Pershing Square Building (New York City, New York)

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363-foot, 24-story Romanesque-revival office building completed in 1923. Designed by York & Sawyer withh Sloan & Robertson, it was erected on the site of the former Grand Union Hotel, and takes its name from the open plaza planned in 1919 to honor World War I general John J. Pershing. Clad in multi-hued beige brick, granite, and polychrome terra-cotta, the structure rises above a 7-story base in a U-shape, with the open light court facing Park Avenue.

Because the Pershing Square Building utilized subway footings that were in place when the zoning ordinance was adopted in 1916 and was sold by the city as developable with a 25-story building, it received a variance from the setback requirements of the law and thus became the last tall building in New York erected without setbacks. The building is noted for the elaborate decoration designed by Sloan and produced by the Atlantic Terra-Cotta Company, including brickwork that looks like woven cloth.

The ground floor is clad in pink granite, with the original main entrance is is at the center of the west facade's nine bays. It has a molded surround, with a medallion at the top, and a surmounting dentiled cornice topped by planter boxes. The entrance is flanked by a pair of recessed subway entrances. The other bays have wide, metal-and-glass storefronts; at the north end, a more modern stainless-steel and glass storefront replaces what was earlier a cut-corner at the ground floor. This storefront extends onto the western four bays on 42nd Street; the other two have additional building entrances, recessed behind pink granite piers and below grey metal canopies. The granite cladding continues on the six bays of the south facade on 41st Street, with more storefronts, and a freight entrance in the 2nd bay from the east.

The 2nd-3rd floors have double-height round-arches at the three middle bays on the west facade, as well as 2nd-from-end bays; the other four bays are narrower, with tall rectangular windows surrounded by brick frames on the 2nd floor, and shorter, more-square windows on the 3rd floor, also with brick frames; there are narrow stone sills with small dentils. The piers around the narrow bays have a quilt-like interweaving pattern of bricks, spanning from the 2nd-4th floors. The arches in the main bays are divided by piers with rounded edges, featuring elaborate terra-cotta designs. There are stylized capitals from which spring the tops of the arches, lined with patterned architraves; the arches have glass infill with thin metal framing. The 2nd- and 3rd-floor openings in the 2nd narrow bay from the north have metal grates replacing the windows. At the 4th floor there are squared windows with dentiled stone sills, two per main bay, and one in each narrow bay. A dentiled band course with a row of alternating flowers and modillions caps the 4th floor, and sets off the transitional 5th floor.

The 5th floor has more elaborate brickwork at the piers, including guilloche patterns, cross banding, and leaf work, and eight carved figures on the piers framing the narrow bays. Some of the figures at the 5th-floor level represent a Roman caduceator, or peace commissioner. He holds a caduceus in one hand as an emblem of office and, in the other, a cornucopia to suggest the benefits of a prospective peace. The three middle bays set back to the light court above the 7th floor, with the 7th-floor windows topped by miniature arcades of round-arches, and a dentil course across the setback. Three flagpoles rise from the set-back area. The wings on either side of the light court have a center bay of paired windows, and end bays of narrower paired windows. Continuations of the interwoven brickwork piers extend uninterrupted to a cornice at the top of the 19th floor. The 20th floor has lower paired windows in the middle bays, and single-windows in the end bays. There are 2-story paired round-arches on the 21st-22nd floors at the middle bays of the wings; the end bays change to single-windows, and the 23rd floor has wider-spaced paired windows in the middle bay.

The three bays of the rear and side walls of the light court each have paired windows, with the 19th-floor cornice continuing across each wall. Except for the front bay on both side walls, the rest of the bays have round-arches on the 21st-22nd floors. A dentiled cornice caps the main roof line at the 23rd floor. The slightly-recessed 24th floor is topped by a low-sloped metal roof, with mechanical equipment rising from the east end of the roof.

The north and south facades have similar designs, consisting of four main bays (with arches) and two narrower end bays. The ground floor is occupied by Consider It Delivered couriers, Los Tacos No. 1, The Little Beet, a Starbucks coffee, and a TD Bank branch.

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