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100_Park_Avenue_Building.txt

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+100 Park Avenue Building
+
+The 100 Park Avenue Building, formerly known as the Medical Arts Building, is a high-rise in downtown Oklahoma City.  The 100 Park Avenue Building has 12 stories and is 160 feet (49 m) tall.  The building is constructed in the Art Deco style and was designed by Solomon Andrew Layton.[2]  It opened in 1923, at which point it was the tallest building in Oklahoma City.
+
+Architecture
+Art Deco style emphasizes geometric forms: spheres, polygons, rectangles, trapezoids, zigzags, chevrons, and sunburst motifs. Elements are often arranged in symmetrical patterns. Modern materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, Bakelite, chrome, and plastics are used. Colors tend to be vivid and high-contrast.[3][4][5][6][7]
+
+See also
+References
+
+
+This article about a building or structure in Oklahoma is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
+This article related to Oklahoma City is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

10_East_40th_Street.txt

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+10 East 40th Street
+
+
+
+10 East 40th Street or the Mercantile Building is a skyscraper on 40th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, in the middle of the block between Fifth and Madison avenues, extending back to 39th Street. Designed by Ludlow and Peabody and built by Jesse H. Jones, it was finished in 1929 and is an example of Renaissance Revival architecture.[2] When it was built, it was the fourth-tallest tower in the world.[3]
+
+It is 632 feet (193 m) high, with 48 floors, and contains 350,000 sq ft (33,000 m2) of office or mixed-use space.[2]
+
+History
+It was previously known as the Chase Tower, after its first tenant, Chase Brass & Copper. Its owner until his death in 1938 was Frederick William Vanderbilt. 
+
+During the 1970s, the building housed part of the Mid-Manhattan Library.[4] In September 2002, the building's lobby was renovated, restoring the 15-foot (4.6 m) ceilings. Current tenants include the Moroccan consulate.
+
+Last building on the direct current grid
+On November 14, 2007, the building became the final site to be removed from Thomas Edison's original direct current grid in New York City.[5]
+
+The building was completed in 1929 when 90 percent of the electricity in lower Manhattan was direct current.[6]  In that year New York Edison announced plans that it was going to convert the entire system to alternating current. The last 2 rotary converter substations generating direct current (at West 26th and West 39th Street) were retired in 1977 and the DC conversions were handled by solid-state rectifier units.  The 2007 event shifted the responsibility for providing the conversion from Con Edison to the building via a local converter.  Many of the buildings built in 1929 and before still use direct current with the local converter – most notably for elevators. The New York City Subway's third rail electric system is still direct current (with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority providing the local converters from AC to DC.[7]
+
+See also
+References
+External links

10th_Street_Market.txt

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+10th Street Market
+
+10th Street Market, also known as the Swan's Market, Oakland Free Market or the Sanitary Free Market, was a commercial market district in Oakland, California. 10th Street Market was built in 1917 and expanded in 1926. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on August 3, 2001.  It is now known as Swan's Marketplaces,[2] a mixed-use[3] commercial[4] and residential[5] area.[6] In 2001 Swan's Marketplace was awarded the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence silver medal.[7]
+
+See also
+References
+
+
+This article about a property in Alameda County, California on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

1100_Grand_Concourse.txt

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+1100 Grand Concourse
+
+1100 Grand Concourse is a co-operative apartment building located in the Concourse neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. It was built in 1928 and was originally called the John Ericsson Building; John Ericsson's name can still be found in several parts of the structure.  It has been considered by The New York Times as one of the most prominent residential buildings in the Bronx.[2]
+
+The building is part of the Grand Concourse Historic District.[1]
+
+Notable residents
+Image gallery
+References
+
+
+This article about a building or structure in the Bronx is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
+This article about a historic property or district in Bronx County, New York, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

