530 Park Avenue (New York City, New York)

 condominium, Streamline Moderne (architecture)

210-foot, 19-story residential building completed in 1941. Designed by George F. Pelham, Jr., it is clad in white brick above a 2-story banded limestone base with a low, grey granite water table. The main entrance is centered on the symmetrical east facade on Park Avenue, where two piers of curved glass bay windows flank it, as well as the Juliet balconies above. The entrance has glass-double-doors below a black metal canopy at the base of the 2nd floor. The upper floors in the recessed center bay have two single-windows at the 3rd-5th floors (as well as the 9th & 17th), and triple-windows at the others, all framed in black metal; this bay sets back above the 17th floor.

The rounded bays on either side have tripartite windows with curved panes. Continuing outward there is a bay of wide single-windows, a tripartite window bay, and an end bay on each side with uneven double-windows where the outer pane is narrower. Black metal air-conditioning vents are cut below each of the outer window bays, and the windows are taller at the base (except for the curved bays); at the 2nd floor they have black metal railings across the bottoms of the windows. The end bays set back above the 16th floor, and the rest set back above the 18th, with metal railings at the setbacks. At the 17th & 18th floors, the curved bays and wide single-window bays continue, but the outer bays have another single-window and an angled triple-window in a chamfered corner, while the recessed end bays still have uneven double-windows. The center bay at the 18th floor has a wider single-window. The entire 19th-floor penthouse is set back on each side, and has a mix of various window sizes. A brick-clad mechanical penthouse and water tank enclosure rises from the middle of the roof.

The north facade on 61st Street also has a pair of curved bays framing a recessed section, but this one is right of center. There are two recessed bays here, with uneven double-windows (tripartite windows at the 2nd floor and tall paired windows at the ground floor). To the east there are three single-window bays, an uneven double-window bay, a single-window bay (with smaller windows at the 3rd, 7th, 9th & 16th floors, and double-windows at the 11th-13th & 15th floors), and an end bay of uneven double-windows (with wider bays at the base). To the west there is a wide single-window, a tripartite window (with black metal double-doors and a single-window), and another end bay with uneven double-windows. The end bays set back above the 16th floor, and the recessed bays set back above the 17th floor, with a full-floor setback above the 18th.

The south facade has an east end bay of single-windows with metal railings. Continuing to the west is another single-window, and two uneven double-windows (the first one with small windows on the 8th & 15fth floors, and larger single-windows on the 16th & 17th); the end bay sets back above the 16th floor, and there are no windows here at the 8th & 15th floors, although the railings remain. The next section to the west is recessed a wide window bay. There is a wider, further-recessed section next with a tripartite window bay, and the west end has a double-window and two single-windows.

The original interior entrance hall of the building with leather-paneled walls and a gilded domed ceiling was designed by the noted firm of Theo Hofstatter & Co. Additionally, the exterior metalwork was designed by Oscar Bach. The Brearley School stood prior on the site which was purchased for $3,000,000 in 1929. The building had originally been planned by the architect to be constructed in 1931, but it had been halted by the Great Depression until it was finally realized by Anthony Campagna of the Campagna Construction Company and Douglas Neaderland of Douglas Elliman & Co., brokers. It was one of the last modern buildings constructed before wartime restricted private civilian building activity.

The building was converted to condominiums in 2013, with 116 units and a new interior for the common spaces by Handel Architects. Besides the lobby the ground floor is contains professional space, occupied by Candid Company, and Bronsky Orthodontics.

handelarchitects.com/project/530-park-avenue-renovation...