Madison Belmont Building

183 Madison Avenue is in Murray Hill, Manhattan, on the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 34th Street. The building is shaped like an "L", running {{Convert|49.4|ft||abbr=}} along Madison Avenue to the west and {{Convert|153.2|ft||abbr=}} 34th Street to the north. A section extends southward toward 33rd Street, where it has a frontage measuring {{Convert|24.6|ft||abbr=}}.{{Cite web|title=NYCityMap|url=http://maps.nyc.gov/|access-date=March 20, 2020|website=NYC.gov|publisher=New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications}}{{Cite news|date=May 21, 1942|title=Business Buildings Sold on East Side; Lofts and Store Structures in Lexington and Third Aves|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/05/21/archives/business-buildings-sold-on-east-side-lofts-and-store-structures-in.html|access-date=September 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} Its official address is 181–183 Madison Avenue, though the building carries alternate addresses of 31 East 33rd Street and 44–46 East 34th Street.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|p=1}} Nearby structures include the Old Grolier Club and 2 Park Avenue to the south, as well as the Collectors Club of New York and the B. Altman and Company Building to the north.

183 Madison Avenue was designed by Warren and Wetmore in the neoclassical style.{{Cite news|last=Gray|first=Christopher|date=April 15, 2010|title=Workaday Buildings That Aren't|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/realestate/18streets.html|access-date=September 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|p=7}} The doors and metal ornamentation at the base, as well as the metal work in the lobby, were designed by Edgar Brandt, a French iron worker.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|2011|ps=.|p=4}}{{harvnb|Robins|2017|p=53|ps=.}} The building is {{convert|228|ft}} tall,{{cite web | publisher=Emporis | title=Madison Belmont Building | url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/184246/madison-belmont-building-new-york-city-ny-usa | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513215559/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/184246/madison-belmont-building-new-york-city-ny-usa | url-status=usurped | archive-date=May 13, 2021 | access-date=September 14, 2020}} and was built with 17 stories. An additional floor was erected on the roof for mechanical equipment and commercial space in 1953.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|p=11}} 183 Madison Avenue contains {{Convert|233,484|ft2||abbr=}} with 30 commercial units.{{Cite web|title=183 Madison Avenue|url=https://therealdeal.com/new-research/topics/property/183-madison-avenue/|access-date=September 14, 2020|website=The Real Deal New York}}

The design was distinguished from Warren and Wetmore's previous commissions, which had included the Grand Central Terminal and surrounding structures. 183 Madison Avenue's design also included more modern influences in the Art Deco style, which had just started to become popular when the building was completed. In addition to brick and architectural terracotta, the building used {{convert|60|ST|LT t}} of iron.{{harvnb|Robins|2017|p=54|ps=.}} Brandt's lower-floor design was one of the first usages of Art Deco in a building in the United States.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|p=8}}{{cite book|last=Pennoyer|first=Peter|title=The architecture of Warren & Wetmore|publisher=W.W. Norton|year=2006|isbn=978-0-393-73162-0|location=New York|page=191|oclc=60798503}} In 1925, International Studio magazine characterized the main entrance doors as being "carried to the nth power of perfection".

File:Madison Belmont East 34th Street entrance.jpg

The articulation of the facade consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. While the facade was made mostly of brick, it also used carved terracotta motifs designed by the New York Architectural Terra-Cotta Company. The terracotta used on the Madison Belmont Building is flatter and simpler in design than on Warren and Wetmore's other structures.

The base is three stories tall. On Madison Avenue and 34th Street, the base is clad almost entirely with large display windows set between granite piers, which are twice as wide as the bays above. The windows are set within gilded bronze frames, and below the first floor windows, there are geometrically patterned iron motifs.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|pp=7–8}} The eastern end of the 34th Street facade contains the building's main entrance; there is also a showroom entrance on Madison Avenue and a service entrance at 33rd Street. The Art Deco-inspired entrance doors are decorated with leaves and floral patterns. Above are transoms with black-and-gold motifs resembling frozen fountains.{{cite book | last=Trampe | first=Stephen L. | title=The Queen of Lace: The Story of the Continental-Life Building | publisher=Virginia Publishing Corporation | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-891442-24-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8doQHNX_k6AC&pg=PA62 | page=62}} The entrance gates on Madison Avenue and 34th Street have slightly different detailing but have similar floral motifs. On 33rd Street, the first-story opening is a steel service entrance while the second story contains a ventilation grate. The third and fourth stories on 33rd Street contain large windows with red frames, with metal spandrels underneath the windows, and a small cornice above the fourth story.