111_Eighth_Avenue.txt

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+111 Eighth Avenue
+
+
+
+111 Eighth Avenue, also known as the Google Building and formerly known as Union Inland Terminal #1 and the Port Authority Building, is an Art Deco multi-use building in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Fifteen stories tall and occupying an entire city block, it has 2.9 million square feet (270,000 m2) of floor space, more than the Empire State Building.
+
+The Port of New York Authority began acquiring the land on the building's site in 1930, against the protests of local residents. It was completed in 1932 and served as an inland terminal for the Hudson River piers and as a warehousing and industrial facility. Occupancy fell to 50 percent in the 1970s due to the decline of industrial activity in Manhattan, and the Port Authority itself moved to the World Trade Center in 1973. In the 1990s the building began to attract tenants in the technology and telecommunications sectors. In 2010, the building was purchased for $1.8 billion by Google, who became its largest tenant; Google's presence helped attract other technology companies to Chelsea and contributed to the neighborhood's ongoing gentrification. Aside from Google, the building is also home to a cancer treatment center and a black box theater.
+
+Description
+111 Eighth Avenue occupies the full city block between Eighth and Ninth Avenues and 15th and 16th Streets in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.[1] The building, completed in 1932, was designed by Lusby Simpson of Abbott, Merkt & Co.[2][3] The building is 15 stories tall and has 2.9 million square feet (270,000 m2) of floor space, more than the Empire State Building;[4][a] the individual floors are nearly 4 acres (1.6 ha) in area and have 14.5-foot (4.4 m) ceilings.[5] It has a rooftop helipad[2] and penthouse floors on either end of the building.[9]
+
+Its exterior is in the Art Deco style[10] and features recurring seagull motifs.[5] The walls are largely made of brick, with granite bases; the first two stories are limestone, and copings and finials are of terracotta.[11] Because of the warehouse mission of the building, it was able to avoid some of the setback rules that greatly reduced the buildable space available for the skyscrapers that mark the Manhattan skyline.[12][13]
+
+Features
+Original use
+The building had a multipurpose design when it opened in 1932, with the first floor and basement designated as "Union Inland Terminal #1", which was to be used to transport goods by truck to and from railroad lines and shipping piers on the Hudson River.[14] Cargo was dropped off along 15th Street, sorted inside the building, and picked up from the 16th Street side.[15] The building included four truck elevators, each of which had a 40,000-pound (18,000 kg; 20-short-ton) capacity and could travel at up to 200 ft/min (61 m/min).[16] These elevators measured 17 by 34 feet (5.2 by 10.4 m) across, and they lifted trucks into pits measuring 3.5 feet (1.1 m) deep and 38 by 90 feet (12 by 27 m) across.[17] There were also 12 package elevators and 18 passenger elevators.[18] Freight companies used the elevators to deliver cargo directly to tenants, in contrast to other industrial buildings in New York City, where cargo was dropped off at ground level.[17]
+
+The second floor contained Commerce Hall, designed for exhibitions.[19] The upper floors were intended for manufacturing.[12][13] Each floor covered 165,000 sq ft (15,300 m2).[20] There were 16 loading docks on each floor.[21] On the 15th floor, which contained the Port Authority's offices, engineer Aymar Embury II designed a 325-seat auditorium decorated in green and blue. The New York Herald Tribune said was the "first auditorium designed for commercial purposes in a strictly commercial structure".[22]
+
+Current use
+The building's design retains vestiges of its original industrial purpose, including truck-sized freight elevators and floors built to support heavy loads.[1] As of 2008[update], two of its original truck elevators were still in use, in addition to nine other large freight elevators and fourteen passenger elevators.[9] The floors of the two lobbies originally each had a large bronze seal of the Port Authority embedded in them; one of these was removed and converted into a coffee table as a retirement gift for Port Authority director Austin J. Tobin.[23] It is also noted for its unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline.[24][5] The building has direct access to the 14th Street/Eighth Avenue station of the New York City Subway;[25] when the building opened, a staircase at 15th Street and Eighth Avenue led directly to the subway station in the basement.[26]
+
+History
+Union Inland Terminal #1 and Port Authority Commerce Building
+By the early twentieth century, the West Side of Manhattan was plagued with heavy traffic because of the tangle of street-level passenger and freight trains on the West Side Line, cargo unloading from the busy Hudson River piers, and the lack of suitable warehouse facilities.[7]: 140–151  The situation led the Port of New York Authority to commission the construction of a large inland terminal at 111 Eighth Avenue.[27] It was designed to alleviate the traffic problem by streamlining the distribution of goods within a single location. Instead of cargo being picked up directly at the piers, it would be brought to the building to be consolidated, where trucks could pick up all their cargo in a single stop.[5] A concurrent project, the West Side Improvement Project, replaced the West Side Line with the original High Line elevated railway, which ran a few blocks away from 111 Eighth Avenue; it began full operation in 1934.[28]
+
+Construction
+In May 1930, the Port Authority and all of the railroads in the Port of New York agreed to build a "union inland freight terminal" between Eighth Avenue, 15th Street, Ninth Avenue, and 16th Street.[29][30] The terminal was planned to cost $15 million and would include office space,[30][31] as well as large driveways and about 7 acres (28,000 m2; 300,000 sq ft) for sorting freight.[32] The structure was to be known as Inland Terminal No. 1 because the Port Authority hoped that similar freight terminals would be constructed across the city.[33] At the time of the announcement, the Port Authority already owned half of the block, which it had acquired for $1.5 million.[31] Most of the block had been occupied by houses, except for a factory in the middle of the block on 15th Street.[34] The New York City Board of Estimate approved the proposed terminal's site in June 1930.[35][36] The Port Authority acquired additional land on the building's site throughout the rest of the year, despite the protests of local residents.[37] By October 1930, the Port Authority had bought 85 percent of the site and was preparing to acquire the remaining buildings through condemnation.[38]
