National Tower

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250-foot, 21-story Neo-Classical office building completed in two stages: the first was the 12-story wing at Broadway & West 37th, completed in 1914. It was designed by George Keister. The later phase, fronting West 38th Street, stands 21 floors and was completed in 1924 to a design by Sommerfeld & Steckler.

The original 12-story wing is roughly L-shaped, with an angled west facade following the line of Broadway. It is clad in brown brick with a limestone top floor, above a 2-story base of polished black granite. The Broadway facade has six bays, and the south facade on 37th Street is seven bays wide. The main entrance is in the northern bay on Broadway, surrounded by a grid of small glass panes in silver metal frames. Above is an additional grid of opaque panes at the 2nd floor, with gold numbers 1372 (for the Broadway address) attached to the bottom part. The other bays have storefronts on the ground floor, and large-paned show-windows on the 2nd floor; the three bays next to the entrance have grey slate tiles between the two floors. On 37th Street have additional storefronts, as well as a service entrance at the east end, and in the 3rd bay from the west a pair of black metal service doors. The 2nd floor here also has large show-windows, except for the bay with the two service doors; it has three vertical recessed panels in the stone cladding - the western panel also has a small opening with a metal railing at its lower-left half. The easternmost bay has metal louvers in place of windows, topped by additional metal vents, and the two bays to the west also have metal vents above the windows. The base is capped on both facades by a dentiled cornice.

The upper floors have stone bases for the brick piers; wider piers separate the bays, and narrower ones divide each bay into three windows. The brick spandrels have stone sills and lintels, and the center spandrel panel in each bay is ornamented with a carved stone relief panel with a floral pattern. A stone entablature with a dentil course across the top caps the 9th floor. All of the spandrels between the 10th & 11th floors are stone, with carved ornament, and the main piers are topped by decorative capitals at the 11th floor. The top floor is set off by a stone cornice, and faced in stone, with ornament on each main pier. Both facades are crowned by a stone roof cornice with dentils and brackets. The ground floor is occupied by Madison Jewelers, Mr. Broadway Kosher Restaurant, Menorah Collections clothing store, Eurovision Optical, and Bravo Pizza.

The taller tower portion on 38th Street is clad in buff-colored brick above a 3-story limestone base, five bays wide. At the ground floor, the east two bays have been recovered with a diagonal grid pattern of score marks. All of the bays have storefronts, and the 2nd from the east shares the main entrance, slightly recessed behind a simple stone enframement and topped by a triangular pediment above a panel reading "NATIONAL TOWER". The 2nd & 3rd floors have triple-windows divided by rust-red iron pilasters, and separated within each bay by rather narrow iron spandrels with small cartouche decorations. A stone band course caps the base.

The upper floors have three windows per bay; several have been replaced by black metal louvers. Each window has a stone sill, and the center spandrel panel in each bay is stone, with a carved garland; the other spandrels are brick with simple geometric patterns. The 10th floor is set off at top and bottom by projecting band courses; the lower one is supported by stone Corinthian capitals on the piers at the top of the 9th floor. The piers at the 10th floor are ornamented with carved relief panels in stone. A cascading series of setbacks every two floors begins at the outer bays above the 11th floor; the center bay and half-bay on each side extend to the 12th floor before the first shallow setback, creating the effect of a central projecting tower. The four remaining main piers again have Corinthian capitals at the top of the 12th floor, and carved panels on the 13th. The 14th floors narrows to a single bay of three windows at the central tower. Behind it, the central portion continues up with half-bays at the sides, still projecting ahead of the end bays. Further up, the center tower narrows again the a single 3-window bay at the top floors, with round-arched windows along the wide walls, and is surmounted by a triangular pediment. Each of the setbacks is marked by cast-stone ornament and coping.

The east elevation also clad in buff-colored brick, with five bays of three windows each. The northernmost bay drops to two windows at the 2nd setback, and then to one window at the next setback, ending at the 2nd-to-last setback. The ground floor is occupied by Fuel Grill & Juice Bar on 38th Street.