Ogilvy & Mather Corporate Offices

USA / New Jersey / West New York / Eleventh Avenue, 636
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162-foot, 11-story Art-Deco office building originally completed in 1915 as the Auerbach Chocolate Factory. Designed by Robert D. Kohn, it was converted to offices in 2007 and renamed the Midtown Graphic Art Building. The building has a 2-story base (and partially exposed basement level), with the upper floors arranged in a U-shape atop the base. 2-story wings continue to the east along 46th & 47th Streets, and at the east end, the south facade on 46th Street also has an adjoined 1-story wing.

The main facades are clad in buff-colored brick with limestone trim, and a grey granite basement level where it is exposed along the west half of the building. The west facade on the avenue is a centered, triple-height main entrance with two sets of glass revolving doors below a double-height glass wall framed by stout limestone piers on granite bases; they have elaborate decoration at their tops, including hanging bellflower pendants and other Renaissance ornament. Across the top are five square panels with decorative baskets and flowers in between, and the whole composition is capped by a stone band with vertical ribs, projecting out at the two piers, and also capped there by a pair of peaked capitals. The upper floors at the center bay have 4-pane window bands.

To either side there is a 3-pane window, and then the rest of the outer bays have 4-pane window bands. They all have stone sills and lintels, and thin, grey metal mullions, with plain brick piers and spandrels. The narrower bays flanking the entrance have double-height ground floor windows with stainless-steel framing. The basement level is expressed at the outer bays by three low, almost-square windows in each bay, with beveled edges in the granite base. The 1st & 2nd floors, above the basement level, has trios of tall windows, segmental-arched on the 1st floor; there are square, stone spandrels panels in between the 1st- & 2nd-floor windows. The middle window in each trio is topped by a peaked limestone capitol at the 2nd floor, each with some foliate ornament. At the top floor, instead of window bands, there are three windows in each bay, and two windows in the two narrow bays. The piers have projecting sections beginning at the middle of the 10th floor.

The north facade on 47th Street spans eight bays across its main section, with 4-pane windows on the upper floors and trios of narrow windows on the 2nd floor, with the same ornament as on the west facade. The ground floor also matches at the western four bays, with the basement level growing slightly taller and having three short windows at the westernmost end bay. To the east the ground floor has a former loading dock now filled in except for a pair of metal service doors. This is followed by a 4-pane window like those on the upper floors, a 2-pane window, another 4-pane window with metal louvers across the top, and another 2-pane window and metal service door. Continuing along 47th Street, the 2-story east section of the north facade extends another four bays, with 4-pane windows on the ground floor, and trios of narrow windows on the 2nd floor.

The south facade on 46th Street mostly matches the north facade. All four western bays have trios of basement windows, growing shorter at each bay to the east. Continuing east, the ground floor has a metal service door, a wide loading dock, a smaller loading dock, and another wide loading dock. At the last bay of the main building section, the ground floor has a small service door below the easternmost window, which is slightly shorter to accommodate the door. The two bays at the 2-story east wing have trios of metal louvers below each window. The 1-story extension at the far east end has three wide bays of large 4-pane windows (with a glass door below the first one), and two small loading docks at the east end. The brick here is painted white, and there is a metal railing along the roof line.

The building is now the New York headquarters for Ogilvy & Mather, the international advertising and public relations firm.
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Coordinates:   40°45'48"N   73°59'44"W
This article was last modified 3 years ago