{"nrhp_refnum":"80002701","name":"McGraw-Hill Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"326 W. 42nd St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.75756966800006,"lon":-73.99156894820405,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-28","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1989-06-29","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 33-story skyscraper at 326 (also given as 330) West 42nd Street in Manhattan, running through the block to West 41st Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. Raymond Hood designed it in 1930 for the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, and it was built in 1930-31.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it was the first horizontally massed skyscraper and the first expression of the curtain wall in a high-rise. It links the ornamental towers of the 1920s and 1930s with the unornamented office towers of the mid-20th century. It also made a radical use of color and was an early multiple-use skyscraper.","narrative":"Rising more than thirty-three stories on West 41st and 42nd Streets in Manhattan, this tower was designed by Raymond Hood in 1930 for the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, which wanted office and printing space under one roof. Its main mass is unornamented, with continuous bands of windows alternating with blue-green terra-cotta that lightens toward the top. The ground floor and crown carry Art Deco detail, including curving blue and green enameled steel bands at the entrance. Inside, the corporate offices on the upper floors are Georgian in style. The nomination presents it as the first horizontally massed skyscraper and an early curtain-wall high-rise, and as a forerunner of the office towers built from the 1950s on. It was also an early multiple-use skyscraper and a bold experiment in color. Critics in 1931 were divided, but later scholars called it highly influential. Some original features have been lost, and the exterior needs restoration.","period_of_significance":"1930-31","architect_builder":"Raymond Hood","architectural_style":"Art Deco detailing on the ground floor, lobby and crown, with an unornamented, horizontally massed main tower; Georgian-style corporate offices inside","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in good condition, though neglected in recent years. The bronze entrance signs are gone, the rooftop sign has been painted over, the original elevator cabs were replaced, and much of the exterior color needs restoration.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.676728-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/80002701.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002701/ee97825cd9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002701/ee97825cd9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Dmadeo","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mcgraw-hill-42nd-st.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dmadeo</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mcgraw-hill-42nd-st.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319724","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/330_West_42nd_Street","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3303658"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/mcgraw-hill-building-80002701/"}