+
+A contract for the demolition of existing structures was awarded in December 1930.[34] Twelve railroads signed an agreement with the Port Authority to use the new terminal at the beginning of January 1931,[39][40] and contractors immediately began razing the site.[40][41] The Godwin Construction Company was contracted in April 1931 to excavate the site and construct the building's foundations.[42] A groundbreaking ceremony for the freight terminal, attended by New York State governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, took place on April 30, 1931.[43][44] That September, the Port Authority received bids for the construction of the building's superstructure; the Turner Construction Company submitted a low bid of $7.591 million.[45] Construction required 120,000 cubic yards of concrete, 65 miles of piping, and 12 million bricks,[11] as well as 160,000 barrels of cement.[46] The Port Authority also paid to widen the streets on all four sides.[47]
+
+Four hundred railroad managers were invited to inspect the new terminal on September 9, 1932.[48][49] Inland Terminal No. 1 was formally dedicated the next week, September 16, though the building was not at that time fully completed.[50][51] At the time it was the largest building in New York City.[11] The building ultimately cost $16 million;[50] the superstructure alone cost $8 million to $9 million.[33] Shippers and consignees began using a 265,000-square-foot (24,600 m2) freight terminal on the basement and first floor on October 3, 1932.[52] Only the basement and ground story were open at the time; the upper stories, intended for light manufacturing, were not expected to be completed until the end of the year.[53] Real-estate experts cited Inland Terminal No. 1 as one of several developments that were contributing to the growth of businesses in Chelsea.[54] The final dedication of the building occurred on February 25, 1933, with a ceremony attended by Port Authority, New York City, and New York state officials.[55][56] A banquet was held in one of the building's truck elevators to mark its dedication.[21]
+
+Opening and early years
+Tenants had begun moving into the upper stories even before the building's dedication.[57] By the beginning of 1933, eight hundred shipping firms were using the terminal to ship outbound freight, while fifty shippers received inbound freight there.[58] Upon the building's opening, the Port Authority leased the terminal to the New York Central Railroad, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Erie Railroad, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the Lackawanna Railroad,  the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, and the Central Railroad of New Jersey.[59] Each railroad paid the Port Authority ten cents for every 1 short ton (0.89 long tons; 0.91 t) of freight handled at the terminal.[60] The terminal was to be used by all shippers in Manhattan between Houston Street to the south and 23rd Street to the north.[61] At the time of construction it was estimated to be capable of handling one-third of the 680,000 annual tons of less-than-carload freight at the port.[59] Among the terminal's tenants during the 1930s were the Woolworth Company,[62] Rand McNally,[63] the New York Trust Company,[64] and offices of the Works Progress Administration.[65]
+
+The Port Authority hired Caldwell, Garvan & Bettini in October 1933 to construct a lobby, stair, and foyer for Commerce Hall on the building's second floor.[26] Commerce Hall opened on December 8, 1933, with an exhibit of Ford Motor Company vehicles.[19][66]  The terminal saw early success in reducing truck traffic to and from the railheads. For instance, on May 25, 1936, 250 trucks brought cargo to the building that was consolidated into only 37 trucks to take to the ferry terminals.[67] Commerce Hall hosted the National Business Show for several years in the 1930s.[67] By February 1938, all of the building's space had been rented, despite the ongoing Great Depression.[68] After Commerce Hall was closed in 1938, the floor was converted to regular commercial use.[69]
+
+1940s to early 1970s
+The Board of Estimate approved an agreement in 1940, in which the Port Authority would make annual $60,000 payments in lieu of taxes on the building.[70][71] The building remained 95 percent occupied at the time.[72] Its tenants during the early 1940s included Sears, Roebuck and Company,[73] as well as a regional office for the Second Corps Area.[74] In spite of a decline in freight traffic during World War II, the Port Authority retained a good credit rating and, by 1945, had drawn up plans for two new freight terminals in the New York metropolitan area.[75] The Port Authority's 1949 report noted a significant decrease in freight handling at the building due to an overall shift in Manhattan from rail to trucks for transporting goods.[76]: 80  Around this time, the Port Authority constructed additional inland terminals intended for truck traffic: the New York Union Motor Truck Terminal in 1949 and the Newark Union Motor Truck Terminal in 1950.[77]: 96 
+
+The Port Authority began erecting a helipad on the building's roof in November 1950,[78][79] and the helipad opened on May 31, 1951.[80][81] It was the site of an accident on July 13, 1955, when a Bell 47 helicopter operated by the Port Authority crashed shortly after take-off and fell, in flames, onto the fifteenth floor, where it became stuck. The pilot and his only passenger survived with injuries.[82][83] The last of the railroad companies left the building in 1963.[84] The shipping and manufacturing industries in Chelsea declined significantly during the 1960s, as firms moved from the neighborhood to elsewhere in the New York metropolitan area.[85] The building remained the Port Authority's headquarters until the agency moved to the new World Trade Center in 1973.[5]
+
+Sylvan Lawrence ownership
+The Port Authority sold 111 Eighth Avenue to Realopco Inc. – a company operated by brothers Sylvan Lawrence and Seymour Cohn, who also led the Sylvan Lawrence Company – for $24 million in July 1973.[86] The owners added a CCTV system, replaced existing manually-operated elevators with 12 automatic elevators, and refurbished the lobby, and they received a $25 million mortgage from Chase Manhattan Bank.[21] The building had a 40 percent vacancy rate in 1975,[87] a figure that increased the next year to 50 percent.[6] This was attributed to the decline of manufacturing in New York City and the ongoing national recession;[6] in addition, several tenants had vacated large blocks of space, including Interstate Stores and Atlantic Department Stores.[21] Mayor Abraham Beame proposed that the vacant space be leased to garment manufacturers, but many garment firms were loath to relocate.[88] After the Sorg Printing Company leased some of the vacant space, the occupancy rate increased to 75 percent by January 1977.[89] Occupancy had rebounded to 90 percent by 1979.[90]
