Midtown Sizzler

550 Madison Gets the Rockwell Restaurant Treatment

Inside Bar Chimera, featuring a neon sculpture by artist Martin Creed

Photo: Jason Varney

The passageway to the main dining room of Cote 550

Photo: Jason Varney

Great architecture evolves—just take 550 Madison Avenue. In 1984, architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee completed the 37-story office tower as the Manhattan headquarters of AT&T. Clad in pink granite, the midtown skyscraper slyly reinterpreted classical forms, with three sections that evoked ancient Greek columns and a pediment interrupted by a circular opening.…