Nelson Tower

 office building, skyscraper, Art Deco (architecture), 1931_construction, commercial building

580-foot, 46-story Art-Deco office building completed in 1931. Designed by H. Craig Severance of the firm of Severance & Schumm for developer Julius Nelson, it became the tallest building in the Garment District of New York until dwarfed by One Penn Plaza across 34th Street. While building spans from 34th to 35th Street, the east facade only takes up the middle of the 7th Avenue frontage. Nelson Tower wraps around small buildings at both corners, rising behind them.

The 5-story base is clad in white-painted limestone, five bays wide on 7th Avenue, three bays wide on 34th Street, and with a narrow 1-bay wing extending to 35th Street. The ground floor is a mix of black stone, metal and glass, with modernized storefronts. The main entrance is in the 2nd bay from the south on 7th Avenue, two stories tall, in brass and glass. The polished black granite piers framing it have Art-Deco light fixtures at the tops, with a broad, brass band between them bearing the building address, 450. There are more storefronts on the south elevation, with a small brass service door at the west end. The north elevation has a freight entrance and a storefront. The 2nd-3rd floors have subtle, shallow carvings at the capitals of the piers, and brown metal spandrels and pilasters between the windows in each bay. The spandrels are embossed with stylized flowers and the pilasters with elongated patterns. The 5th floor has geometric wheels similar to Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs carved on the stone piers, and stone pilasters, and is capped by a broad band course. The 7th Avenue facade has three windows in each bay; on 34th Street, there are three windows in the center bay, and two in the others; and on 35th Street there are three windows per floor.

Above the base, all the facades have light-brown brick piers, with spandrels with highlights of differently shaded brick. Each bay has paired windows of slightly wider width those those on the base. The 5th-floor windows have stone enframements in geometric shapes. The first major setback occurs above the 16th floor on each facade except the rear, west-facing side. There are additional setbacks above the 20th, 24th, & 28th floors. This last setback includes a the west elevation, and a deep recession on the north end, creating a slender tower near the south end of the block. The tower is four bays wide on the north and south sides, and three bays wide on the east and west. The west half of the north side of the tower is recessed further than the east half. Below, each of the setbacks is capped in white limestone, with various geometric shapes. The tower culminates in four stories of white limestone at the top, with the crown angling back just slightly. The top floors have small openings and niches of almost ornamental nature.

Faced with the Great Depression, Nelson had to sell the building in foreclosure three years after its completion. It was bought by Samuel Kaufman in 1945, and a thorough renovation was done in 1964. The ground floor is occupied by Tony's Shoe Repair, Healthy East, Lot Stop bargain department store, and an AT&T wireless store.