POSTINGS

The Midtown East Five

T
wo weeks ago, the Landmarks Preservation Commission reviewed five buildings in Midtown East for landmark consideration in what was another chapter in the debate between the real estate industry and preservationists over the areas historic real estate assets. Seen as a roadblock in the Midtown East rezoning plan by many real estate professionals and a vital step in historic preservation by preservationists, the debate has raged on for months even some of the buildings owners oppose preservation status. Spearheaded by the Municipal Art Society, the preservation process began with the submission of a list of 17 candidate buildings. Four of the five buildings reviewed by LPC were on that preliminary list, and all five have been pinpointed below by The Commercial Observer.

Pershing Square Building

125 Park Avenue
Located directly across the street from Grand Central Terminal, this 24-story office tower was built in 1923 in the Romanesque Revival style. Named for a former open space memorializing General John J. Pershing, the SL Green-owned building was designed by architect John Sloan and developed by Henry Mandel.

Graybar Building
420 Lexington Avenue
Named for the buildings original tenant Graybar Electric, the Graybar Building was built in 1927 and sits perched 30 stories above Grand Central Terminal. Acquired by SL Green in 1998, the Art Deco building has undergone an $84 million capital improvement program.

Beverly Hotel
557 Lexington Avenue
Now known as the Benjamin and home to the National Bar and Dining Rooms, 577 Lexington opened as the Beverly Hotel in 1927. Designed by Emery Roth in what is described by the Historic Districts Council as an eclectic pseudoRenaissance style, the 30-story building was planned as an apartment hotel for traveling and long-term guests.

Shelton Hotel
525 Lexington Avenue
Now known as the Marriott East Side Hotel, the Shelton Hotel opened in 1924. Built by developer James T. Lee and designed by architect Arthur Loomis Harmon, the 35-story building counts painter Georgia OKeeffe and photographer Alfred Stieglitz among its list of former residents. Later acquired by Morgan Stanley, the building began a $25 million renovation plan in 2007.

Hotel Lexington
511 Lexington Avenue
A 31-story neo-Romanesque structure built in 1929, the Hotel Lexington was once known for its Hawaiian Room, which opened in 1937 and closed in 1966. Currently a boutique hotel operating under the Marriott brand, the building was designed by Schultze & Weaver.

The full list, as submitted by the Municipal Art Society last year:
4 East 43rd Street (former Mehlin Piano Company Building; Andrew J. Thomas, 1916) 18-20 East 50th Street (former Grand Rapids Furniture Company; Rouse & Goldstone, 1915) 270 Park Avenue (former Union Carbide Building; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1960) 445 Park Avenue (Kahn & Jacobs, 1947) 450 Park Avenue (former Franklin National Bank Building; Emery Roth & Sons, 1972) 661 Lexington Avenue (former Babies Hospital; York & Sawyer, 1902) Center for Fiction (former Mercantile Library; Henry Otis Chapman, 1932) Graybar Building (Sloan & Robertson, 1927) Hotel Intercontinental Barclay (Cross & Cross, 1926) The Lexington (former Hotel Lexington; Schultze & Weaver, 1929) Marriott East Side (former Shelton Hotel; Arthur Loomis Harmon, 1923) J. E. R. Carpenter; Dwight P. Robinson, 1929) Pershing Square Building (John Sloan of York & Sawyer, 1923) Postum Building (Cross & Cross, 1924) Swedish Seamens Church (former New York Bible Society; Wilfred Edward Anthony, 1920) Vanderbilt Concourse Building (Warren & Wetmore, 1916) Yale Club (James Gamble Rogers, 1915)
illustrations by brian taylor

One Grand Central Place (former Lincoln Building;

24|OCTOBER 1, 2013|COMMERCIAL OBSERVER