By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — A modernist Madison Avenue office tower where Bob Dylan once recorded and a Murray Hill mansion built in 1862 are the city's newest official landmarks.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission gave historical designations to the Middleton Burrill House, at 36 E. 38th Street, and the Look Building, at 488 Madison Avenue, at a public hearing on Tuesday.
The Look Building, a curved, multi-tiered, white-brick office tower that stands 21-stories tall was designed by Emery Roth & Sons and is named after the now-defunct Look Magazine, where Stanley Kubrick was reportedly once on staff.
The building has also been home to the likes of Esquire Magazine and music publisher Witmark & Sons, where a young Bob Dylan recorded a series of demos in 1962 and 1963, the Commission said.
The Look is one of a handful of buildings in the modernist style that have recently received status.
“The Commission has made it a point in recent years to protect those buildings that showcase the indelible imprint Modernism has left on New York City’s streetscapes," Commission Chairman Robert Tierney said in a statement announcing the designation.
In contrast, the ornate, Beaux Arts mansion on E. 38th Street features large, rusticated limestone arched openings, balustrades and a sweeping, partially curved staircase flanked by iron banisters.
“It recalls the period when Murray Hill was an exclusive enclave for the upper class, and is an impressive example of the Beaux Arts style,” Tierney said.
The building was converted into apartments in 1946.
The city now has more than 27,000 landmarked buildings across the five boroughs.
