Pershing Square Café

The Pershing Square Building is a 24-story office tower built in 1923, located on Park Avenue between East 41st and 42nd Streets in Manhattan, New York City. The building's address is listed as both 100 East 42nd Street and 125 Park Avenue, and it occupies a position directly across the street from Grand Central Terminal near Pershing Square. The building was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by the firms of Sloan & Robertson and York and Sawyer; Henry Mandel was the developer. It was erected on the site of the former Grand Union Hotel, and takes its name from the open plaza planned in 1919 to honor World War I general John J. Pershing. The structure rises from a square 7-story base with 3-story high decorative arches and continues in a u-shaped configuration to the top floor. The building is clad in beige brick and noted for the elaborate decoration designed by Sloan and produced by the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company. One of the figures at the fifth-floor level represents a Roman caduceator, or peace commissioner. He holds a caduceus in one hand as an emblem of office and, in the other, a cornucopia to suggest the benefits of a prospective peace. The current owner, SL Green, purchased the building in 2010 from the Shorenstein Company. The Pershing Square Building was designated a New York City landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on 22 November 2016.