Helpern Architects intentionally designed this proud office tower to recall New York’s great 1920s skyscrapers. Just outside the south edge of the Upper East Side Historic District, it marks the transition between commercial Midtown and the residential Upper East Side. Its triple-height arched storefront windows revolutionized retail display in New York.
Named “Best of the Year” by The New York Times and “Best New Building” by the Fifth Avenue Association, 667 Madison is – according to the AIA Guide to New York City – a “vigorous yet carefully controlled design that gracefully turns a corner within the complex rules of the Zoning Resolution.”
The limestone-clad lobby and the street-level retail spaces have 23½-ft ceilings, while ceiling height on the office floors ranges from 9 feet to a generous 11 feet, important to the financial service firms that are the main tenants. The top nine floors are column-free. Seven usable terraces offer views of nearby Central Park.
Elegance and attention to detail were the key selling points to tenants. The façade is Spanish granite and limestone. Features include a 41-ft-high entrance portal, custom lighting fixtures, mahogany-paneled elevators, and wrought-iron metalwork on elevator doors and terrace railings.
Helpern Architects continues to remain on call as tenancies change and the building undergoes routine renovation.
