1979Manhattan, New YorkCommercial

IBM Building — 590 Madison Avenue

A great material story: the building's gray-green granite was fabricated on Long Island and delivered in a tightly choreographed Midtown construction operation.

IBM Building — 590 Madison Avenue — The IBM Building (590 Madison Avenue), at 57th Street and Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Photographed in 2018; a current view, not a construction-period photograph.

The IBM Building (590 Madison Avenue), at 57th Street and Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Photographed in 2018; a current view, not a construction-period photograph.

Current view · 2018 · Photo: Tdorante10 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

01The story

Why this project matters

Project identity
Verified
Kelly connection
Family source
Masonry scope
Strong

Rita’s list

Rita Bartscherer’s handwritten entry: IBM Office Building — 1979

Transcription: IBM Office Building — 1979

Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record

Entry

KM-138

Sheet

2 of two

As written

IBM Office Building — 1979

IBM began construction of the new five-sided office tower in 1978–79; it opened in 1983. Granite panels were quarried in Quebec, fabricated on Long Island, and trucked to the site during construction.

Why it matters

A great material story: the building's gray-green granite was fabricated on Long Island and delivered in a tightly choreographed Midtown construction operation.

02What Kelly did

What Kelly did here

Kelly connection

Family source

Scope confidence

Strong

Most likely CMU/block interior walls, shafts and backup masonry rather than the unitized polished-granite façade panels.

This scope is recorded as strong, 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.

03Who built it

The construction team

  1. 01Architect

    Edward Larrabee Barnes & Associates

  2. 02GC / construction manager

    Turner Construction Company

04What happened

What happened to it

Still standing

On the map

590 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022

Still standing

Sources

3 citedOpen →
What this record rests on
  1. 01
  2. 02
  3. 03
    commons.wikimedia.org

    File:57th St Madison Av td 19 590 Madison Avenue.jpg

Image credits
  • Tdorante10 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Taken on 2

    The IBM Building (590 Madison Avenue), at 57th Street and Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Photographed in 2018; a current view, not a construction-period photograph.

Know something about this project?

Share a correction, memory, photograph, source or connection to this project. Every submission is reviewed before anything is published.

Add to this record →

Elsewhere in the archive

1951KM-014

260 Madison Avenue

Family list: “39th St and Madison Ave Office

Midtown Manhattan, New York

Still standing / being repositionedProject identified