400 Madison Avenue
Midtown | built 1929
Open on the map12 entries
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.
- 1928
Financier George Ohrstrom's syndicate takes over two apartment-house leases to build a slim office tower
In September 1928 the 400 Madison Avenue Corporation, headed by 34-year-old financier George Lewis Ohrstrom, acquired the ground leases on the Madison Avenue blockfront between 47th and 48th Streets, where the tower now stands. The two parcels carried the six-story Ritz Chambers and Carlton Chambers apartment houses, which were slated for demolition. In October the architects H. Craig Severance Inc. filed plans for a $1.25 million building of 20 stories plus a penthouse, to be built by the George A. Fuller Company.
- 1929
A building 200 feet long and under 45 feet deep is marketed for small, impressive offices
Almost 200 feet long but less than 45 feet deep, the tower struck the Herald Tribune as unusual in both its looks and its renting prospects. At 125,000 square feet it was under a sixth the size of the Chrysler Building, so its developers courted professionals wanting small but impressive offices, including Wall Street firms opening branches near Grand Central. Custom held that first-quality space lay within 20 to 28 feet of a window, a range the narrow plan kept every office inside.
- 1929
The tower opens with ads promising it was 'Built for the 400 of Business and Finance'
The building was officially completed on October 1, 1929, and advertisements promoted it with a slogan playing on its street number and on Manhattan's social elite. Most early tenants were law firms, real-estate, advertising and insurance companies, and brokerages. Others included Austria's tourist office, Bulgaria's consulate general, the Regional Plan Association (which stayed into the 1940s) and the New York League of Women Voters.
- 1929
Early tenants include a Bulgarian consulate, an Austrian tourist office and the Regional Plan Association
After the tower was completed on October 1, 1929, most of its first tenants were lawyers, real estate and advertising firms, insurers and brokerages. Others included the Regional Plan Association, which stayed into the 1940s, the New York League of Women Voters, an Austrian tourist office and the Consulate General of Bulgaria.
“Other early tenants included the Austrian tourist office, the Consulate General of Bulgaria, the New York League of Women Voters, and the Regional Plan Association…”
- 1929
Architect H. Craig Severance sheathes the tower in cream terra cotta to brighten the street
H. Craig Severance, who thought skyscrapers ought to brighten their surroundings, covered 400 Madison Avenue in cream-colored terra cotta that sent sunlight down to the street and onto neighboring buildings. The landmark report reads the building's neo-Gothic tracery, grouped chimneys and crown crockets as abstracted enough to show Art Deco's growing influence at the end of the 1920s.
- 1932
Luxury luggage retailer Crouch & Fitzgerald becomes a long-running retail tenant of the tower
The landmark report calls Crouch & Fitzgerald, a luxury luggage retailer, perhaps the tower's best-known retail tenant. The firm remained at 400 Madison Avenue from 1932 until a closure the 2016 report describes as recent.
“…the luxury luggage retailer Crouch & Fitzgerald, which remained at 400 Madison from 1932 until its recent closure…”
- 1932
Family Circle magazine keeps its offices here from 1932 to 1945
The consumer magazine Family Circle kept offices at 400 Madison Avenue from 1932 to 1945, one of the trade publications and consumer magazines the tower housed. The landmark report adds that many out-of-town and foreign newspapers kept offices here into the 1980s, and that the building drew tenants through its closeness to publishing houses and television studios.
- 1944
The Council on Books in Wartime sends 122 million books to troops from offices here
In 1944 and 1945 the building housed the Council on Books in Wartime, a project of the country's largest publishers that sent 122 million copies of well-loved titles, such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Great Gatsby, to soldiers and sailors serving on active duty. The magazine Family Circle also kept its offices in the building from 1932 to 1945.
- 1949
Film producer David O. Selznick and actress Lucille Lortel keep offices in the tower
From 1945 to 1957 the film producer David O. Selznick's companies, among them Selznick Studios and Vanguard Films, kept offices at 400 Madison. In 1949 and 1950 the building was also the business home of the actress and producer Lucille Lortel. Over the years its tenants were drawn by the neighborhood's publishers, television studios and Times Square music and recording firms.
- 1964
June M. Middleton joins a brokerage here as a pioneering Black woman stockbroker
In 1964 stockbroker June M. Middleton joined the brokerage Hornblower & Weeks at 400 Madison Avenue. The New York Times described her as the only Black woman then selling securities for a New York Stock Exchange firm, using the term of the day. In the 1970s the building also housed the Association of Black Foundation Executives, founded to raise the social consciousness of the philanthropic community.
- 1998
Macklowe Properties buys the mortgage and courts small tenants, filling the tower with about 50 firms by 2001
In 1998 Macklowe Properties bought the building's $36 million mortgage from the receiver, when about 30 percent of the space stood empty and the original electrical system remained. Instead of seeking large tenants, the firm marketed the tower to smaller ones and renovated the penthouse. By 2001 it held some 50 tenants, many of them financial firms.
“…by 2001, the building had some 50 tenants, many of which were financial firms.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2016
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates 400 Madison Avenue after a hearing with real-estate opposition
At a public hearing on September 13, 2016, four speakers backed landmark status for the tower, including representatives of the Municipal Art Society, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, the Historic Districts Council and the Manhattan Borough President. The Real Estate Board of New York sent written testimony against it. The commission designated the 400 Madison Avenue Building an individual landmark on November 22, 2016.
Further reading
- 400 Madison AvenueWikipedia
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