389 Fifth Avenue (New York City, New York)

 office building  Add category

155-foot, 12-story office building completed in 1923. Designed by Randolph H. Almiroty, it is L-shaped, wrapping around behind the building at 393 Fifth Avenue. It is clad in brown brick at the mid-section, with a limestone base and crown. The shorter 5th Avenue facade has three bays (paired windows in the middle and single-windows at the ends), while the long south facade on 36th Street spans nine bays of paired windows.

Stone piers divided the lower two floors into bays of glass storefronts at the lower level and tripartite windows at the 2nd floor, separated by metal vents. The tripartite windows are framed in black cast-iron, with transoms at the tops and paneled spandrels at the bottoms. The piers have Corinthian capitals and support a stone entablature at the top of the 2nd floor. On the avenue side, the ground floor has a main entrance at the north end, and a modernized storefront with stainless steel and glass. The 2nd floor has a band of five windows with brass frames in place of the tripartite windows. The far eastern bay on the south elevation of the ground floor has a service entrance.

The 3rd floor is transitional, also clad in limestone, and with a cornice at the top. There are carved panels at the piers, and paired windows in each bay, except for the single-windows in the end bays on the avenue. All the windows have stone sills, joining the pairs. A stone cornice sets off the 10th floor, which is faced in stone and has more panels at the piers. A larger cornice caps the main roof line at the 10th floor, with the top two levels recessed above a balustraded stone parapet, except for the center three bays.

These top floors are clad in brick, with stone piers supporting an entablature at the upper roof line. The end bays on the south elevation have single-windows, while the other bays have double-height round-arches framing tripartite windows. Keystones mark the tops of the arches, and a mechanical penthouse rises from the roof.

The upper part of the east elevation is also clad in brown brick, with a few bays of single-windows. There is a rounded stone chimney at the southeast corner of the roof. The ground floor is occupied by 5th&Mad Irish Pub, T&T Nails, and Pret A Manger restaurant.