Ornate Midtown Building Lobby Is Designated City Landmark

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — The ornate lobby of a Midtown office building was designated a historic landmark by a city panel this week, ensuring the preservation of the 95-year-old space.

The lobby at 200 Madison Ave., between East 35th and 36th streets, was built between 1925 and 1926. While an "understated red brick" structure on the outside, the Neo-Renaissance lobby was designed with flair by the famed architectural firm Warren & Wetmore.

The T-shaped room includes a vaulted ceiling bordered by bands of plaster relief and polished marble walls trimmed with mosaic inlays, the Landmarks Preservation Commission wrote in a report.

On the 35th Street side is a delicate saucer dome, while the 36th Street side features steps framed by a black marble arch. Other features include gilded plaster ceilings with naturalistic imagery like leaves and vines.

"With its intricately detailed vaulted ceilings, gleaming gilded reliefs, terrazzo floors, polished marble walls, and ornamental metalwork and mosaics, I am delighted that this wonderfully preserved lobby is now in the company of such interior landmarks as Steinway Hall, the Madison Belmont Building, and the New York Central Building, also designed by Warren & Wetmore," LPC Chair Sarah Carroll said in a statement.

"As New Yorkers return to the office, it’s an especially opportune time to recognize this special space."