BSA grants office, retail, and church building variances from Grand Central Subdistrict requirements. 340 Madison Owner LLC, the owner of 342 Madison Avenue, a 48,265-squre-foot lot between East 43rd and 44th Streets in Manhattan, proposed to enlarge an existing 21- story, 503,487-square-foot office, retail and church building. 340 Madison, which received variances on March 23, 2004 to transfer floor area across a zoning district and modify street wall requirements in the Grand Central Subdistrict, applied to amend the variances in order to allow a smaller lobby entryway and a setback encroachment along 44th Street.

The owner argued that a complying 15-foot by 15-foot entryway in the building’s lobby entrance on 43rd Street would be infeasible because it would disturb an existing tenant and require extensive frontage reconfiguration, including disruption of mechanical systems and relocation of structural supports. The owner proposed an 11- foot by 12-foot entrance that would meet the minimum depth requirements of the Subdistrict. It also argued that the combined area of the East 43rd Street and Madison Avenue entrances would exceed the pedestrian circulation requirements for the proposed building. (more…)

217 West 57th Street. Image Credit: Google Maps.

Ice fell from tall crane following ice storm. On December 17, 2019, a citizen complained that ice was falling from Central Park Tower, a 98-story building at 217 West 57^th Street in Midtown, Manhattan.  Upon arrival, the Department of Buildings officer witnessed ice formations on crane and hoisting equipment operated by Lend Lease Construction. With the assistance of the New York Police Department, the Buildings officer closed the streets around the crane and hoist after determining that the only way to remove the ice would be to move the crane and hoist, which would cause more ice to fall to the streets below. (more…)

360 West 43rd Street in Manhattan. Image credit: Google Maps.

The Appellate Division affirmed fines for illegal conversion of residential units as hotel rooms. 360 West 43^rd Street is a 28-story, 264 rent-stabilized unit building in Midtown, Manhattan. On June 5, 2015, the owner sent three tenants a letter advising them that their leases would be terminated and they would be evicted if they continued illegally renting out the apartments for hotel use. (more…)

First- and second-floor interiors of four-story Manufacturers Trust Company Building designated. On February 15, 2011, Landmarks designated, as an interior landmark, the first two floors of the Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 510 Fifth Avenue in Midtown, Manhattan. Landmarks designated the former bank building’s fourstory glass and aluminum exterior as an individual City landmark in 1997. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the Modernist structure, which opened as a bank in 1954, under the direction of partner Gordon Bunshaft, who also designed the landmarked Lever House. The firm did not have an interior design division at the time so outside consultant Eleanor H. Le Maire was largely responsible for the building’s interior. Landmarks’ staff described the building as “arguably Manhattan’s single most transparent structure,” revealing an open, minimalist interior with a luminous ceiling, white marble piers, and freestanding escalators.

The interior designation includes the building’s former lobby and banking room, the escalators, and the ground floor vault door. The mezzanine is recessed from the street, giving it a floating appearance. The circular stainless steel vault door, in contrast with most banks, was in plain view of customers and passers-by along Fifth Avenue. The industrial designer Harry Dreyfus collaborated with the Mosler Safe Company to design the 30-ton vault. A 70-foot steel wall installation by sculptor Harry Bertoia on the second floor was removed by the building’s former tenant, J.P. Morgan Chase. (more…)

Architects of 59-story 500 Fifth Avenue building also designed Empire State Building. On December 14, 2010, Landmarks designated the 500 Fifth Avenue Building as an individual City landmark. The building’s architects, Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, also designed the Empire State Building, and both buildings share similar Art Deco motifs. Built in 1931 on a small 100 by 208 feet lot on the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 42nd Street, the 59- story skyscraper was built out to the maximum height and bulk available under the 1916 zoning resolution. It is clad in limestone, terra cotta, and brick, and features a limestone and granite entrance with reliefs by Edmond Amateis. The building is asymmetrically massed, with varying setbacks on its 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue frontages, because the lot was located in two zoning districts with different setback requirements.

At a hearing in October 2010, a representative of Assembly Member Richard Gottfried described the building as “a beacon of architectural ingenuity.” The Historic Districts Council’s Daniel Donovan stated that the building had been overlooked “as an icon of 20th century cityscapes simply because it fits in so well.” Cozen O’Connor attorney Howard B. Hornstein, representing the building owner, said the impact of individual landmarking on property values was difficult to quantify and asked that Landmarks refrain from voting for at least 60 days, pending a review of the designation’s economic impact on the building. Also representing the owner, attorney Paul J. Proulx said the owner had not yet taken a stance on designation, but argued that 500 Fifth Avenue did not rise to the level of the Empire State Building. (more…)