Featured Article Summary #187

The Manufacturers Trust Company Building, also called 510 Fifth Avenue, is a commercial building on the southwest corner of West 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It opened in 1954 and was the first bank building in the United States built in the International Style. Designed by Charles Evans Hughes III and Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it has four full stories, a penthouse, and a basement, with a facade made mostly of glass and aluminum. A lease rule limited how tall it could be, shaping its overall height, and the ground floor features a visible bank vault door. The building was commissioned in 1944, went through several redesigns, and became very popular right after opening, later changing owners from Chase Bank in 2000 to Vornado Realty Trust in 2010, and then Reuben Brothers in 2023. Its architecture, lighting, and vault door were widely praised, and parts of it were designated landmark features by New York City in 1997 and 2011. 510 Fifth Avenue is on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and West 43rd Street in Midtown Manhattan. The rectangular site is 12,500 square feet (100 feet along Fifth Avenue and 125 feet along West 43rd Street) and is surrounded by other large buildings, so it gets only limited sunlight. Before the current building, the site held the Ziegler Building (built in 1900) and a converted rowhouse at 508 Fifth Avenue. 510 Fifth Avenue was designed in the International Style for the Manufacturers Trust Company by Charles Evans Hughes III and Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), with interior design led by Eleanor H. Le Maire and artwork by Harry Bertoia. It is the first International Style bank building in the United States, aiming to project stability and security using modern materials rather than older, more traditional forms. When it opened in 1954, it was praised for its bold, high-capacity layout and “prestige” design meant to advertise the bank’s image. The Manufacturers Trust Company Building is five stories tall, with the lower four stories covering the entire lot and a penthouse set back on all sides except the west. The building is 74 feet high, including the penthouse roof, and the penthouse is shaped like a T with mechanical space on the west and offices extending east. Its height was limited by an agreement involving Walter J. Salmon Sr. for the neighboring 500 Fifth Avenue; his use of air rights meant buildings at 508 Fifth Avenue could not exceed 63 feet or block the larger tower. Because of this, the penthouse rises above the limit and is set back from the lot line. The building’s facade is mostly a glass curtain wall, using about 13,000 square feet of glass, with large second-floor panes and smaller panes on the other floors. The glass is set in an aluminum frame designed to look light, divided into 9-foot-wide bays, with gold-tinted glazing to reduce glare and granite accents at key points. Originally, there were two main entrances on 43rd Street for banking and offices, and later renovations added two entrances on Fifth Avenue.