The Swiss Center

(formerly the Goelet Building)

608 Fifth Avenue

Southwest corner at 49th Street

E. H. Faile & Co. with Victor L. F. Hafner; Lester Tichy Associates (alteration of lower floors)

Erected: 1931; 1966 (alteration of lower floors)

 

By Carter B. Horsley

A jewel, this 11-story building is one of New York's finest Art Deco buildings.

With its bold patterned facade and luscious, colored materials, it is extraordinarily strong, design-wise, for its meager size.

Part of Goelet's wealth came from Chemical Bank and he decided to replace his mansion on the site when Rockefeller Center began construction. The building was designed to be used either as a store or a combination of office and retail uses and to maximize his retail space, he cantilevered much of the construction.

For many years, the Swiss Center's decorative mullions, shown in the photograph at the left, around the second floor detracted a bit from the original design, but fortunately were not too intrusive on the rich deep-green and white Dover cream marbles used on the facade.

The massing of the building, which was designated an official city landmark in 1992, is quite sophisticated with two wings separated by a light well on the sidestreet. The wings have corner setbacks and are joined by a taller, recessed mechanical penthouse that is very handsome.

The extravagant but very intimate lobby spaces employ black and brown marbles in wide bands to contrast with green and silver ceilings and lustrous elevator doors, shown at the right, and corner light grills, shown below. The overall effect is sumptuous and very elegant.

The main street facades of the wings are highly articulated with two wide vertical green marble piers between which are three thin ones and the wide ones are also flanked by one other thin pier on the outer sides.

The horizontal bands of windows, furthermore, are slightly inset.

The overall effect is International Style more than Art Deco, although the lobby decoration is full, magnificent Art Deco.