303 West 42nd Street (New York City, New York)

 office building  Add category

149-foot, 12-story office building completed in 1928. Designed by Fellheimer & Wagner, it opened as the Corn Exchange Bank Building. The building is L-shaped, wrapping around the corner lot, with narrow frontages on 42nd Street and 8th Avenue. The facade facing the avenue is faced in limestone, painted brown at the ground floor and red on the 2nd. There are bays of four windows per floor; the windows on the 2nd floor have gold-colored ornamental framing, with narrow colonnettes in between the windows, an arcade of arches along the bottom, and cresting at the top. The floors above have plainer black iron mullions, and brown metal spandrels between floors.

The south facade on 42nd Street is also limestone, slightly wider with five windows per floor, with the same pattern as the other facade. The tall ground floor is painted black at the lower half, with a recessed entry covered by a lighted marquee. The side walls overlooking the corner lot are completely painted with advertisements. The east-facing wall has one bay of single-windows near the south end, and the south-facing wall has two bays of single-windows.

The north and west elevations are clad in brown brick, with concrete facing on the lower floors of the west facade. The north elevation has bays of double-windows. The west elevation has a narrow recessed light well beginning at the 3rd floor, lined with windows; there is a bay of single-windows on either side of the light well. Above the 6th floor the north end of this facade slopes back, with fire escape landings extending vertically.

Formerly the laugh Factory and before that Show World, the lower floors of the building were one of the biggest erotic establishments in the old Times Square. From 2004-2016 the building was home to the Manhattan Reperatory Theatre, who then moved to a new location on West 45th Street. The ground floor is occupied by Dunkin' on 42nd Street, and Smashburger on the avenue.