DuMont Building

515 Madison Avenue | Midtown | built 1931

Open on the map4 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1931

    October

    The DuMont Building opens as a 42-story Art Deco office tower

    Architect J. E. R. Carpenter and his brother, a real estate developer, began this 42-story, $2 million office building at Madison Avenue and 53rd Street in 1930. It opened in October 1931 with gray brick above a three-story limestone base and Gothic-inspired ornament. Advertising and publishing firms were among its first tenants.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1938

    Allen B. DuMont installs a television antenna on the building

    Allen B. DuMont Laboratories installed a broadcasting antenna on the building in 1938, and in May 1939 announced a glass-roofed outdoor studio on a setback. The station was licensed in April 1940 and began commercial television in May 1941. The firm's presence gave the tower its nickname.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1943

    November

    DuMont's station airs the first election-day television appeal by a candidate

    In November 1943 Senator Robert F. Wagner appeared on the DuMont station WABD, which the New York Times described as the first time a candidate for major office had used television to seek votes on election day. Three years earlier the station had followed the 1940 presidential election results for nearly 4,000 television sets.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1950

    May 18

    DuMont engineers announce an all-electronic color television tube

    On May 18, 1950, Allen B. DuMont Laboratories announced that it had invented a direct-view picture tube for color television that was fully electronic. The company's headquarters stayed in the building, but its antenna was moved to the Empire State Building when the new Tele-Centre opened in 1951.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 178 buildings with stories in Midtown