The shaft, consisting of the fourth through fifteenth stories, includes continuous vertical piers made of brick. The piers subdivide the facade into narrow bays, which contain one recessed window on each floor. The windows are surrounded by red metal frames, and the window openings on each floor are separated by spandrels made of multicolored brick. On 34th Street and Madison Avenue, the fourth floor windows are flanked by terracotta panels and topped by terracotta pediments. On 33rd Street, the windows are not decorated or recessed, and there is a band course above the tenth floor. The 33rd Street side is set back above the eleventh floor.

Above the fifteenth story is a large terracotta cornice and three additional stories set back from all sides. The sixteenth and seventeenth stories contain terracotta ornamentation, and their center sections are set back slightly less than the outer sections. The eighteenth story is set back further and is not decorated.

The main lobby runs southward from the 34th Street entrance, leading to a vestibule that connects to a rectangular lobby. In turn, the lobby connects to the building's elevators and showrooms. Unlike other elevator lobbies in contemporary New York City buildings, the Madison Belmont Building's lobby does not contain any stores or auxiliary spaces; it only has a security desk, a bronze backlit tenant directory, and elevator doors.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|2011|ps=.|p=5}} The lobby is highly ornamented with bronze and marble.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|2011|ps=.|p=6}} Christopher Gray of The New York Times wrote that the lobby "puts other Midtown [Manhattan] lobbies to shame".

The lobby is designed with motifs from ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman culture. These depictions include the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan, as well as mythological figures such as Mercury, the Roman god of trade and travel. The walls are clad with multicolored marble set inside bronze frames, which in turn contain Egyptian motifs such as lotus leaves and sphinxes The top of the lobby wall is circled with a metal frieze that contains Greek-vase and arabesque motifs. At the southern end of the lobby are four bronze elevator doors.

The floors are made of terrazzo tiles. Bronze-framed roundels, some of which contain motifs related to silk production and transport, separate the coved ceiling into several sections. Light panels with stencils of mythological beasts run along the edge of the ceiling, and light fixtures also hang from the center of the ceiling. Other objects in the lobby, such as a mailbox and fire alarm box, also contain bronze decorations.

Manhattan's Silk District, concentrated around the lower section of Park Avenue South in the 19th century, had moved northward to the intersection of Madison Avenue and 34th Street by the early 1920s.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|p=2}}{{cite news|date=November 23, 1924|title=New Silk Trade Centre Forming at Madison Ave. and 34th Street|page=RE1|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/103224844/1C38595C880A46CFPQ|url-access=subscription|access-date=September 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331|via=ProQuest}} During that time, the upper-class residences that had characterized the adjacent portion of Madison Avenue in the 19th century were being replaced with retail establishments.{{Cite news|date=March 25, 1928|title=Business Changing Madison Avenue; Distinctive Trade and Financial Sections in Area North to Ninety-sixth Street|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/03/25/archives/business-changing-madison-avenue-distinctive-trade-and-financial.html|access-date=September 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} Three of the plots that form 183 Madison Avenue's site had been held by August Belmont Jr. until 1915.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|p=9}} The Madison Belmont Building, along with a 16-story structure on the southwestern corner of Madison Avenue and 34th Street, were to form the core of the relocated Silk District.

File:Madison Av Apr 2022 20.jpg

The Madison Belmont Building was developed by Robert M. Catts, a real estate developer who served as the Merchants and Manufacturers Exchange of New York's president. Catts purchased several plots for the building in February 1924, including a plot on 33rd Street and the southeastern corner plots at Madison Avenue and 34th Street. Concurrently, Catts hired Warren & Wetmore to design a 17-story structure for tenants in the silk industry.{{cite news|date=February 27, 1924|title=Big Structure Planned for 34th Street: Real Estate News Jones and Belmont Properties at Madison Avenue; Corner Have Been Taken; for 16- Story Building|page=20|work=New-York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1221628398/86AF18A5C1094EACPQ|url-access=subscription|access-date=September 14, 2020|via=ProQuest}} William A. White and Sons arranged an $825,000 mortgage for the site in June 1924.{{cite news|date=June 4, 1924|title=Mortgage Loans Placed: $825,000 Ground Mortgage for Madison Avenue Corner.|page=36|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/103385295/D363799F726F4765PQ|url-access=subscription|access-date=September 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331|via=ProQuest}}

