159 Madison Avenue

 apartment building  Add category

12-story cooperative-apartment building completed in 1912. Designed by Wallis & Goodwillie, it is tripartite in plan, with a 3-story stone base, 7-story tan brick midsection, and 2-story stone crown. Both matching main facades are five bays wide.

Both of the end bays on Madison have entrances - the main one is at the northern bay and wider than the others. It has a grey granite frame and modern glass-and-metal doors. Both the southern bay on Madison, and the western bay on 32nd Street (which has a show window) have stone enframements with rope moldings. There is a black canvas awning over the south bay on Madison, and a carved medallion with gold leaf above the west bay on 32nd. The remaining end bay, at the east on 32nd Street, has a metal service door; it has a similar stone enframement but without the rope molding. There is a simpler carved medallion over the doors.

The piers all have lanterns attached at the 1st floor, and the middle bays consist of 2-story round-arches, with storefronts at the ground floor. The end bays have single-windows at the 2nd floor. A dentiled band course sets off the 3rd floor, which has paired windows in the middle bays, and single-windows in the end bays, a pattern repeated on the upper floors. The stone piers at the 3rd floor (wider between the bays and smaller between the paired windows) have elaborate bas-relief carvings. A dentiled cornice above a carved frieze caps the base.

The brick 5th-10th floors project slightly at the end bays, and have simple stone sills at the windows. At the 4th floor, the end bays have stone surrounds topped by cornices and cartouches. A dentiled cornice sets off the top two floors. They have paneled stone piers between the bays, and Corinthian columns between the paired windows in the middle bays. Both main facades are crowned by a projecting copper roof cornice with brackets and large rosettes on the soffit. The east elevation above the neighboring building is a plain red brick wall.

The building was occupied from its completion until 1957 by the Executive Brassiere Company that primarily produced ladies undergarments. In 1957 General Electric purchased the building and occupied it as the headquarters of their international operation. The building was then sold to an investment group led by Jack Ehrenhaus, who converted the building to rental units in the late 1970s. It was converted to a cooperative in 1988, with 118 units. The ground floor is occupied by Fendi Luxury Living.