+
+Following Lawrence's death in 1981, Seymour Cohn and Lawrence's widow Alice each acquired a 50 percent stake in 111 Eighth Avenue. Cohn and Alice Lawrence were unable to agree on what to do with 111 Eighth Avenue and three other buildings, leading to a protracted legal struggle.[91] During the 1980s and 1990s, the building attracted a number of a tenants in the computer industry, who were drawn by the large floor space.[84] In addition, numerous companies had moved their back office operations to 111 Eighth Avenue by the early 1980s.[92] The building was 80 percent occupied in 1992, with space renting at $8 to $18 per square foot ($86 to $194/m2).[84] By the late 1990s, the building was 87 percent occupied, and Sylvan Lawrence had leased out 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) during the preceding year. The building's largest tenants at the time included Citibank, the New York State Insurance Fund, and Prudential Securities.[15] The massive building served as a dwindling warehouse and back-office outpost through the end of the 1990s.[1]
+
+Taconic acquisition
+Cohn and Alice Lawrence agreed to sell off 111 Eighth Avenue and Lawrence's other three buildings in 1997.[91] Blackacre Capital Group and Taconic Investment Partners agreed to acquire the four buildings in November 1997 for $387 million;[93] the sale was finalized in January 1998.[94][95] Taconic marketed 111 Eighth Avenue as a carrier hotel for the new booming internet business, as the building had high ceilings, large floor plates, multiple fiber-optic connections, and five times the electrical capacity that typical tenants required.[94][96] This was coupled with the fashionable rise of the Chelsea neighborhood that surrounded it.[13][94] Taconic began a $50 million renovation,[24] replacing the building's wiring.[97] One-third of the space was leased to telecommunications companies and another one-third to advertising agencies and internet companies.[1] The new occupants could afford higher rents than the old industrial tenants.[98] 111 Eighth Avenue's new tenants also contributed to the gentrification of the surrounding neighborhood; as Crain's New York wrote in 1999: "The building's advertising and Internet professionals provide a natural market for lunch and nighttime eateries."[99]
+
+Although Taconic tried to screen potential telecommunications tenants by establishing strict net-worth requirements,[100] so many companies expressed interest in the building that Taconic had stopped accepting new telecommunications tenants by late 1999.[96] Average rents had more than doubled during the preceding two years, from $18 to $46 per square foot ($190 to $500/m2).[96]  A 70,000-square-foot (6,500 m2) cancer treatment center, designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects and operated by St. Vincent's Hospital,[15][101] opened in the building the same year.[102] The Eighth and Ninth Avenue lobbies were renovated in 2000 and 2004, respectively.[9] During the Northeast blackout of 2003, the building was able to keep power on, thanks to an underground fuel tank and 37 generators.[103]
+
+In 2006, the Atlantic Theater Company opened a 99-seat black box theater in the building,[104] and Lifetime Entertainment Services became its first cable television tenant.[24] Google opened its largest engineering office outside of California in the building in 2006, leasing 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) across three floors.[105] The Google workspace was noted for its campus-like and playful atmosphere, with perks including free food and a game room; The New York Times described it as "a vision of a workplace utopia as conceived by rich, young, single engineers in Silicon Valley, transplanted to Manhattan".[105]
+
+Google ownership
+In 2010, Google contracted to purchase the entire building from Taconic, in a deal reported to be worth around $1.8 billion, the biggest purchase of a U.S. office building of the year.[106][4] The deal was credited with helping revive the New York City commercial real estate market, which had slumped in the aftermath of the 2007 financial crisis.[107] After the purchase, Google was the largest tenant, with 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) of the building.[106] Taconic continued to manage the building under contract from Google.[108] Since its acquisition, the building has become popularly known as the "Google Building",[109] and it is regarded as the company's East Coast headquarters.[110]
+
+111 Eighth Avenue is adjacent to trunk fiber optic lines stretching from Hudson Street and continuing up Ninth Avenue.[2] That line at the time was owned by Lexent Metro Connect. There was speculation at the time of the acquisition that Google would use its strategic location to launch a Google Fiber operation in New York City. The Google Fiber plan never came to pass, and Google has denied it has any plans to bring it to New York City anytime in the near future, although in 2013 it did begin offering free Wi-Fi to its Chelsea neighbors.  The Lexent dark fiber line has been acquired by Lightower Fiber Networks.[111] The building's meet-me room in its carrier hotel was one of the main network interconnections in the city as of 2006.[112]
+
+In 2013 the first class of the newly created Cornell NYC Tech school began classes in the building, in space donated by Google. Classes continued in the building until the school moved to its new location on Roosevelt Island in 2017.[113] Despite the massive size of the acquisition, Google has still found itself having to rent space elsewhere because it has been unable to break the leases with some of its tenants, including Nike, Deutsch Inc., and Bank of New York.[114] After years of renting additional space across the street in the Chelsea Market, Google purchased that building in 2018.[115]
+
+Google's expansion in Chelsea helped attract other technology companies to the area and contributed to gentrification.[108] The New York Times described Google as drawing "relatively few complaints" in the neighborhood, and New York City Council speaker Corey Johnson called the company "a good neighbor", although some residents blamed it for changing the neighborhood's character and driving out smaller businesses.[108]
+
+See also
+Notes
+References
+External links

