461 Fifth Avenue at 40th street is a 28-story skyscraper

Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

 located in the Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal —often incorrectly called Grand Central Station, or shortened to simply Grand Central—is a terminal station at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...

 area of the Midtown Manhattan

Midtown Manhattan

Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...

 section of New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. The building was constructed in 1988 by the Mitsui Fudosan

Mitsui Fudosan

, is Japan's largest real estate developer. Mitsui Fudosan is one of the core companies of Mitsui Group.-Corporate Structure:The company is organized into four divisions.*Office Building Division*Real Estate Solution Services Division...

 development group and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

History

In the late nineteenth century, 461 Fifth Avenue was the residence of the Misses Furniss, who were known for hosting musicals and other social functions. They had acquired the address from a J. M. Bixby sometime after 1873.

Sometime between 1911 and 1915, the private house was replaced with an eleven-story office building, which in 1945 was renovated to become a Lane Bryant

Lane Bryant

Lane Bryant is a United States retail women's clothing store chain focusing on plus-size clothing. It began in the early 1900s with the innovative maternity designs created by Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin. -Beginning:...

 store. By 1988 the Lane Bryant building was demolished.

The current structure was built in 1988 by a Japanese-lead development group using a design by Raul de Armas

Raul de Armas

Raúl de Armas is a Cuban-born architect who has designed and completed many major buildings in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East in his career of more than 35 years, winning numerous design awards....

 of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Within a year of completion, the building had a 90% occupancy rate and had spurred a building boom in the Fifth Avenue area. By 1992 it was fully leased. The first floor shopping level was occupied by a Pier 1 Imports

Pier 1 Imports

Pier 1 Imports Inc. is a Fort Worth, Texas based retailer specializing in imported home furnishings and decor, particularly furniture, table-top items, decorative accessories and seasonal decor. The chain operates over 1,000 stores under the name Pier 1 Imports in the United States, Canada, Mexico...

 until 2007, when it was leased to BCBGMAXAZRIA.

The building was sold to its current owner, SL Green Realty

SL Green Realty

SL Green Realty Corp is a Real estate investment trust that claims to be the biggest owner of office towers in Manhattan.It was founded by Stephen L. Green in 1980 as SL Green Properties. It went public in 1997.-Properties:...

, in 2003 for $62.3 million.

Architecture

The 461 Fifth Avenue building is noted for its use of modern materials, creating a stone-finish look, as well as its base-setback that is the same height as older buildings in the neighborhood. The building is also noted architecturally for its combination of a 10-story 19th-century base, which mirrors nearby older buildings, and an 18-story post-modern tower.

The exterior uses a pre-cast concrete finish to mimic the appearance of limestone and has a copper mansard roof similar to other buildings in the area.