520 Eighth Avenue

 office building, high-rise, 1926_construction

295-foot, 26-story Neo-Classical/Art-Deco office building completed in 1926. Designed by Schwartz & Gross, it is mostly clad in tan brick above a 3-story limestone base and 4th-story transitional floor. The section at the northwest corner was originally built separately, also designed by Schwarz & Gross and completed in 1927, but is now joined into one structure. It is clad in a browner brick, with differing fenestration, and lacks the transitional floor. Including the joined northwest section, the 8th Avenue facade spans nine bays. The south facade on 36th Street is seven bays wide, and the north facade also has seven bays, of which the western five belong to the northwest-corner section.

On the avenue, the northwest section has a pair of black metal and glass storefronts at the ground floor; the 2nd & 3rd floors have a square window divided into three narrow panes and flanked by single-windows in each of the two bays. From west to east on the north facade, the ground floor consists of two more similar storefronts; a recessed entrance framed in grey granite and a smaller storefront; a modernized storefront; and a service entrance at the narrower east bay. The 2nd & 3rd floors are the same, except that the middle bay is slightly wider, with each window opening slightly wider, and the narrow east bay has only two windows. A modest stone cornice caps the base. The brick upper floors on the avenue side have three windows per bay, joined by stone sills and brick lintels. Thin stone bands cross the piers at the base of the 15th floor. The southern of the two bays sets back above the 17th floor, and both bays set back above the 19th floor. There are carved stone spandrels at the north bay's 18th & 19th floors. The top main floors of this section, the 20th, is narrowed at the north bay, clad in stone with a single window surmounted by an arched pediment. A short attic floor surmounts the southern bay.

On the north facade, the corner section has four windows in the middle bay, and three windows in each of the others, except the narrow east bay that has two windows per floor. All have joined stone sills and brick lintels like those on the west facade. A number of the windows in the eastern bays at the lower floors are replaced with metal louvers. Additionally, the far eastern opening at each floor above the 4th has a recessed space in place of a window. A narrow band course runs below the 15th floor, and the three eastern bays set back above the 17th floor. The western two bays rise to the 19th floor, with cast-stone spandrels. At the 20th floor, there are two bays of double-windows topped by stone round-arches. A tall, narrow penthouse with a peaked roof rises up behind these corner bays.

The main building facade on 8th Avenue, the southern seven bays, have wide fluted limestone piers on tall granite bases with Corinthian capitals - except for the 2nd & 3rd bays from the north, which were remodeled around the 1980s. These consists of a 3-story framed of grey granite, surround the 2-bay entrance as well as the 2nd & 34d floors above. The entrance at the ground floor is glass and steel, and metal mesh screens cover the facade at the 2nd & 3rd floors, large red numbers "520" are attached to the screen at the 2nd floor. The rest of the ground floor consists of varied storefronts. The 2nd & 3rd floors have bands of four windows in black metal frames. There are paneled stone spandrels between floors, and the base is capped by a cornice above a row of simple circles. The transitional 4th floor has elaborately carved stone piers, and stone pilasters dividing each bay into three windows. It is topped by a stone band course.

The upper floors also have three windows per bay, with brick piers and pilasters, and simple brick pattern spandrels. At the 16th floor the outer two bays on each side have projecting white stone pilasters ending at a setback. The middle three bays also have 1-story-tall stone pilasters, beginning at the 17th floor at the outer edges, and stair-stepping up with shallow setbacks to the 19th floor, where they are doubled around the center bay. The end bays continue up, with cascading setbacks and simple stone sills. The middle bays at the top floors are also more elaborate, with continued setbacks and white stone ornament consisting of additional projecting pilasters and copings at each setback. Through the course of the setbacks, the three center bays narrow to one, which has three joined round-arched windows in the middle, flanked by two smaller round-arched windows, framed in white stone. Above these are three smaller windows on a brick background with a hatch pattern, surmounted by a white stone course of small arches under a cornice. The side bays, set further back, end one floor below this top level, which is crowned by a steep-sloped green copper roof.

The south facade on 36th Street mimics the west facade, with similar fenestration and ornament, and the same cascading setbacks at the upper floors, crowned by a sloped copper roof at the center. On the north side, the two bays of the main building, at the west end, also match the design of the other main facades. The white stone projecting pilasters begin at the 16th floor, with shallow setbacks up to the roof line. The ground floor is occupied by Botani zippers, NK Dry Cleaning, One Stop Framing Shop, Chef Yu restaurant, Azuki sushi, Lazzaro Bowls, Gregorys Coffee, Pax Wholesome Foods, Houndstooth Pub, ChaShaMa Window Gallery, a MetroPCS wireless store, Bansum Fashion, and Little Diana dresses.