Sculpture and Flag Above the Carlyle Galleries on Madison Avenue, Nov. 2006

The 5-story, limestone-clad Carlyle Galleries Building at 980 Madison Avenue across Madison Avenue from the Carlyle Hotel, [has been] the most prominent landmark on the Upper East Side west of Third Avenue since it was erected in 1930.

The Carlyle Galleries building was originally erected as a four-story building to house the Parke-Bernet auction house in 1950 by Robert Dowling as a "light-protector" for the Carlyle Hotel, which Mr. Dowling then owned. In 1987, 980 Madison was altered with the addition of many windows along its Madison Avenue frontage between 76th and 77th Streets and a fifth floor.

The building lies within the Upper East Side Historic District and the Madison Avenue Preservation Special District, which limits the height of new buildings to 210 feet.

The building is notable for a large sculpture over the entrance by Wheeler Williams.

Text from: www.thecityreview.com/mad980pp.html and www.cityrealty.com/new_developments/news.cr?noteid=9661