116_John_Street.txt

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+116 John Street
+
+116 John Street is a historic office tower at the southwest corner of John Street and Pearl Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It was built in 1931, and is a 35-story brick and terra cotta building consisting of a three-story base, a 19-story shaft, and 12 upper stories that recede in a series of setbacks. The building features Art Deco style design elements at the recessed entrances and in the lobby. Built as a speculative office building for insurance companies, the building interior was rehabilitated in 2013 and some floors converted to apartments.[2]: 3–4, 7 
+
+It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.[1]
+
+References
+External links
+ Media related to 116 John Street (Manhattan) at Wikimedia Commons
+
+
+
+This article about a historic property or district in Manhattan, New York City, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
+This article about a building or structure in Manhattan is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

11th_Street_Bridge.txt

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+11th Street Bridge
+
+
+
+The 11th Street Bridge was completed in December 1915 to carry vehicles across the Arkansas River at Tulsa, Oklahoma. Used from 1916 to 1972, it was also a part of U.S. Route 66.[1] Functionally, it has been replaced by the I-244 bridges across the Arkansas. As of 2009, the bridge was in poor structural condition and unsafe even for pedestrians. In 2008, the gates were locked to exclude all visitors.[2]
+
+This bridge was added on December 13, 1996, to the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and C. Its NRIS number is 96001488.[3] Its listing was consistent with evaluations of historic resources on Route 66 in Oklahoma completed in 1994 and 2003 studies.[4][5] It was named the "Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge" in 2004.[6][a]
+
+Although the bridge still stands, it is considered unsafe for use and has been closed to vehicles since 1980 and to pedestrians since 2008.[6]
+
+Construction
+Engineered by Harrington, Howard and Ash of Kansas City, this bridge replaced an earlier wooden structure.[b] It was built by the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company for $180,000. A multi-span concrete arch bridge, with 18 spans, it was 1,470 feet (450 m) long and 34 feet (10 m) wide. It had a railroad track in the center and one vehicular lane on each side of the track.[6]
+
+At the time, it was notable for several reasons:[8]
+
+In 1929, the original balustrades and Victorian-style lights were replaced with Art Deco guardrails and lights. A 1934 project constructed a second arched bridge immediately downstream and connected both bridges with a single deck. This brought the deck width to 52 feet 8 inches, with a roadbed that was 40 feet (12 m) wide and accommodated four lanes of traffic.[6]
+
+Obsolescence
+Completion of the I-244 bridges in 1967 removed most vehicular traffic from the 11th street bridge. In 1980, it was closed to traffic, although it remained open to pedestrians. In 1996, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[6] In 2004, the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, formally renamed the Eleventh Street Bridge (which carried US 66 over the Arkansas River), the Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge in honor of the man who vigorously promoted the creation of Route 66.[9]
+
+Present condition
+Time has not been good to the old bridge, and it has been rated as "quite dangerous" and unsafe for pedestrians by the City of Tulsa. There are holes in the deck, the pavement has buckled in many places, and weeds grow in the cracks. The gates were locked in 2008. Although it was considered as the centerpiece of a Route 66 exhibit, engineers estimated that it would cost $15 million just to be made safe for pedestrians. The conclusion was that the historic structure is "... too expensive to repair, too historic to demolish, and too valuable to ignore".[2]
+
+Ironically, the I-244 bridges have already reached the end of their service lives. The westbound bridge was closed and demolition begun in May 2011. Demolition was 85 percent complete as of August 1, 2011. The demolished structure will be replaced by a double-deck, multimodal span. The top deck will carry vehicles and the lower deck will have a pedestrian way and two railroad tracks (to be added in the future). Completion is scheduled for 2013. Extreme care has been used during the demolition to avoid vibrations that might further damage the old 11th Street Bridge.[10]
+
+Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza
+The ability to utilize the existing bridge, rather than having to build another one over the Arkansas, was said to be the major reason U.S. Route 66 was built through Tulsa.[11]  In commemoration of the Route and the man who helped bring it about, the Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza is located adjacent to the east entrance of the historic Bridge in Tulsa, at the intersection of Southwest Boulevard and Riverside Drive.[12] The first phase of the plaza included a display of flags of the eight states which were served by U.S Route 66. It was completed in July 2008 and dedicated on August 7, 2008.[13] A skyway with an observation deck leads pedestrians from the visitors' parking lot across Southwest Boulevard.[14][c]
+
+The plaza features a bronze sculpture, created by artist Robert Summers titled "East Meets West". The sculpture is 14 feet (4.3 m) long, 18 feet (5.5 m) wide and 14 feet (4.3 m) high. The sculpture depicts the Avery family riding west in a Model T Ford auto meeting an eastbound horse-drawn carriage.[14] It weighs over 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) and cost about $1.178 million.[15]
+
+In 2020, Avery Plaza Southwest is scheduled to open, at the west end of the Bridge. Plans include replicas of three neon signs from Tulsa-area motels from the era, being the Will Rogers Motor Court. Tulsa Auto Court, and the Oil Capital Motel.[16]
+
+Proposed museum
+A museum to educate visitors about the significance of Route 66 has been proposed. It would be built on a hill adjacent to the existing parking lot. No date has been established for this project.[14]
+
+Notes
+References
+External links

