Architects and Designers Building (New York City, New York)

USA / New Jersey / West New York / New York City, New York / East 58th Street, 150
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518-foot, 39-story Modernist office building completed in 1969. Designed by Pommerance & Brienes, it is clad in light-brown brick and glass. The main slab of the tower is oriented east-west along 58th Street, with five bays between projecting piers, each with a band of five windows. There are also lower, 11-story wings on the west and east ends, each with two bays - the end bay also having bands of five windows, while the other, narrower bay has three. Finally, at the rear of the east end is a long, narrow, 11-story wing extending out to meet 3rd Avenue, where the facade steps down to six floors at the end.

The western three of the five main bays on the north facade are clad in limestone on the two bottom floors, with the main entrance in the center of the facade. It has two sets of bronze-framed glass double-doors below a large transom, and flanked by deeply-recessed niches with more bronze-framed glass. A pair of modern light fixtures flanks the entrance on the piers. The 2nd floor of this bay has a band of five windows fronted by a decorative bronze grille with a geometric pattern. The other two limestone bays have lighter-colored stone, with narrower openings. Both consist of large show-windows at the 2nd floor, separated by glass spandrels from the glass double-door on the ground floor of the bay next to the main entrance, and another show-window at the ground floor of the other bay. The two eastern main bays both have four tall windows at the ground floor with a glass door in the center. The west end bays have entrance/exits to the underground parking garage, while the east end bays have a smaller display space and a loading dock with a roll-down metal gate.

The west and east facades have no openings on the lower wings, and three bays on the upper floors: the north bay has a band of five windows, while the middle bay only has two, and the south bay has three. The rear, south-facing facade has 5-window bays at the ends, with a large expanse of brick in the center broken up only by two narrow columns of single-windows.

The eastern extension out to the avenue is clad in the same light-brown brick. Its east-facing facade has bands of four windows, both above and below the 6th-floor setback. The ground floor has a secondary entrance with glass double-doors between a pair of display windows. The north elevation of this wing, overlooking the lower buildings at the corner, has a bay of double-windows at the east edge (below the setback), followed by two triple-windows, and another double-window. The south elevation, bordering an alleyway, has the same pattern. Additionally, there is a 2-story attached structure on 3rd Avenue, immediately north of the 6-story facade at the south end. It has a white marble 2nd floor with no openings, and a ground floor with glass double-doors in bronze framing at the right; to the left is a small bronze-and-glass storefront occupied by Interiors by Royale.

There are 35 home furnishing showrooms on the first 12 floors that cover 200,000–square-feet of space - they are open to the general public but also cater to architects and designers hence the building's name. The ground floor tenants include Innovative Audio Video Showrooms, B&B Italia furniture, Consulate General of Spain, and Holly Hunt furniture, with Interiors by Royale on 3rd Avenue.
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Coordinates:   40°45'39"N   73°58'4"W
This article was last modified 12 months ago