305 Seventh Avenue (New York City, New York)

 office building, high-rise, 1921_construction

249-foot, 20-story office building completed in 1921. Designed by Schwartz & Gross & B.N. Marcus, it is clad in buff-colored brick above a 3-story limestone base, with the piers painted light-grey at the ground floor. The west facade on the avenue has a three bays, with the center one wider. The main entrance is in the north bay, with three sets of bronze-and-glass double-doors set in black stone surrounds, and three large glass panes above them. The other two bays have metal-and-glass infill, with commercial space, the entrance to which is in the south half of the middle bay, with glass-and-metal doors. The broad 2-story piers framing the bays are paneled, and the end piers are wider; there are egg-and-dart moldings at the top of the 2nd floor, which has 4-over-3 windows in the outer bays and a 5-over-3 window in the middle bay. The 2nd floor is capped by a stone band with a roundel at each pier. The 3rd floor has bronze panels on the piers, decorated with Renaissance ornament including eagles and urns. The windows are slightly shorter than the 2nd floor, with the middle bay divided into 6-over-3 panes instead.

The upper floors have wide 3-over-3 outer bays, and 4-over-3 windows in the center bay, with wider black metal vertical mullions. At the 15th floor the two middle piers each have a large stone shield. The outer bays set back above the 16th floor. The middle bay has a stone band and thin cornice topping the 17th floor, and a setback above the 18th, with another cornice.

The south facade on 27th Street has five bays of equal width. At the ground floor the east bay has a freight entrance, while the other four have storefront infill. The 2nd & 3rd floors have 4-over-3 windows, and the upper floors have 3-over-3 windows. The end bays set back above the 16th floor. The next bays are narrower at the 17th floor, with double-windows, and they set back above the 17th. The middle bays sets back above the 18th floor.

The building formerly housed mostly furriers. Now social service agencies make up almost all of the tenancy. Among them, SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) houses the nations first municipally funded senior center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender older adults, Services for the Underserved, and the Episcopal Social Services. The street-level tenant is Chase Bank.