Interior of 200 Madison Avenue lobby. Image Credit: LPC/George Comfort & Sons.
The lobby is an excellent and well-preserved example of the Neo-Renaissance style. On November 9, 2021, the Landmarks Designation Commission voted to designate the first floor lobby at 200 Madison Avenue as an interior landmark.
200 Madison Avenue is a red-brick 26-story building, constructed in 1925-26 and designed by Warren & Wetmore. The building originally contained an apartment hotel and office space. The hotel portion of the building was converted to commercial space in the 1940s. The T-shaped first floor lobby has entrances on Madison Avenue, West 35th and West 36th Streets.
The first floor lobby was the focus of the designation due to its preserved ornate details. Designed in the Neo-Renaissance style, the lobby features a two-hundred foot long arcade running north to south between West 35th and West 36th Street. The lobby features a golden brownish pink palette. The arcade features five brass framed doors on each end and a shallow vaulted ceiling with low plaster relief.
The main entrance, on Madison Avenue, is aligned with the central elevator hall. The shallow vaulted ceiling is decorated with rosettes, and features marble walls and a yellow terrazzo floor with a geometric marble inlay and chevrons. The lobby is one of the best preserved examples of the Neo-Renaissance style lobbies from the 1920s that exist in New York City today. Only minor functional modifications like a reception desk, security turnstiles and a few lighting fixtures have been added to the lobby.
Landmarks Chair Sarah Carroll stated, “The 200 Madison Avenue First Floor lobby is a beautiful space with a richly embellished through-block arcade that truly feels like a hidden gem. With its intricately detailed vaulted ceilings, gleaming gilded reliefs, terrazzo floors, polished marble walls, and ornamental metalwork and mosaics, I am delighted that this wonderfully preserved lobby is now in the company of such interior landmarks as Steinway Hall, the Madison Belmont Building, and the New York Central Building, also designed by Warren & Wetmore. As New Yorkers return to the office, it’s an especially opportune time to recognize this special space.”
Fred Cerullo, President and CEO of Grand Central Partnership, stated, “As we continue to welcome our office workers back to our neighborhood, we couldn’t think of a better time for the Landmarks Preservation Commission to pay tribute to 200 Madison Avenue by landmarking its incredibly beautiful lobby providing yet another architectural distinction to a neighborhood that has expertly found the balance between respect for the past and building for the future.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the CityLaw fellow and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)