Designated: November 9, 2021
*The first-floor lobby has a T-shaped plan, consisting of the East 35th and East 36th Street foyers, a through-block arcade, and a perpendicular elevator hall. The arcade and entrance foyers have highly polished marble walls, patterned terrazzo floors, and gilded plaster ceilings inspired by Renaissance, Baroque, and 18th English sources.
Each recessed street entrance has five brass doors. Above the East 35th Street entrance is a grid of windows. The foyer has marble walls with floral mosaic trim and a ceiling decorated with neoclassical reliefs. Above the five brass doors that open from the foyer into the arcade is a black marble arch that frames a grid of windows.
The East 36th Street entrance foyer has a low ceiling, and marble walls with decorative grilles framed in brass. The west wall incorporates a brass door with a glass panel. Above the five doors that open from the foyer into the arcade, are five horizontal panels. The three center panels are painted gold, whereas the outer panels are grilles.
Due to the slope of the site, the through- block arcade incorporates steps, ramps, and landings, and transitions from a one-story volume at East 36th Street to a double-height space at East 35th Street. There are three groups of black marble steps: inside the East 35th Street foyer, south of the elevator hall, and near the East 36th Street landing. At the south end of the arcade, near East 35th Street, is large saucer dome with rosettes, resting on elaborate pendentives and lunettes that display images of animals both real and imagined, including medallions that depict sheep, rams, and horses, as well as lion heads, dragons, griffins, owls, eagles, and peacocks.
*Excerpt from the Landmarks Preservation Commission Designation Report
Image- Landmarks Preservation Commission
STATUS Designated Interior Landmark
The Neighborhood
Midtown
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