In May 1924, silk manufacturers Cheney Brothers{{efn|Cheney Brothers, co-founded by Ward Cheney, is the namesake of the Cheney Brothers Historic District in Manchester, Connecticut.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|p=4}}}} leased the lowest three stories and basement for 21 years.{{cite news|date=May 13, 1924|title=Real Estate News: Another Large Silk Firm Joins 34th St. Colony Cheney Brothers Will Fay $2,500,000 Rental for Space in Proposed Madison Ave. Corner Building|page=23|work=The New York Herald, New York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1113094286/86AF18A5C1094EACPQ|url-access=subscription|access-date=September 14, 2020|via=ProQuest}} Cheney Brothers hired Brandt to design the decorative ironwork because Brandt was already affiliated with the company.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|p=3}} The company's art director Henry Creange had become acquainted with Brandt through several exhibitions in the early 1920s, and Cheney remade several of Brandt's designs in silk.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|pp=6–7}}{{cite book|last=Kahr|first=Joan|title=Edgar Brandt : master of art deco ironwork|publisher=Abrams|year=1999|isbn=978-0-8109-4003-1|location=New York|page=168|oclc=39677786}} The Madison Belmont Building opened on October 15, 1925.{{cite news|date=October 11, 1925|title=New Silk Industry Building Finished|page=78|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59298015/|access-date=September 14, 2020|via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}} The ceremony was overseen by architect Harvey Wiley Corbett, while commerce secretary Herbert Hoover, geologist Henry Fairfield Osborn, jeweler Louis Comfort Tiffany, and the French minister of commerce were among those who sent telegrams to celebrate the opening of the Cheney showroom in the building.{{Cite news|date=October 15, 1925|title=New Silk Showrooms for Cheney Brothers; Firm Opens Headquarters in Belmont Building -- Spring Showing Today.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/10/15/archives/new-silk-showrooms-for-cheney-brothers-firm-opens-headquarters-in.html|access-date=September 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} The Cheney showroom occupied the corner space at 34th Street and Madison Avenue on the first through third floors.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|2011|ps=.|p=7}}

Catts had gone into bankruptcy by 1927. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company placed a new first mortgage of $2 million on the Madison Belmont Building in 1930. At the time, the building had a rent roll of $475,000 and was 95% rented.{{Cite news|date=December 2, 1930|title=$2,000,000 Loan Placed; Belmont Building Is Refinanced-- New French Company Mortgages.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/12/02/archives/2000000-loan-placed-belmont-building-is-refinanced-new-french.html|access-date=September 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} A second mortgage of $150,000 was placed on the building the next year.{{Cite news|date=February 1, 1931|title=Belmont Building Loan.; New $150,000 Lien is Junior to $2,000,000 Mortgage on Structure.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/02/01/archives/belmont-building-loan-new-150000-lien-is-junior-to-2000000-mortgage.html|access-date=September 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} Cheney Brothers, meanwhile, experienced financial difficulties in the late 1920s and early 1930s because of changes in the economy and silk industry, and in 1935, the business was reorganized.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011|ps=.|pp=4–5}} When Cheney reorganized, a federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut ruled that Cheney's annual lease of $155,000 at the Madison Belmont Building was too high.{{Cite news|date=October 31, 1935|title=Activities in Real Estate; Rent Held Excessive in Cheney Bros. Lease $155,000 a Year for Madison Avenue Store Is Not Justified by Sales, U.S. Court Rules.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/10/31/archives/activities-in-real-estate-rent-held-excessive-in-cheney-bros-lease.html|access-date=September 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}

