The Grand Madison

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The Grand Madison.

The Grand Madison is a landmark historic building located at 225 Fifth Avenue in New York City, bordering the north side of Madison Square Park. The architecture is called Renaissance Revival. The building "is constructed of multi-colored brick laid in a faint striped pattern, exquisitely ornamented in contrasting limestone. Its palazzo composition is articulated by a rusticated, trabeated base and arcaded loggia under an impressive cornice" ([1]). Designed by architects Francis H. Kimball and Harry E. Donnell and built in 1906, the building has served as a hotel, a warehouse, and sales showrooms for gift wholesalers, thus becoming known as the "New York Gift Building." For many years it was the city's showcase for glass, ceramic and silver gift ware. The Grand Madison is also known as the "Brunswick Building", since it was built on the site of the fashionable Brunswick Hotel. In 2006 ElAd Properties converted the building into 195 luxury apartments.

The building is located in the Flatiron District, on 26th Street between Fifth Avenue and Madison. It borders the north end of the the six acre Madison Square Park and is directly north of the Flatiron Building. Just east is the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower at One Madison Avenue. In the late 19th Century this area was the focal point of one of Manhattan's most elite neighborhoods. By the 1990s the area and park had fallen into disrepair. The City Parks Foundation organized a Campaign for the New Madison Square Park with private funds raised by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York Life Insurance Company, Credit Suisse First Boston, Rudin Management and Union Square Hospitality Group. Eventually attracting developers in the restoration and conversion to residential use the beautiful and historical buildings in the area, the Flatiron has once again claimed its status as an area of national and international celebrity and important gathering place for New Yorkers.