One Park Avenue (New York City, New York)

 office building, interesting place, 1922_construction

248-foot, 20-story Neo-Classical/Neo-Gothic office building completed in 1922 for developer Henry Mandel/One Park Avenue Corporation. Designed by York & Sawyer and constructed by Henry Mandel Building Co., its four facades all rise to a setback at the 15th floor, with another setback at the 19th, and a penthouse level on top. The north, west and south sides are clad in buff-colored brick above a 4-story limestone base (only three stories at the northern half of the west elevation due to the slope of the site). At the east elevation, the basement level is exposed, with vehicular freight entrances, and the whole facade is clad in brick. The building also featured structural elements by Guastavino Fireproof Tile Co. in its construction of the lobby.

Each facade has nine bays - with three windows in each middle bay and two windows in the end bays. The main entrance is in the center of the Park Avenue facade, two stories tall, and extremely deeply recessed within a vestibule. The opening is framed by rope molded quarter-columns with Corinthian capitals, flanked by Gothic lantherns. The columns support an entablature with a panel reading "ONE PARK AVENUE" in gold letters, and a cornice. Within the vestivule, a lantern hangs from the vaulted ceiling, and both sides are lined with four round-arched windows. The doorway is at the back, within a large, brass-and-glass round arch. To the left of the entranceway are tall, modernized storefronts; at the right side, the ground floor has shorter storefronts with gold rope moldings. These are echoed on the triple-windows of the 2nd floor. Marble spandrels separate the 2nd & 3rd floors on the right half of the facade. The 3rd-floor windows have similar gold framing between the windows, but without the rope molding. At the corners of the 3rd-floor window bays are carved stone faces. A stone cornice with modillions and dentils caps the 3rd floor.

The south elevation basically matches this design, with another, but much simpler, central entrance. To the east of this entrance are low basement windows and a service door to the basement at the far east end. The north side is the same, but with secondary storefront entrances. The corner stone pier extends onto the east facade at north and south, with brick in between. Every floor has simple windows in pairs and groups of three.

The 4th floor has arcades of round-arches along the north, west and south elevations. Simple round columns separate each arch within the bays, and the bays are divided by brick piers framed by flat columns. A dentiled band course caps the 4th floor. The upper floors are brick, with windows grouped into threes, and pairs at the end bays. A corbelled band course caps the 14th floor, and the 15th floor has round-arches above the windows, just below the main setback, which is capped by a stone coping. The facades of the set-back top floors are similarly clad.

In 1941, the Herman Miller furniture company opened America’s first stand-alone manufacturer’s showroom dedicated to modern design here. The building was also home to the publisher, Henry Holt, for a time.

The ground floor is occupied by a Citibank branch, Oasis Day Spa, and Equinox Fitness, which extends to the 2nd floor.

www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/realestate/09scape.html
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