During the mid-20th century, the upper floors were leased to tenants such as the publications Management Corporation, which published Esquire magazine,{{cite news|date=May 17, 1934|title=Magazine Firm Rents Space in Midtown Area: Publishers of 'Esquire' Make Third Expansion Move in Year; Other Leases Closed|page=38|work=New York Herald Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1114824549/2C297D4A677A4145PQ|url-access=subscription|access-date=September 14, 2020|via=ProQuest}} as well as the Blue Print Company, which had a photostat printing plant in the building.{{cite news|date=February 12, 1935|title=Blue Print Firm Rents Space in Midtown Area: Will Open Photostat Plant in Madison Av. Building; Leases in Garment Zone|page=38|work=New York Herald Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1221778093/2C297D4A677A4145PQ|url-access=subscription|access-date=September 14, 2020|via=ProQuest}} The Madison Belmont Corporation transferred the title for the Madison Belmont Building to the Madison-Thirty-Fourth Street Corporation in 1942 for $40,000.{{cite news|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1263623265/B1CDA810018346C5PQ|title=Fohs Concern Conveys Corner On Madison Av: Property at 34th Street Acquired by Syndicate; Kilpatrick Makes Resale|work=New York Herald Tribune|date=May 19, 1942|access-date=September 14, 2020|via=ProQuest|url-access=subscription|page=34}} A mechanical floor was added to the building in 1953. 183 Madison Avenue was later owned by British businessman Paul Kemsley, who had lost control of the building by 2010.{{Cite news|last=Graham|first=Ruddick|date=July 7, 2010|title=Lloyds sued over property empire|page=2|work=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/578557222/2C297D4A677A4145PQ|url-access=subscription|access-date=September 14, 2020|via=ProQuest}} At the time, its tenants were mainly lingerie companies.{{Cite journal|date=June 21, 2010|title=Three Buildings Up For Sale In Midtown South|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/613375336/2C297D4A677A4145PQ|journal=Real Estate Finance and Investment|url-access=subscription|via=ProQuest}}

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the facade and lobby interior as official New York City landmarks on September 20, 2011.{{Cite web|date=2011-10-15|title=Art Deco tower and its lobby landmarked|url=https://www.citylandnyc.org/art-deco-tower-and-its-lobby-landmarked/|access-date=2020-09-15|website=CityLand|language=en-US}} The building was purchased in 2014 by a joint venture composed of Tishman Speyer and The Cogswell-Lee Development Group, at a cost of $185 million. At the time, 95% of space in the building was leased.{{cite web|last=Baltic|first=Scott|date=October 2, 2014|title=Tishman JV Buys Historic Midtown South Building|url=https://www.cpexecutive.com/post/tishman-jv-buys-historic-midtown-south-building/|access-date=September 14, 2020|website=Commercial Property Executive}} The building was resold to APF Properties in 2018 for $222.5 million.{{cite web|date=September 5, 2018|title=Tishman Speyer sells office building for $222M|url=https://rew-online.com/tishman-speyer-apf-properties-183-madison-avenue-office-222m/|access-date=September 14, 2020|website=Real Estate Weekly}}{{cite web|last=Rothstein|first=Ethan|date=September 5, 2018|title=Tishman Speyer Sells 183 Madison Ave. For $223M|url=https://www.bisnow.com/new-york/news/capital-markets/tishman-speyer-sells-183-madison-ave-for-223m-92537|access-date=September 14, 2020|website=Bisnow}} Early-21st century tenants of 183 Madison Avenue have included a law firm, an audio company, an architectural firm, and an advertising firm, as well as the coworking company WeWork.{{Cite web|last=Baird-Remba|first=Rebecca|date=May 23, 2019|title=WeWork Inks 4 New 'Headquarters' Locations in Midtown|url=https://commercialobserver.com/2019/05/wework-inks-four-new-headquarters-locations-in-midtown/|access-date=September 14, 2020|website=Commercial Observer|language=en-US}}

{{portal|New York City}}

• Art Deco architecture of New York City
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Madison Belmont Building}}

• {{cite web|last=Kurshan|first=Virginia|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2425.pdf|title=Madison Belmont Building|date=September 20, 2011|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2011}}}}
• {{cite web|last=Kurshan|first=Virginia|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2426.pdf|title=Madison Belmont Building Interior|date=September 20, 2011|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|2011}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Robins |first=Anthony W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnC6DgAAQBAJ |title=New York Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham's Jazz Age Architecture |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4384-6396-4 |series=Excelsior Editions |oclc=953576510}}

{{East Side of Manhattan (14th-34th Streets)}}

{{Midtown South, Manhattan}}

Category:1925 establishments in New York City

Category:1920s architecture in the United States

Category:34th Street (Manhattan)

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1925

Category:Madison Avenue

Category:Murray Hill, Manhattan

Category:Neoclassical architecture in New York City

Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan

Category:New York City interior landmarks

Category:Art Deco architecture in Manhattan

Category:Warren and Wetmore buildings