New York
Architecture Images- Midtown 444 MADISON BLDG |
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architect |
Kohn, Vitola & Knight |
location |
444 Madison Avenue (from E49th to E50th Streets) |
date |
1931 |
style |
Art Deco |
construction |
44 floors, 453 feet (138m) high |
type |
Office Building |
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images |
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notes |
The 444 Madison belongs to a class of skyscrapers built in the twenties and the beginning of the following decade on narrow and long plots. As the Fred F. French Bldg (5th Avenue), the Hotel & Institute Mart Bldg, the Commerce Bldg or the Lefcourt-National Bldg, it was conceived as a tripartite design: a square block base ended by multiple setbacks arranged like a mountain or a complex pyramid, from which soars a parallelepipedic tower, flat as a slab, sometimes as a ledger. The 444 Madison has its east and west sides embellished by high recessed windows enframed by buttresses, and its north and south ones, with curious gable motifs. For a long time, this building housed the Newsweek headquarters. |