Avalon Midtown West

 skyscraper, apartment building, 1998_construction

435-foot, 40-story postmodern residential building completed in 1998. Designed by Schuman, Lichtenstein, Claman & Efron, it was originally called The Gershwin, then Archstone Midtown West, and was renamed to its current title in 2012. The building is L-shaped, with a broad chamfered northwest corner.

The facades are clad in pinkish-orange brick with limestone trim, rising from a 1- and 2-story base. The main entrance is near the center of the north facade on 50th Street, with the ground floor projecting out from short, angled side walls on either side.The entry is double-height and framed in limestone, with a central glass-and-bronze revolving door flanked by a large window and narrow glass side door on either side. A dark-red granite water table extends out to either side along the length of the building. A large, suspended, brass canopy covers the entrance, with a large expanse of five windows above it, widest at the center pane and narrower at the ends.

The ground floor on either side of the entrance is lined with storefronts; to the west there are two bays, and to the east there are four bays. The easternmost has an entrance/exit to the underground parking garage, and the next bay has a pair of metal service doors. A grey-painted concrete parapet cap tops the projecting sections of the ground floor. Flanking the upper (2nd-story) part of the main entrance are two single-openings, one with metal louvers, and the others with windows. To the east are more single- and double-windows, and the easternmost bay rises up higher, with a tripartite window organization, consisting of a large central area and narrow side areas, each with stacks of three panes. Another grey-painted concrete parapet caps the 2nd floor, topped by a metal railing, and the parapet expands into geometric shapes above the entrance. The westernmost bay has a subway entrance.

The west elevation along the avenue spans eight main bays, with two narrow end bays. The southwest corner at the base is cut away with a revolving door below a 3-part, black metal, telescoping canopy extending out. The south facade on 49th Street has three bays. two with storefronts, and the east bay with a loading dock and two service doors. Each of the bays has a wide, low, brown metal vent above the storefronts. The brick piers are lined with limestone, which also runs above the vents, and the ground floor is capped by a grey concrete parapet.

The main tower, set back from the base, spans 10 bays along the avenue, with an undulating facade. The three north bays and the two south bays project out; they have tripartite windows with angled ends. The next two bays toward the middle have double-windows, and the remaining two bays near the middle also project out with tripartite windows, with the outer end panes of this section also angled back. Each floor has a thin, exposed concrete floor plate, and there is a brown metal vent below each window; the windows all have grey metal framing. The two south bays set back above the 21st floor, and the next three above the 34th.

The chamfered northwest corner spans six bays; the middle two project out with tripartite windows. The other bays have double-windows, and the end bays wrap around the corners, joining with the end bays on the west and north facades. On the north facade, there are also 10 bays, in a mirror image of the west facade, including the setbacks at the end. The narrower south facade has five bays; the west bay has double-windows joining with the windows wrapping around the corner. The next bay has tripartite windows, the next two have single-windows, and the east end bay has tripartite windows wrapping around the corner.

The east-facing wall of the south wing has a double-window wrapping around from the corner, a tripartite window bay, a single-window bay, a double-window bay, two more single-window bays, and a double-window bay, before a projecting section begins with a tripartite window and a double-window, where it joins into the southeast-facing angled rear wall. Above the first setback, this elevation changes to a pair of tripartite windows (the south one wrapping around the corner), a single-window bay, another tripartite window, and another single-window bay. This last single-window bay changes to paired windows above the 2nd setback.

The lower floors of the south-facing wall of the east wing consists of, from east to west, a double-window bay wrapping around the corner, another double-window, two single-windows, two tripartite windows, and two more single-windows. Above the first setback the first two single-windows shift to tripartite windows wrapping around the corner, an additional single-window is inserted between the next two tripartite windows, and the two west single-windows are changed to a tripartite window. The angled, southeast-facing elevation joining the two main wings has a middle bay of double-windows, and end bays of double-windows above the first setback (tripartite windows below the setback).

The building has 440 apartment units. The ground floor is occupied by The Food Emporium, Cleaners @ Broadway, and The Palm restaurant.