If there is a
stretch that is immediately and unmistakably New York, it is the area that runs
east of Fifth Avenue in the 40s and 50s. The great avenues of Madison, Park,
Lexington and Third reach their richest heights as the skyscrapers
line up in neck-cricking vistas, the streets choke with yellow cabs and office
workers, and Con Edison vents belch steam from old heating systems. More than
anything else, buildings define this part of town. Many house anonymous
corporations and supply excitement to a skyline that was largely formed during
the 1960s build-'em-high glass-box bonanza. Others, like the
Sony Building
and the
Citicorp Center
, don't play that game; and enough remains from the pre-box days to maintain
variety. The commercial properties largely disappear as midtown slinks toward
the East River, giving way to the quietly affluent residential Beekman
and Sutton places as well as the unappealing mass of the United
Nations complex , which anchors itself like a barnacle to the eastern edge
of the city.
Lexington Avenue and Citicorp Center
Lexington Avenue
is always active, especially around the mid-40s, where commuters swarm
around Grand Central Station and the post office on the corner of
50th Street. Just as the Chrysler Building dominates the lower stretches
of the avenue, the chisel-topped
Citicorp Center
anchors and governs the 50s. Finished in 1979, the building, now one of
New York's most conspicuous landmarks, looks as if it is sheathed in
shiny graph-paper, while the slope of tower resembles a linear
representation of a mathematical equation. The slanted roof was designed
to house solar panels and provide power, but the idea was ahead of the
day's technology and Citicorp had to content itself with adopting the
distinctive top as a corporate logo. The atrium of stores known as
The Market is pleasant enough, with some enticing food options.
Madison Avenue (Midtown)
Madison Avenue
shadows Fifth, offering some of its sweep but less excitement. It is a
little removed from its 1960s and 70s prime, when it was internationally
recognized as the epicenter of the advertising industry. A few good
stores - notably those specializing in men's haberdashery, shoes and
cigars - can be found here.
Madison's most interesting buildings come in a four-block strip above
53rd Street. The Sony Building , between 55th and 56th streets,
followed the postmodernist theory of eclectic borrowing from historical
styles: a modernist skyscraper sandwiched between a Chippendale top and
a Renaissance base. The building has its fans, but in popular opinion
the tower doesn't work, and it's unlikely to stand the test of time. The
first floor is well worth ducking into to soak in the brute grandeur,
though.
The
IBM Building
, next door at 590 Madison Ave, has a far more inviting plaza, the calm
glass-enclosed atrium and tropical foliage making for a far less
ponderous experience. Across 57th Street, as the first of Madison's
clothes stores appear, the
Fuller
Building
is worth catching - black-and-white Art Deco, with a fine entrance and
tiled floor. Cut east down 57th Street to find the Four Seasons Hotel
, notable for its I.M. Pei-designed foyer and lobby, ostentatious in its
sweeping marble.