120_Wall_Street.txt

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+120 Wall Street
+
+
+
+120 Wall Street is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It was completed in 1930.[2] The building is 399 ft (122 m) tall, has 34 floors, and is located on the easternmost portion of Wall Street, and also borders Pine Street and South Street. The architect was Ely Jacques Kahn of Buchman & Kahn.[1]
+
+The tower is tiered on three sides, forming the classic wedding-cake style outline emblematic of post-1916 Zoning Resolution New York skyscrapers. The setbacks recede in shallow formations from a large 16-story platform. Red-granite panels frame wide-paned commercial windows at street level as part of the five-story limestone base.[3]
+
+The building has 615,000 square feet (57,100 m2) of space[2] and occupies a 23,000-square-foot (2,100 m2) lot.
+
+History
+Greenmal Holding Corporation (Henry Greenberg and David Malzman) acquired the site in 1928 from the American Sugar Company.[4][5] In February 1929, the company obtained a $4,050,000 construction loan for the building.[6][7] The cost was estimated at $12,000,000, with the edifice resting upon a 51 caisson deep foundation.[8]
+
+The building opened in March 1930.[9] The original anchor tenant of the building was the American Sugar Refining Company.[5][3] New York Life Insurance Company bid $1,000,000 to foreclose a $5,569,605 lien against the skyscraper at a June 26, 1933 foreclosure auction.[4] 120 Wall Street was the only major high-rise building on the East River downtown waterfront for many years until the post-1970s construction boom.
+
+In 1980, the 120 Wall Company, LLC, an affiliate of Silverstein Properties, acquired the building for $12 million.[2][10][3] In 1992, in cooperation with the city's Economic Development Corporation, Silverstein Properties obtained the designation of 120 Wall Street as New York City's only Association Center.[2][11] The designation creates reduced rents for not-for-profit organizations. Tenants include The New Press, AFS Intercultural Programs, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, Pacifica Foundation WBAI-FM, the Lucis Trust & World Goodwill, the world headquarters locations of the National Urban League, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The United Negro College Fund, the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Lambda Legal.[citation needed] Concepts of Independence, a consumer organization for the disabled, is also a tenant.[12]
+
+In October 2020, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup provided a $165 million mortgage loan.[13]
+
+References
+Notes
+
+Sources
+
+External links

130_Cedar_Street.txt

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+130 Cedar Street
+
+
+
+130 Cedar Street, formerly known as the Green Exchange Building, is a mid-rise building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is located between Cedar Street and Albany Street running along Washington Street, sharing a block with 90 West Street. It was built in 1931 and was designed by Renwick, Aspinwall & Guard.[1]
+
+History
+A supermarket opened at 130 Cedar Street in 1999.[2]
+
+When the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, 130 Cedar Street was completely ravaged. Hundreds of tons of fiery debris rained down onto the building. The top of the building's northeast corner completely collapsed under the debris. A column section from the tower penetrated the 10th floor roof slab. The projectile impacts also lit fires, which occurred primarily above the 9th floor. Fire damage was evident on the 11th and 12th floors in the northwest corner. The Amish Market on the ground floor was completely destroyed and burned, later relocating further uptown.[1] The World Trade Farmers Market was closed completely.[3] Several concrete columns were cracked, possibly from the impact. Several bays at the northeast corner were severely damaged by debris.[1][4]
+
+After the attacks, the building was uninhabitable and lost all of its tenants. Several human remains were found in 2002.[4]
+Like many buildings in the area, 130 Cedar Street had to be thoroughly decontaminated after the damage it sustained during the September 11 attacks.[5]
+
+In 2004, it was announced that the office building would be transformed into a hotel.[5][6] After many years of revitalization, the building was finally reopened as a Club Quarters hotel. During the restoration process, seven new floors built in a more modern style were added, making the building 19 stories tall.[7][8]
+
+References
+40°42′35″N 74°00′50″W / 40.709798°N 74.013925°W / 40.709798; -74.013925
+
+This article about a building or structure in Manhattan is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

140_New_Montgomery.txt

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+140 New Montgomery
+
+140 New Montgomery Street is a 26-floor Art Deco mixed-use office tower located in San Francisco's South of Market district, close to the St. Regis Museum Tower and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[2] Constructed in 1925 as a modern headquarters for The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co., it was originally known as The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company Building or simply the Telephone Building,[2][1] and, after 1984, as The Pacific Bell Building or The PacBell Building.[citation needed]
+
+When it opened on May 30, 1925, The Pacific Telephone Building was San Francisco's first significant skyscraper development, and was the tallest building in San Francisco, until the Russ Building matched its height in 1927 at the time of its completion.[2][11][12] The building was the first high-rise south of Market Street, and along with the Russ Building, remained the city's tallest until it was overtaken by 650 California Street in 1964.  It was the first high rise located on the west coast to be occupied solely by a single tenant.[12]
+
+AT&T sold the building in 2007. As of 2013, Internet company Yelp was the main tenant.[14][15] Yelp moved out in 2021 following a rise in remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
+
+History
+The building was designed to consolidate numerous smaller buildings and outdated offices into a modern headquarters for The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co., and as a result, was designated as the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. Coast Division Offices by the company, though referred to colloquially as The Telephone Building.[16][11]
+
+The building's architecture was influenced by Eliel Saarinen's Tribune Tower design, in particular regarding the setbacks on the higher floors.[1]
+
+In reference to the Bell System - which The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. was a member of at the time of construction - the façade featured bell motifs in many locations, most notably surrounding the arch over the main entrance doors on New Montgomery Street. The decorations near the base and in the lobby also include references to the candlestick telephone and the pneumatic tube, some of the most modern communication technologies in use at the time.[1] After the breakup of the Bell System (AT&T) in 1984,[17] and the formation the Regional Bell Operating Companies, also known as the Baby Bells, Pacific Telephone changed its name to Pacific Bell.
+
+Statues of eight eagles (each 13 feet (4.0 m) in height) perch atop the tower's crown.[18][19]  The building has an L—shaped floor plan, and the architecture decoratively incorporates spotlights to show the exterior's terra cotta ornamentation day and night.[16]
+
+In 1929, Sir Winston Churchill visited the building and made his first transatlantic telephone call, phoning his London home.[20][21][8]
+
+For 44 years until 1978, the top of the roof was used to convey official storm warnings to sailors at the direction of the United States National Weather Service, in the form of a 25 feet (7.6 metres) long triangular red flag by day, and a red light at night.[8]
+
+The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake did only minor damage to the building, affecting parts of the terracotta cladding and requiring the eight eagle sculptures to be replaced with fiberglass replicas.[1]
+
+In the 21st century
+In 2006, AT&T moved out of the building, following its merger with SBC Communications.[1] In 2007, the PacBell Building was sold by AT&T to Stockbridge Capital Group and Wilson Meany Sullivan for US$118 million.[22] In 2008, the new owners filed plans to convert the tower into 118 luxury condominiums. However, those plans were put on hold during the 2008 financial crisis, and the building sat empty for nearly six years.[23]
+
+Following a surge in office demand in 2010–2011, Wilson Meany Sullivan changed the plans back to office space.[23] Major renovation work began in February 2012, to improve the building's seismic performance, install all–new mechanical, electric, plumbing and fire sprinkler systems, and preserve and restore the building's historic lobby, at an estimated cost of US$80–100 million.[24] In 2012, Yelp announced it had signed a lease on the building's 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of office space through 2020.[25] After two expansions, the company held a total of almost 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2) on 13 floors in the fall 2015.[14]
+
+In April 2016, Pembroke Real Estate Inc., a Boston–based REIT, acquired 140 New Montgomery as part of its portfolio — its second acquisition in San Francisco.[6][26][27][28] According to property records, Pembroke paid US$284 million for the property, at around US$962 per square foot.[27][28]
+
+In 2021, Yelp did not renew its 2011 lease, and instead subleased a smaller space at nearby 350 Mission Street, due to the rise of remote work in the COVID-19 pandemic.[29] As of May 2023, during what the San Francisco Chronicle described as "Downtown San Francisco['s] worst office vacancy crisis on record," the building had a vacancy rate of 32.9%.[30]
+
+See also
+External links
+References

