Prada Group Corporate Headquarters (New York City, New York)

 corporate office, factory building

7-story office building originally completed in 1924 as a piano factory for the Carter Piano Co. It was redeveloped to designs to Herzog & de Meuron in 2003 as the USA corporate offices for Prada S.p.A., housing a warehouse, office space and showrooms. The company also maintains extensive offices in Italy as well as their corporate archives there.

The south facade is clad in limestone and brick, both painted light-grey. It is organized into eight bays, with a double-height ground floor. The west bay has two recessed entries with metal doors, above which are three metal vents near the top of the ground floor. The large middle bays are all filled in. The east end bay is divided into another entrance with a metal door, next to a filled-in smaller opening, and the same trio of vents above. The upper floors have large plate-glass windows in the six middle bays, each with white metal framing and narrow sidelight panels. The end bays are filled-in, and each has a pair of vertical notches dividing them into three parts. The 7th floor is set off by a projecting cornice and there are elevator/mechanical penthouses rising above the roof line at both end bays.

The north facade overlooks a paved shipping and receiving area that opens onto 52nd Street. It is similar to the south facade, but has two sections. The wider east part has five bays, with the same windows in the eastern four (the other one is filled-in). The west part is set farther back, and has three bays of windows. At the ground floor there are a few loading docks with roll-down metal gates. A large mechanical penthouse rises from the corner of the roof, with several exposed air-conditioning units included. The east elevation has five bays with the same window design, and the west elevation has four.

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www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/19/t-magazine/miucc...