Porcelanosa Tile Flagship

 store / shop, office building

6-story Neo-Classical office building completed in 1919 as the Commodore Criterion Building. Designed by Buchman & Kahn, with Zimmerman, Saxe & Zimmerman, this small office building was noted architect Ely Kahn's first commission, and was first occupied by the Thomas Cusack Company. The highly visible south facade was originally treated by Cusask as a promotional billboard, brightly lit after dark and covered with the firm's name and services between the windows and in a roof-top sign. A new ground-floor facade and marquee were installed in 1991.

On Fifth Avenue the grey granite 1st floor has a single show window; the Broadway side also has a service door, and the southern facade has the main entrance flanked by two wide show windows. The stone upper floors are three bays wide on the narrow ends, with three wider bays on 25th Street - the center one has wide, single-pane windows, with the outer bays both having three windows per floor. The east and west facades have molded sills and spandrels with rows of horizontal lines. The 3rd-6th floors on the south elevation have molded sills spanning all three bays and angling slightly outward at the two piers between the bays. To either side of the window bays there is a slightly-projecting vertical band running up the facade. All three elevations are capped by a dentiled stone cornice surmounted by a tall stone parapet.

After the Thomas Cusack Company moved out, the building was the flagship store (with science museum) of the A.C. Gilbert Company, a toy company that made the Erector set, chemistry sets and American Flyer model trains. Most recently, it became the Commodore Criterion building, manufacturer of Christmas decorations with a year-round Christmas store on the ground level.

In 2015, the interior was renovated by Foster + Partners for Porcelanosa, a European manufacturer of luxury tile. The exterior was restored by Nicholson & Galloway. A seamless, dramatic 26’H x 16’W LED floor-to-ceiling display by Wildbytes showcases an experiential lookbook featuring iconic brand lifestyles in mesmerizing motion. The exterior signage of the landmarked building was also changed to read Porcelanosa from Commodore Criterion. An expansion is planned--headed by CetraRuddy--which will combine this building with the neighboring former Lincoln Trust Co. building next door.

hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101082375187?urlappend=%3Bseq...