The Hamilton

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207-foot, 21-story mid-century modernist cooperative-apartment building completed in 1963. Designed by Philip Birnbaum & Associates, it is clad in brown brick. Except for the east end, the ground floor is clad in brown polished granite. Along the south facade on 40th Street, there are no openings in the ground floor (there are some grey granite panels mimicking windows); near the center is the main entrance, recessed atop a couple of steps, with a set of glass sliding doors, covered by a peaked, green canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk, the rear part of which is itself surmounted by a brown granite cover that merges into the wall to the left. The recessed middle area continues to the east, with landscaping in front of two bays of plate-glass windows. The two eastern bays of the recessed middle section are brick at the ground floor (with a tripartite window and a double-window), as is the non-recessed east end of the facade. The east end has a double-window bay, a tripartite window, and then three garage doors accessing the underground parking garage; the easternmost is in a small 1-story extension at the end of the building.

The upper floors of the east wing has tripartite windows in the middle two bays, and double-windows in the outer bays. The upper floors of the recessed middle section of the south facade (which actually begins to the west of the main entrance) have (from west to east) three tripartite window bays, two wider bays with pairs of double-windows joined by a square pane, and three more tripartite window bays; the outer two bays on both sides are set slightly farther back. The upper floors of the west wing have two bays of tripartite windows, and single-window outer bays.

Above the 13th floor, the west wing's east bay sets back, and the adjoining bay narrows from a tripartite window to a double-window, with a chamfered corner; the rest of this wing sets back above the 17th floor. The end bays of the east wing set back above the 11th floor, with chamfered corners, and the rest of the wing sets back above the 12th floor. At the recessed middle section, the eastern four-and-a-half bays set back above the 13th floor, with the rest setting back above the 20th. The east half of the building is lower, with a roof line at the 13th floor, which is set back on all sides.

The ground floor along the west facade on the avenue is lined with plate-glass show-window storefronts bays, with a main retail entrance in a wider bay near the south end. The retail space is occupied by Gristede's Supermarket. The four south bays of the upper floors have a double-window, a tripartite window, and two single-windows at the end. The rest of the upper floors to the north are set back above the base, and have a tripartite window, a wide bay of two double-windows joined by a large square pane, and a double-window bay that projects back out with angled sides. The next section is slightly more set back and has a tripartite window and another wide bay of joined double-windows. The north section is slightly more set back and has one wide bay of joined double-windows. The four south bays set back above the 17th floor, with shallower setbacks at the bays to the north.

The building was converted to a co-op in 1983, with 278 apartments.