Lefcourt Colonial Building

295 Madison Avenue | also 38 East 41st Street | Midtown | built 1929

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1930
Abraham Lefcourt completes a 45-story neo-Gothic tower at Madison and 41st
The Lefcourt Colonial Building, built by developer Abraham E. Lefcourt at 295 Madison Avenue and East 41st Street, was completed in 1930. The neo-Gothic office tower has 45 stories and stands 538 feet tall.
Source: Wikipedia
1931
Foreclosure plaintiffs take the tower with a $3.5 million bid
The New York Times reported on February 7, 1931, that the Wall-York Corporation, a subsidiary of the Lawbeck Corporation controlled by Lawrence Stern Co., had acquired the Lefcourt-Colonial Building for $3,500,000 at auction. The buyers were plaintiffs in the foreclosure action. The same real estate column noted that Lefcourt's apartment hotel Sevilla Towers was due to be auctioned next.
Source: The New York Times
1932
November 13
Abraham Lefcourt, builder of the tower, dies at the Savoy-Plaza leaving $2,500
Lefcourt, a former newsboy and bootblack who became one of the city's most prolific developers and was reportedly worth $100 million in 1928, died on November 13, 1932, at his Savoy-Plaza Hotel apartment. Creditors were pursuing him and some accused him of fraud. His estate was valued at only $2,500, and services were held at Temple Emanu-El.
Source: Wikipedia

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