LX57

 office building, commercial building

239-foot, 20-story Art-Deco office building originally completed in 1931. Designed by Buchman & Kahn, it was clad in buff-colored brick above a 3-story limestone base with a dark-grey granite water table. A renovation in 2021 by Gensler entailed a full restoration on the building’s façade, modernization of the commercial lobby, new signage at the ground floor, window upgrades, and LED lighting. The exterior was repainted dark-grey.

The main entrance is at the east end of the north facade, recessed in an entry vestibule. The main glass-and-bronze double-doors are at the west end of the vestibule, with metal service doors to the east. The rest of the ground floor has plate-glass storefronts, continuing onto the north half of the west facade on the avenue.

The piers are fluted on the 2nd-3rd floors. The west facade has two bays of large paired windows, and the north facade has three such bays, with tripartite windows in the end bays. There are black metal spandrels dividing the two floors within each bay. The five bays of the upper floors on the north facade are organized into triple-windows at the end bays, and bands of four windows at the middle three bays, each window subdivided into two narrow panes by thinner black metal mullions than those between the separate windows. The upper floors are organized into 2-story groupings, with black metal spandrels between some floors alternating with brick spandrels with projecting horizontal bands at the others.

There is a setback above the 13th floor, shallower at the center bay and 2nd bay from the east on the north facade, followed by more terraced setbacks above; the lower setbacks occur at every second floor, and the top floors have setbacks at each level as the tower narrows. A brick-clad mechanical penthouse rises from the east end of the roof.

The east elevation has a double-window at the front of the 8th floor, and wider bands of windows at the 9th-13th floors. The 14th-15th floors, above the first setback have smaller bands of four windows, and the narrow top floors have no openings. The ground floor is occupied by a Bank United branch.