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South of Union Square
Place
LOOK Building
488 Madison Avenue

Posts & Stories(3)

Where New Yorkers Work image

Where New Yorkers Work
Story

Where do you usually work? We asked this question to our Urban Archive community and mapped their answers. Take a look!
LOOK Building image

LOOK Building
Post

Look Building ARCHITECT: Emery Roth & Sons DATE: 1948-50 STYLE: European Modernism The 21-story Look Building dates to 1948-50, when the minimalist aesthetics of European Modernism first began to transform the character of “setback” office buildings. That this handsome mid-20th-century modern structure combines tiers of ribbon-like windows with tightly-rounded corners and setbacks clad with a white brick to create a unique and memorable silhouette.
LOOK Building image

LOOK Building
Post

LOOK Building, October 26, 1951. Completed in 1950, the Look Building set a new standard for minimalist Modern office buildings. Needing to comply with zoning codes regarding setbacks, the 21-story structure renders those setback through uniform rows of windows and white brick, with tightly-curved corners. Its massing and setbacks give it a wedding-cake-like silhouette similar to a number of other Modern buildings in the city, namely the Starrett Lehigh Building. Designed by the firm of Emery Roth & Sons (by then led by the sons, as Roth died in 1948), the project was developed by Uris Brothers (also a second generation firm). According to the LPC Designation Report, "built on speculation, the Look Building needed to be fashionable, practical, and profitable." And the project was just that. Early tenants included the firm that designed it, famed industrial designer Raymond Loewry, and a number of publishers and magazines, including the eponymous publication, Look (much to the chagrin of fellow tenant Esquire). Today the building's tenants include the Municipal Arts Society.

Photos(12)

Gardiner School image

Gardiner School

Schools, Gardiner School, Girls Playing Tennis. Girls from the Gardiner School, at 11 East 51st Street, playing tennis on a court outside.
11-15 East 51st Street  image

11-15 East 51st Street

\[11 and 15 East 51st St.]
16 East 52nd Street image

16 East 52nd Street

Interior, Rosenberg, Inc. 16 East 52nd St., Hand Carved Door.
16 East 52nd Street image

16 East 52nd Street

Interior, Rosenberg, Inc. 16 East 52nd St., Hand carved Door.
16 East 52nd Street image

16 East 52nd Street

16 East 52nd Street. Apartment building
16 East 52nd Street image

16 East 52nd Street

16 East 52nd Street. Apartment building
LOOK Building image

LOOK Building

488 Madison Avenue. Look Building.
LOOK Building image

LOOK Building

LOOK Building image

LOOK Building

Madison Avenue #488 \[detail]
LOOK Building image

LOOK Building

Madison Avenue #488 \[detail]
LOOK Building image

LOOK Building

Madison Avenue #488 \[detail]
14 East 52nd Street image

14 East 52nd Street

Manhattan: 52nd Street (East) - 5th Avenue 14-10 East 52nd Street, south side, between Fifth and Madison Aves. About 1921.
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