245 Park Avenue (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, 1967_construction, International style architecture

648-foot, 47-story International-style office building completed in 1967. Designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, the tower rises from a 7-story base (six floors at the west end due to the slope of the site), set back from a small plaza on the west side facing Park Avenue. The base and tower are both clad in glazed brown brick, white-painted stone, and glass. The east and west ends of the base are eight bays wide, while the north and south sides span 17 bays.

On the west end fronting Park Avenue the ground floor is recessed behind an arcade of brick piers, the sides of which are faced in white marble. The main entrance, in the center bay, has brass-framed glass doors in a glass surround. The other bays have large plate-glass infill with brass framing. The bays on the north and south facades are separated by the same piers, and have tall tripartite windows divided by bronze mullions with white stone panels below the middle panes. Below the windows a brown polished granite wall increases in height as it moves east, following the downward slope. At the 4th-7th bays from the east, this lower level opens up into a pair of 2-bay entrance/exits to the underground parking garage, and the level above (now the 2nd floor) has four tall window panes with tinted transom panes and white stone panels at the base of each window. At the three easternmost bays, the window pattern of the 2nd floor continues, but with dark glass spandrels at the bottom, and continuation of the windows as storefronts in the two bays next to the end bay. The end bay has a revolving door to the commercial space at this corner, with a white metal canopy above it. The three south bays on the east facade fronting Lexington Avenue match the storefront bays around the corner on the south side. A small plaza in front of these bays is enclosed by a brown polished granite wall with a glass railing. At the five northern bays the 2nd floor matches the bays above the garage entrances, and the ground floor - behind a set of steps - is deeply recessed behind the piers, with glass infill and revolving doors. The entire 2nd floor on the north facade matches the bays above the garage, and the ground floor is lined with recessed storefronts at the east end. Beginning at the 10th bay from the east, the ground floor has walls of brown polished granite, growing shorter and finally disappearing at the west end. All of the bays on the ground floor (west side)/2nd floor (east side) are topped by white stone panels.

The upper floors of the base have two sets of double-windows in each bay, with projecting white stone panels above and below, and thinner brown brick piers separating each double-window. The upper tower is deeply recessed on all four sides and resembles a cross in plan. The north-projecting wing has eight bays of double-windows (corresponding to four bays of the base), and the side walls of the wing each have two bays of double-windows. The south-projecting wing, while the same size, has no openings, but is instead clad in brown-painted concrete.

The wider east and west wings, extending from the central tower are both eight bays long, with double-windows, and eight bays wide at the ends. Both wings are topped by a mechanical floor with metal vents. The central section extends higher than the east and west wings and enclosed rooftop equipment. All of the tower floors above the base have white metal spandel panels between the floors. The ground floor is occupied by Vermilion restaurant at the southeast corner.

There is an entrance to Grand Central Terminal near the middle of the north facade on 47th Street, with the east end of the ground floor there occupied by Sswing Golf.

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