The AT&T Building, later known as the Sony Tower, is a 37-story postmodern skyscraper at 550 Madison Avenue in New York City, designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee and completed in 1984 as the corporate headquarters of AT&T. Clad in pink granite rather than the glass curtain wall typical of corporate towers of its era, the building is best known for its Chippendale-style broken pediment roofline, an explicitly historical ornamental gesture on an otherwise blocky mass. The design was widely discussed on completion as a prominent break from modernist corporate architecture and is frequently cited as a landmark building of American postmodernism. AT&T sold the building in 1992, and it has since changed hands and names several times while its exterior form has remained a fixture of the Manhattan skyline.
Facts
Building TypeSourced to the subject's own account LocationSourced to the subject's own account550 Madison Avenue, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States 1 Completed YearSourced to the subject's own account Height (m)Sourced to the subject's own account Classification
Standing StatusSourced to the subject's own account Building Type
Building Type (category)Sourced to the subject's own account Connections
Designed By
Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, a landmark of Postmodern architecture.
Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, a landmark of Postmodern architecture.
Has Building Type
Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.
In Style
A defining early landmark of Postmodern architecture, famed for its Chippendale pediment.
Uses Element
Source AT&T Building (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. AT&T Building (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationlead section, first sentence
550 Madison Avenue (also 550 Madison; formerly known as the Sony Tower, Sony Plaza, and AT&T Building) is a postmodern-style skyscraper on Madison Avenue between 55th and 56th Streets in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S.
lead section, second sentence
Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee with associate architect Simmons Architects, the building is a 647-foot-tall (197-meter), 37-story office tower with a facade made of pink granite. It was completed in 1984 as the headquarters of AT&T Corp.
Entity description and the lead of the Wikipedia article
The AT&T Building, later known as the Sony Tower, is a 37-story postmodern skyscraper at 550 Madison Avenue in New York City, designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee and completed in 1984 as the corporate headquarters of AT&T. Clad in pink granite rather than the glass curtain wall typical of corporate towers of its era, the building is best known for its Chippendale-style broken pediment roofline, an explicitly historical ornamental gesture on an otherwise blocky mass. The design was widely discussed on completion as a prominent break from modernist corporate architecture and is frequently cited as a landmark building of American postmodernism. AT&T sold the building in 1992, and it has since changed hands and names several times while its exterior form has remained a fixture of the Manhattan skyline.
Uses Element: Granite, Introduction
a facade made of pink granite
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