345 Park Avenue (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, 1969_construction

634-foot, 44-story International-style office building completed in 1969. Designed by Emery Roth & Sons, it occupies the whole block, partially set back behind plaza space on the west and south sides. The facades are clad in white concrete. The building takes the form of a narrow east-west slab, with a 5-story wing jutting forward toward Park Avenue at the northwest corner, and then extending east along 52nd Street, and wrapping around to another short wing at the southeast corner, forming a 6-story base (there is an extra floor at the bottom due to the slope of the site from west to east).

At the west end, a wide set of low steps addresses the plaza; along 51st Street it is contained by a granite wall. Towards the east end the granite wall merges in with the protruding wing at the southeast corner to become the ground floor of the base. The 5-story wing at the northwest corner has four bays on its west elevation, and two on the south, each with plate-glass storefront at the ground floor. Above, there are two narrower bays to each ground-floor bay, with protruding concrete spandrels below the windows. Behind the wing, the main tower has three very wide bays on its west facade, with bands of seven window panes in each bay. The wide concrete spandrels also project out slightly.

The northwest wing continues along 52nd Street as a base for the tower, spanning a total of 18 bays. The west end's ground floor quickly becomes the 2nd floor, as the site slopes downward. The short, initial bays at the new ground floor are filled by black metal louvers, while the five westernmost bays above have tripartite storefront windows. The next three bays are filled by metal louvers at both the ground and 2nd floor, and the next five bays have loading docks with roll-down metal gates at the ground floor and metal louvers at the 2nd floor. The final five bays at the east end have triparite show-windows at both lower floors. The four floors above have the same 2-to-1 ratio of smaller bays, matching those on the east facade of the wing. On the east facade on Lexington Avenue, the 6-story base spans ten bays, with a double-height, 2-bay recessed opening at the center for a glass-walled entrance with two sets of revolving doors. The other bays have tripartite show-windows at the 1st & 2nd floors, and the same pattern of smaller bays at the upper four floors with protruding concrete spandrels. The 6-story base continues on the south elevation for five bays. The granite wall extending from the southeast wing is interrupted in the middle by an openings to the plaza, with sets of stairs facing each other. A 20-foot-long bronze sculpture by Robert Cook, entitled "Dinoceras," apparently depicting a striated, skeletal animal, is perched on the building's 51st Street plaza.

The main tower has 14 bays on the north and south elevations, each with four window panes and protruding concrete spandrels between floors. The 9th, 34th, and top floors are mechanical levels, slightly taller than the other floors, and with recessed, black vents in place of windows. Besides the lobby, the ground floor is occupied by Le Relais de Venise L'Entrecote New York restaurant, and a Bank of America branch.

The building is the headquarters of Bristol-Myers Squibb. Professional services firm KPMG is located here, while other tenants include the private equity firm The Blackstone Group. The National Football League moved their headquarters here in September of 2011.

www.345parkave.com/