500 Fifth Avenue
Posted on September 28, 2015 by
— No CommentsA vertiginous stack of telescoping setbacks, 500 Fifth Avenue was designed in 1929 by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, better known for the Empire State Building at 34th Street and Fifth. As a work of purely abstract massing, 500 Fifth Avenue may be the superior design, although it is certainly helped by the removal of a grotesque rooftop cylinder that bore the building’s address.
A gleaming lobby and entryway of silver-green terra cotta provide a cool contrast to both the golden granite cladding and the chaos of 42nd Street.