Carter's Review

With its handsome, gilded top, which is illuminated at night, this 48-story tower became a major new component of the Manhattan skyline when it was erected as the Madison Belvedere in 1999.

It was designed by Schuman Lichtenstein Claman + Efron for Rose Associates and was later purchased by Invesco for about $300 million and renamed the Instrata Nomad. Rose reportedly bought the site from a convent in 1998 for about $11.6 million.

The mid-block tower has 404 rental apartments and is set in a plaza across the street from the very charming, landscaped compound of The Little Church Around The Corner (The Church of the Transfiguration), whose low profile gives dramatic views of the Empire State Building to almost all the apartments in this building that face north. Because of its mid-block location and the building’s very large and very handsome plaza on 28^th Street, the tower also had excellent views to the south.

The church sold off some air rights to the Clarett Group, which erected a 55-story condominium apartment tower at the east end of its property. That tower is just to the east of this tower and its east-west dimension is quite thin.

This building is a few blocks north of Madison Square Park and close to the Flatiron District and a few blocks south of the Murray Hill neighborhood.  It is on a former site of the Convent of Marie Repartice, according to www.daytonianinmanhatan.blogspot.com.

Bottom Line

With its gold roof and distinctive and imposing profile, this tower is one of the major skyline elements of the Madison Square Park/NoMad area.

Description

In their great book, “New York 2000, Architecture and Urbanism Between the Bicentennial and the Millennium,” Robert A. M. Stern, David Fishman and Jacob Tilove, noted that “the Madison Belvedere towered far above its neighbors as a result of transferred air rights and the provision of a quarter-acre public plaza facing 28^th Street designed by Thomas Balsey.”

“The rather ungraceful, sheer tower,” they continued, “topped by an awkwardly proportioned, three-story-high water tower enclosure with a gilded mansard roof, was at best a clumsy homage to the nearby New York Life building.”

While its gilded top is much too small to be compared with the great gold pyramid cap of the New York Life tower, it is in fact quite handsome and nicely detailed as is its entrance on 29^th Street that has a large and wide canopy. two-story red, rusticated, granite surround, rusticated stone mullions on the 2^nd through the 5^th floors and lush landscaping. Furthermore, its very large landscaped, raised plaza on 28^th Street with its circle of pink marble benches is one of the nicest in the city.

The building has many balconies that begin at about the 17^th floor and the top ten floors are setback a bit at the corners.

Amenities

The beige brick-building has a concierge, a 24-hour doorman, a garage, a canopied entrance, many three-sided balconies, a fitness center, sidewalk landscaping and a two-story polished red granite base with a rusticated limestone entrance surround. The building has an ATM, dry cleaning, shoe repair and a washer/dryer unit is on every floor.

Apartments

Kitchens have stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. Additional features include Kohler fixtures, hardwood flooring and marble bathrooms.