161 Madison Avenue (Madison Medical/Professional Building) (New York City, New York)

 office building, medical laboratory

144-foot, 12-story Beaux-Arts office building completed in 1902. Designed by Israels & Harder as a residential hotel, it was originally called the Warrington Hotel. It was later converted to offices, and houses various medical offices.

The front facade, four bays wide, is clad in pale red brick above a 3-story limestone base. The ground floor has a central, recessed entrance, with wooden double doors, and side doors to the two flanking storefronts. There is also a small metal service door at the south end. The 2nd floor has quoins at the edges and around the four window bays, with brick on the middle piers. Each bay has a splayed stone lintel and keystone. At the 3rd floor there are curved stone sills supporting projecting, iron-framed bay windows with sharply angled side panes. Between each bay are elaborate scrolled brackets supporting a shallow stone balcony with ornate wrought-iron railing at the 4th floor.

The upper floors are lined at the edges by bands of carved stone floral patterns, keyed at the inner edge. The 4th floor has double-windows topped by splayed brick lintels broken by stone imposts and keystones. Stone panels on the three middle piers are decorated with ovals at the outer of the three, and a diamond shape at the center pier; additional panels decorate the piers at the 5th floor as well, but with the location of ovals and diamond shape reversed. Stone spandrel panels are located between the 4th & 5th floors, featuring medallions in the center, flanked by garlands.

All four bays of the 5th, 6th & 9th floors have bay windows with angled sides that recede back into the facade. They are iron-framed and smaller than the bay windows at the 3rd floor. Each is topped by a splayed brick lintel with stone imposts and scrolled keystones, and are surrounded by keyed brickwork. The 7th & 8th floors have the same windows type at the outer bays, but the middle bays have flat double-windows, with flat keystones on the lintels. Both floors have a stone panel on the center pier, with a diamond at the 7th floor, and an oval at the 8th. Rounded wrought-iron balconies front the center windows of the 7th floor, and stone spandrels matching those between the 4th & 5th floors are located at the two center bays between the 7th & 8th floors.

The 10th & 11th floors have flat double-windows in each bay; they also have stone panels on the piers and spandrels matching those below. All four bays have squared wrought-iron balconies at the 10th floor. The top floor is set back above a stone band course, with metal pilasters dividing double-windows, and a metal parapet at the roof. The ground floor is occupied by Violetta wines, and Midtown East Pharmacy & Surgical.