1411_Fourth_Avenue_Building.txt

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+1411 Fourth Avenue Building
+
+The 1411 Fourth Avenue Building is a historic building in Seattle, Washington, that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 28, 1991 (ID #91000633). The 15-story plus basement Art Deco structure is located at the Northwest corner of Fourth Avenue and Union Street. The main entrance is located at 1411 Fourth Avenue.
+
+The building was built in 1928 for the Stimson Realty Company under the direction of the Metropolitan Building Company for $1.1 million by Teufel & Carlson, contractors. Robert C. Reamer was the architect. The building was fully constructed within seven months in 1928, setting a record for a building of its size.[2]
+
+From 1997 to 2012 the ground floor housed Tully's Coffee flagship store on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Union Street.[3] The store was among those closed following Tully's bankruptcy protection filing.[4]
+
+In 2016, it was sold to the Onni Group for $29.6 million.[5]
+
+References
+External links

14_Wall_Street.txt

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+14 Wall Street
+
+
+
+14 Wall Street, originally the Bankers Trust Company Building, is a skyscraper at the intersection of Wall Street and Nassau Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The building is 540 feet (160 m) tall, with 32 usable floors.[b] The original 540-foot tower is at the southeastern corner of the site, and a shorter annex wraps around the original tower.
+
+The original tower was erected on the site of the Stevens Building at 12–14 Wall Street and the Gillender Building at 16 Wall Street. It was built in 1910–1912 and was designed by Trowbridge & Livingston in the neoclassical style as the headquarters for Bankers Trust. A 25-story addition with Art Deco detailing, designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, was constructed in 1931–1933 to replace three other structures. After new buildings for Bankers Trust were erected in 1962 and 1974, the company moved employees away from 14 Wall Street, and eventually sold the building in 1987.
+
+14 Wall Street's tower incorporates a seven-story pyramidal roof inspired by the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The interior of the building contained numerous amenities that were considered state-of-the-art at the time of its construction; the first three floors were used as Bankers Trust's headquarters, while the rest were rented to tenants. A notable building in Manhattan's skyline in the early 20th century, the building was featured prominently in Bankers Trust's early imagery. The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1997. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district created in 2007.
+
+Site
+14 Wall Street is in the Financial District of Manhattan, bounded by Nassau Street to the east, Wall Street to the south, and Pine Street to the north.[5] The lot has dimensions of 160 feet (49 m) on Wall Street, 173 feet (53 m) on Nassau Street, and 178 feet (54 m) on Pine Street.[6] The lot has a total area of 32,947 square feet (3,060.9 m2).[7] Nearby buildings include the Equitable Building to the north, Federal Hall National Memorial (formerly the sub-Treasury building) at 26 Wall Street to the east, 23 Wall Street to the southeast, the New York Stock Exchange Building to the south, 1 Wall Street to the southwest, and 100 Broadway to the west.[5][8] An entrance to the Broad Street station of the New York City Subway, serving the J and ​Z trains, is directly to the southeast.[9]
+
+The original building is located at the southeast corner of the site, which was previously occupied by the Stevens and Gillender buildings. In 1880, the Sampson family developed their lots along 12–14 Wall Street into the Stevens Building, which stood until 1910.[10] Sixteen years later, Helen L. Gillender Asinari, owner of the adjoining six-story office building on the northeast corner of Wall and Nassau Streets, decided to replace it with the 300-foot-tall (91 m), 20-story Gillender Building,[11] which was completed in 1897 and demolished in 1910.[12] The two lots, combined, had a nearly square footprint measuring about 100 by 100 feet (30 by 30 m).[12][c]
+
+The annex occupies the remainder of the plot and is L-shaped in plan.[15] Prior to the construction of the annex, the land below it was occupied by three buildings.[16] The seven-story Astor Building was located at 10–12 Wall Street, directly to the west of the original tower.[17][18] The Hanover National Building at 5–11 Nassau Street, erected in 1903,[19] was a 21-story building north of the original Bankers Trust Building, which extended to Pine Street.[16] The final building on the lot was 7 Pine Street, a 10-story building to the northwest of the original tower.[20]
+
+Architecture
+14 Wall Street is approximately 540 feet (160 m) tall, with 32 usable above-ground floors[b] and a seven-story pyramidal roof at its top, which contains seven storage levels.[2][21][12] In addition, 14 Wall Street contains four basement levels; the topmost basement is partially raised above ground level.[24] The original structure was designed by Trowbridge & Livingston for Bankers Trust and was built between 1910 and 1912.[25][14][26] An addition to the north and west was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and constructed between 1931 and 1933.[15][27] This addition is about 325 feet (99 m) tall.[18]
