Lefcourt Madison Building Lobby
The high-rise at 16 East 34th Street in New York, New York was constructed in 1925 by prominent real estate developer Abraham E. Lefcourt. During the 1920s, Lefcourt was one of the most prolific developers of Art Deco buildings in New York city. Originally known as the Lefcourt Madison Building, the office building was designed in the Art Deco style by the architecture firm Buchman & Kahn in conjunction with architects George and Edward Blum. Buchman & Kahn are known for several well known buildings throughout the city, including the Film Center Building and 2 Park Avenue. George and Edward Blum are mainly known for their Art Nouveau and Art Deco apartment houses, examples of which include the Grammercy House, Phaeton, and Rockfall.
The building has changed hands several times, adapting the finishes to meet the needs of occupants. Major renovations occurred in 2014, which significantly altered the interior appearance of the building. The building is now a part of the Hudson Yards development. The neighborhood revitalization project hopes to redevelop New York’s west side as a social and cultural epicenter.
EverGreene was retained by the the Tri-Star Construction Corporation to perform ornamental plaster replication and installation on the façade and on the lobby ceiling of the Lefcourt Madison Building. Work in the lobby included mockups of historic ceiling tiles with recessed lights, mockups of potential decorative finishes, fabrication of new ceiling tiles based on mockups, replication of some historic ceiling tiles, selective demo of historic ceiling tiles, installation of new tiles, and application of the approved decorative finishes. Work on the façade included the removal and repair of the square leaf panels above the windows, fabrication and decorative finishing of any necessary replacement panels, and any onsite touchups to the decorative finishes as required after installation. EverGreene also performed cleaning tests on the façade’s ornamental spandrel to aid in determining color and finish for future refinishing.
