Graybar Building, ca. 1925

Established as a small electric and telecommunications firm in 1869, this company became Western Electric in 1872 and grew into a large multinational business. By the turn of the century, Western Electric was the main producer of telephone equipment in the United States. In 1925 the company was split, with a new firm handling distribution of supplies and equipment. It was named Graybar after the company's original founders, Elisha Gray and Enos Barton. In 1929 the company was bought out by its employees for its capitalized value, which was $3 million in cash and $6 million in cumulative preferred stock.

Two years before this buyout the company moved into their new home at 420 Lexington Avenue. One of the final buildings constructed in “Terminal City,” the Art Deco structure with Byzantine-styling was completed to the designs of Sloan & Robertson. The tan brick building has a monumental Lexington Avenue facade with three limestone figurative bas reliefs that frame the three entrances. The southernmost portal (the entrance to the Graybar Passage to the Terminal) includes some playful ornamentation; here animal heads surround the marquee struts (the supports attaching the marquee to the building) and sculptural rats seem to be climbing the struts. The rats were a reference to New York's maritime history.

The Graybar Company was headquartered in this building until 1982, when they moved to Missouri. In 2016 33 years after leaving the building that retained their name, the Graybar Company returned to the building, leasing 3,000 square feet of office space.