260 Madison Avenue
A 1951 Madison Avenue office job at the dawn of postwar glass-and-metal Midtown.
260 Madison Avenue as it stands today, from the building's official website.
Undated · Photo: 260 Madison Avenue · Reuse terms not verified. · Source
Why this project matters
- Project identity
- Verified
- Kelly connection
- Family source
- Masonry scope
- Probable
Rita’s list
Transcription: 39th St and Madison Ave Office — 1951
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
KM-014
1 of two
“39th St and Madison Ave Office — 1951”
The parcels that became 260 Madison Avenue were formally consolidated in January 1952; Rita’s 1951 date is consistent with the building’s earliest site and construction phase.
The family list appears to catch not just a finished building date but the moment an older, parcel-by-parcel Midtown block was being assembled into a postwar office tower.
What Kelly did here
Family source
Probable
Likely: original-construction masonry likely included interior CMU/block partitions, service/core walls and localized masonry within the early International Style envelope. Do not describe this as a later alteration: Rita's 1951 entry belongs to the building's initial site/construction phase. Public sources do not yet justify assigning a specific visible façade material to Kelly.
This scope is recorded as probable, not documented. It is a disciplined reading of the building and the trade practice of the period, not a contract-level record of Kelly’s work.
The construction team
- 01Architect
Sylvan Bien & Robert Bien
- 02GC / construction manager
Hegeman-Harris Co., Inc.
What happened to it
Still standing / being repositioned
260 Madison is currently being repositioned as a modern Class A office property, with upgraded amenities and interiors by MdeAS Architects while retaining the mid-century tower.
Sources
5 citedOpen →
- 01sec.gov
fwp
- 02260mad.com
building
- 03skyscrapercenter.com
30667
- 04usmodernist.org
AIANYS 1952 09 10
- 05
- Unattributed · Rights unclear / source retained · 260 Madison Avenue (official site)
260 Madison Avenue as it stands today, from the building's official website.
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