Look Building
488 Madison Avenue | also 21 East 51st Street, 15 East 51st Street, 24 East 52nd Street | Midtown | built 1950
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1893
The Roman Catholic Asylum builds a boys' trade school on the future Look Building site
Before the office tower, this block belonged to the Catholic diocese as part of the Roman Catholic Asylum. In 1893 the asylum erected a Gothic Revival trade school for boys here. When the asylum sold much of its land between Fifth and Park Avenues in 1902, the building became Cathedral College, a preparatory seminary for future priests. The college moved to West End Avenue and 87th Street in 1942, and Catholic chaplains serving in World War II then used the old building for a time.
- 1948
Cathedral College's old building is sold to the Uris Brothers and demolished for an office tower
The Uris Brothers bought the old Cathedral College on Madison Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets in October 1948 for $2.6 million and filed plans for a new office building the next month. Demolition was under way by February 1949, and by April, before construction began, tenants had already leased nine floors. The college stood on the lot where the Look Building now rises.
“The old Cathedral College at Madison Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets, was sold in October 1948 to the Uris Brothers for $2.6 million.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1949
The steel frame is topped out by the end of August in what the Times calls a postwar record
Steel deliveries began in June 1949, and by the end of August the frame was topped out, which the New York Times called a postwar record for steel erection. Concrete floors followed in early September and then the white brick, with about four floors enclosed each week. Rental agents Cross & Brown had every office floor let by November 1949, months ahead of completion, and tenants began moving into the air-conditioned tower in early 1950.
“The New York Times reported that this was “considered a postwar record for steel erection.”…”
- 1950
Esquire takes legal action to stop the building from being named for the magazine Look
In early 1950 the Uris Brothers agreed to name the tower for Look, the magazine that became its largest tenant with the 10th, 11th and 12th floors and a paid circulation of three million by 1948. Esquire, which also had offices there, took legal action, arguing that the name would wrongly suggest it was published or sponsored by Look's publishers. The courts took no action, and capital letters spelling Look Building stayed on the mechanical tower until 1980.
“Esquire, which claimed it was “embarrassed by the “new look,” took legal action to stop this…”
- 1950
Raymond Loewy is on the 21st floor, three floors above the building's own architects
Emery Roth & Sons, the building's architects, moved into part of the 18th floor in April 1950, which the Times described as only the firm's fourth move in fifty years. Three floors above them on the 21st floor was Raymond Loewy, the industrial designer who had appeared on the cover of Time in October 1949. Loewy went on to design the interiors of Lever House, completed nearby at 390 Park Avenue in 1952.
“Three floors above, on the 21st floor, was Raymond Loewy, one of the 20 th century’s most significant industrial de signers…”
- 1953
Metropolitan Life buys the Look Building and leases it back to the Uris Brothers
In April 1953 the Uris Brothers sold the building to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and that August Met Life leased it back to them. The landmark report adds that since the 1970s the property has been owned by 488 Madison Avenue Associates, listed with the Feil Organization, together with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
- 1962
A young Bob Dylan records early demos in Witmark's fifth-floor studio
The Music Publishers Holding Company, whose subsidiaries included Harms, Remick, New World Music, Advanced Music and Witmark & Sons, was an original tenant of the tower. In the fifth-floor studio used by Witmark, a young Bob Dylan made a series of early demo recordings in 1962 and 1963, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission's report on the building.
- 1963
Look signs a lease that nearly doubles its offices to more than 200,000 square feet
Look was the building's largest tenant, with offices on the 10th, 11th and 12th floors, and the 1950s were its heyday. By 1961 it reached an estimated 21 percent of American adults and ranked as the nation's third most popular magazine. In 1963 the publisher signed a new lease that almost doubled its space to more than 200,000 square feet.
“…in 1963 it would sign a new lease, almost doubling its office space to more than 200,000 square feet…”
- 1971
Cowles opens an on-site job center for Look's staff as the magazine closes
Gardner Cowles announced on September 16, 1971 that Look, then 34 years old, would stop publishing with its October 19 issue. Although its circulation stood at 6.5 million, the magazine had lost over $10 million across 30 months. Cowles Communications set up a placement service at its 488 Madison Avenue offices to help about 250 employees, with free resume typing, two employment counselors and a job board in a tenth-floor placement center. About 70 firm job offers had been made by the end of September.
Source: Internet Archive
- 1998
Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer restores the white-brick facade instead of replacing it
Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates restored the exterior in 1995-98, with partner Malcolm Holzman saying the goal was to keep the building as it was rather than turn it into something it never was. The steel windows were replaced with similar aluminum frames, the glazed brick was cleaned, and about 20 percent of the brick was replaced. The Municipal Art Society marked the work with an exhibition in fall 1998.
- 2010
The city designates the Look Building an individual landmark
The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the Look Building on November 17, 2009. Three people testified in favor, among them representatives of Assembly Member Richard Gottfried, the Historic Districts Council and Docomomo New York/Tri-State. On July 27, 2010 the commission designated the 1948-50 building, noting its European Modernist ribbon windows, rounded corners and white-brick setbacks as an early change in the look of setback office towers.
- 2014
The Municipal Art Society moves into the Look Building, across from its old Villard Houses home
The Municipal Art Society, founded in 1893, left its longtime home in the Villard Houses at 457 Madison Avenue in January 2010 for Steinway Hall on West 57th Street. By July 2014 the society had relocated to the Look Building, 488 Madison Avenue, which faces its former Villard home from across the street. In February 2025 it moved to one of the Trinity and United States Realty Buildings in the Financial District.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- 488 Madison AvenueWikipedia
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