing facade of the north tower has two bays of triple-windows, and end bays with single-windows.

Among the building's tenants is the Graduate School of Journalism of the City University of New York. The ground floor is occupied by Domino's Pizza, and Jacks supermarket, with the 2nd floor and the ground floor on the 41st Street side occupied by New York Sports Club.