599 Lexington Avenue

 office building, skyscraper

653-foot, 50-story modernist office building completed in 1986 for Boston Properties. Designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, it is clad in grey metal and green glass, with a number of prominent geometric angles. The main entrance to the 50-foot lobby is at the northwest corner, which is sliced off at a 45-degree angle. At the base, metal-clad walls recede inward at a sharper angle to a rear glass wall with two sets of revolving doors and traditional glass doors. A single round column in front of the glass wall support the upper floors. Very prominenty placed in the lobby and visible through the glass wall is Frank Stella's art piece Salto nel Mio Sacco. In front of this facade, in the plaza created by the angle, is a subway entrance with similar materials, consisting of a glass-and-metal circle with a steeply-angled glass stairway cover protruding from it. Above the base, the northwest facade is organized into four bays, each with six 2-over-2 window panes. Thin metal mullions divide the panes, and wider grey metal spandrels separate the floors. This facade sets back above the 32nd floor.

The west facade along the avenue has four more bays aligned with the street, these each with four panes. There are glass storefronts at the ground level with tall show-windows above. This section of the base sets back above the 5th floor, higher than the recessed area at the main entrance just to the north. This setback continues along the west half of the south facade on 52nd Street, where this is another storefront, and a second subway entrance at the west end, nestled into an area that is recessed at an angle at the ground floor. Above the 5th-floor setback, the tower is angled again at 45-degrees to face southwest, four bays wide, and forming a counterpart to the northwest-facing facade. It also sets back above the 32nd floor. Above this setback, the west facade reorients to face west, facing the avenue, eight bays wide,and continues up to the roof line.

Continuing east at the base of the south facade on 52nd Street, there is another storefront, a secondary entrance into the lobby featuring a wide, low set of steps and an angled, deeply-recessed area narrowing to a set of revolving doors and one glass door, with glass above, a narrower storefront (with windows also in the angled east wall of the adjoining recessed area, and finally a loading dock at the east end. The east end of the base also sets back above the 5th floor, and the exposed adjoining west facade of the adjoining building is painted in grey and green to match the materials of 599 Lexington. Above the setbacks of the base at the west and east, the middle four bays of the south facade continue straight up to a setback above the 41st floor, above which the facade angles 45-degrees to face southeast.

The east-facing facade, above the setback of the base, continues the setback above the 41st floor, and it is mirrored on the north side, with a northeast-facing facet above the 41st floor. Thus, the geometry above the base is basically that of a west-facing triangle, then a rectangle between the two main setbacks, and reversing to an east-facing triangle at the top.

On the north facade on 53rd Street there are more storefronts at the ground level, a loading dock at the east end, and the exposed west wall of the adjoining building is again painted in grey and green to match. Just like the south facade, the east end of the base sets back above the 5th floor. The top three floors are mechanical levels, but the glass and metal cladding continues across them to the roof line.

Besides the lobby, the ground floor is occupied by Juice Generation, Sweetgreen restaurant, Roses and Blooms florist, a Starbucks coffee, and Fields Good Chicken.

www.bxp.com/properties/599-lexington-avenue