550 Madison Avenue

550 Madison Avenue, formerly the AT&T Building and later the Sony Building, features one of the most architecturally significant POPS in Midtown. The building, designed by Philip Johnson and completed in 1984, is one of the most famous postmodern skyscrapers in the world.

Johnson's design, with its broken pediment top (often compared to a Chippendale highboy), was a deliberate rejection of the glass-box modernism that had dominated corporate architecture. The building became the poster child for postmodern architecture and sparked fierce debate in the architectural world.

The building's ground-floor arcade and atrium provided one of the more generous indoor POPS in Midtown, though access and configuration have changed through various ownership changes. The building underwent a major renovation in recent years.

550 Madison Avenue's architectural significance extends beyond its controversial silhouette: the building's granite facade, arched entrance, and public spaces represented a return to historical references in corporate architecture after decades of minimalist modernism.

This POPS provides public space at one of the most architecturally debated buildings of the 20th century, a tower that changed the conversation about what a skyscraper could look like.