292 Madison Avenue

 office building, skyscraper

328-foot, 26-story Renaissance-revival office building originally completed in 1910 with 12 floors. Designed by Augustus N. Allen, it was expanded upwards and to the sides by Ludlow & Peabody in 1923. It is clad in two shades of brown brick (the darker brick marking the original building dimensions) above a 3-story limestone base that was remodeled in 2015. It spans six bays on both main facades, with the main entrance in the south bay on the avenue and a service entrance in the west bay on 41st Street; the other bays have storefronts. On the 1st & 2nd floors the two eastern bays on the north facade on grouped together, as are the northernmost two bays on the east facade and the two bays north of the main entrance. The 3rd floor has six separate pointed-arch windows on both facades, with heraldic shields between the upper parts of the arches. All of the various bays of the base are framed in grey metal surrounds.

The upper floors have paired windows in each bay, with geometric patterns in the brick spandrels. There is a band course above and below the 4th floor, projecting out above the windows of each bay. The bays end in round-arches at the 9th floor, encompassing paired round-arch windows divided by a narrow column, and with elaborate carved medallions below the apex of the arches. The 10th floor returns to square-headed windows, and is capped by a modest cornice. The paired windows of the 12th floor are grouped under pointed-arches; slender 2-story Coronthian columns split each bay at the 11th-12th floors. There are decorative spandrels between the two floors, and ogee tops to the 12th-floor windows. The 13th floor has continuous rows of round-arches, with paired round-arch windows separated by blind arches, infilled by a checkerboard pattern. An elaborately patterned cornice caps the 13th floor and marks the first and deepest setback.

The next level runs from the 14th-21st floors, with five bays of single-windows in the center of both main facades, flanked by single-window end bays. There are projecting stone balconies at the end bays of the 20th floor, and round-arches above the windows in the middle bays of the 19th floor. The 21st floor has round-arched windows, paired in the end bays, with corbel courses running across the top at the second setback.

The 3rd and 4th tiers, at the 22nd-23rd and 24th-25th floors, have three single-windows in the middle and single-window end bays. The windows are round-arched at the 25th floor, and this setback is also marked by corbeled cornices. The small penthouse floor has three small slit windows on all four elevations, and is topped by a low-sloped pyramidal tile roof.

The south facade, above the lower neighboring building, has two bays of paired windows at the front, ending at the first setback; they are round-arched at the corresponding floors to the main facades. Behind these are a bay of single-windows that becomes paired windows above the 13th floor (ending with three round-arched windows at the 21st floor), and two more bays of paired windows.

On the west elevation the front bay of single-windows is separated from the rest of the building by a light court, with horizontal beams connecting and bracing the two walls at various floor levels. The rear section has bays of single-windows.