275 Madison Avenue

275 Madison Avenue (also known as the Johns-Manville Building, American Home Products Building, and 22 East 40th Street) is a 43-story office building in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is along the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 40th Street, near Grand Central Terminal. The building, constructed from 1930 to 1931, was designed by Kenneth Franzheim in a mixture of the Art Deco and International styles. 275 Madison Avenue's three-story base is made of polished granite and contains large openings. On all the other floors, the facade contains vertical pilasters of white brick, as well as dark spandrels between windows, which were intended to give a vertical emphasis to the exterior. The 4th through 23rd floors contain several setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution. The building tapers to a rectangular cross-section on the 24th through 43rd floors. The interior of the base is designed with a main entrance lobby on 40th Street, as well as storefronts. Floor areas above the base range from 2,300 to 10,000 square feet (210 to 930 m2). 275 Madison Avenue was developed by Houston Properties, a firm headed by Texas entrepreneur Jesse H. Jones. It was originally known as 22 East 40th Street. The skyscraper opened at the onset of the Great Depression, and Houston Properties sold the skyscraper in 1933 to the New York Trust Company. In the mid-20th century, 275 Madison Avenue had several owners and was also known for major tenants Johns Manville and American Home Products. It has been owned by the RPW Group since 2016. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 275 Madison Avenue as an official landmark in 2009.