Knox Building

 office building, 1902_construction, Beaux-Arts (architecture)

10-story Beaux-Arts office building completed in 1902. Designed by John H. Duncan as the headquarters for the Knox Hat Company, the building is now incorporated into the HSBC Tower that wraps around it. The hat company was founded by Charles Knox in 1838, originally located downtown. His son, Edward Knox, took over the business after recovering from wounds received serving in the Civil War. A new factory was later opened in Brooklyn, and in 1901 the land was purchased to build the company's new headquarters building in midtown.

The rusticated limestone facade rises vertically uninterrupted for the first six floors on the Fifth Avenue front, punctuated only by large window openings. Buff brick simulating rustication is used above the 2nd floor on the 40th Street side. Originally the hat store was located on the ground floor which also incorporated a mezzanine level. A simple cornice above the ground floor helps define the base of the building. Above the 2nd-floor windows on the avenue side is a palm branch motif with a centered female head, while on the 40th Street side the 2nd-floor windows are defined by keyed blocks. This motif is repeated at the 40th-Street windows up to the 6th floor, and quoins flank the end bays.

A bold dentiled cornice carried on overscaled console brackets, some with garlands, surmounts the 6th floor and provides a transition to the upper floors. The cornice is topped by a delicate black metal railing. The 7th & 8th floors are handled as a unit with the windows flanked by brick piers and separated by ornamented spandrels. Those on the 5th Avenue front and 40th Street end bays have lions' heads. Ornate cartouches flank the 5th Avenue windows and those in the end bays on 40th Street just below the bracketed 8th-floor cornice. Decorative window guards are placed at the bases of the imposing 2-story slate mansard roof with a series of elaborate dormers. That on the Fifth Avenue front is a triple dormer with a gabled 2-story center opening flanked by smaller windows. A large female head surmounts the gable. The 40th Street side has 2-story dormers in the end bays flanking a series of gabled 1-story dormers. Rising behind the 1-story dormers are three large window openings, each with a vertically-arranged triple sash. The mansard is crowned by an intricate torch and anthemion cresting with eagles.

in 1964-65 the Knox Building was converted for use as the headquarters of the Republic National Bank. The architectural firm of Kahn & Jacobs was hired to alter the former store space for banking facilities. The mezzanine was removed, large plate-glass windows were installed, and three ornamented piers on the 40th Street side were replaced with rusticated ones. In 2006, HSBC took over Republic Bank and carefully melded it with their modern glass tower to the side and rear.

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