+
+14 Wall Street's "granite-clad roof and its specifically Greek architectural motifs", as described by architectural writer Sarah Landau, which were a departure from earlier designs.[14][28] The architects wrote that the style had been chosen for its "simplicity and grace, as well as its supreme dignity and seriousness", which fit both the site and the building's use.[21] Inspirations include the Erechtheion, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and "ancient Macedonian prototypes".[29]
+
+Form
+The original structure is a 39-story tower without any setbacks, composed of 32 stories topped by a seven-story roof.[30] The concept behind the original structure's design was to place a pyramidal roof, similar to that of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, on top of a tower like Venice's St Mark's Campanile bell tower.[14][31] Trowbridge wanted to enhance "the beauty of the upper part of building by a loggia and a stone pyramid, in place of the usual flat or mansard roof."[14][32] This was one of the first times a pyramidal roof had been used in a skyscraper (after only the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower);[33] previous tall structures had been capped by a cupola, spire, or tempietto.[34]
+
+The rest of the building is surrounded by a 25-story annex, which wraps around the western and northern sides of the original tower.[15][35] The Wall Street side has setbacks at the 15th, 22nd, and 25th floors and the Nassau Street side has a setback at the 23rd floor. The Pine Street side has a light court above the 11th story, which cuts through the center of that side.[30]
+
+Facade
+Original building
+The facade is clad with 8,000 short tons (7,100 long tons; 7,300 t) of New England granite from several quarries.[36][37][38] The original tower is arranged into four sections: a base of 5 stories, a midsection of 21 stories, a top section of 6 stories (including the 32nd-story penthouse), and the roof.[6] The base was originally four stories,[26] but the present third floor was added in the 1931–1933 renovation.[6] On each side are five window bays, each of which contain two windows per floor. The design of each side is largely identical, except that the western facade's midsection is made of brick rather than granite.[15] The windows originally had wood frames covered with metal.[39]
+
+Because 14 Wall Street was surrounded on all sides by other skyscrapers, thereby limiting visibility of the lower section, the lower floors were designed with intricate detail.[14] The upper basement and the first floor were arranged as a stylobate that supported a colonnade above it.[14][40] The basement facade is smooth, while the first-floor facade consists of rusticated blocks. An entrance porch, with the address 16 Wall Street, faces the Wall Street side. A colonnade above it spans the second through fourth floors.[30] The colonnade consists of Greek fluted columns, molded belt courses, and moldings and was "almost Puritanical in its simplicity".[38] The facade of the lower stories was rearranged slightly when the current third story was created, with new spandrel panels being added to separate the double-height windows that formerly spanned the double-height second story.[15] The fifth story is the topmost story of the base and has a deep cornice at the top.[41][42][30] The cornice contains motifs of lions' heads and rosettes.[26][41]
+
+The midsection begins at the sixth story and rises through the 26th story. It is mostly faced in buff-colored granite.[41][42][43] Each bay contains two windows.[41][43] There are slightly projecting vertical piers separating each bay, except at the corners, which have grooves that make them appear as though they were panels. There is a band course above the sixth floor.[43] Otherwise, the midsection lacks horizontal ornamentation.[40][43]
+
+The 27th through 31st stories are decorated with engaged Ionic columns in antis.[31] On the 27th through 29th stories, the north, east, and south facades are set back behind colonnades, while the west facade extends outward to the columns of the colonnade.[43] Trowbridge and Livingston had wanted the colonnade on the 27th through 29th stories to contain double columns, as they believed a colonnade of single columns did not suggest "a sufficient massiveness to correspond with the building as a whole"./[40] Rectangular windows are located on the 30th and 31st stories, with a cornice between the stories.[43] The 32nd floor is slightly set back and serves as a penthouse.[31][43] A molded cornice runs above the 32nd story.[43] The roof is made of massive granite blocks and measures 94 feet (29 m) tall, with a base of 70 feet (21 m) square.[44][39] There are 23[39] or 24 steps between the bottom and top of the roof;[34] each step measures 3 feet 9.25 inches (1.1494 m) high and 1 foot 4 inches (0.41 m) deep.[39] The roof also has a smokestack measuring 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter, from which smoke is ventilated[39][45]
+
+Annex
+The annex's facade is made of granite at the base and limestone on the upper stories.[30][35] It was designed to defer to the "solid and robust architecture" of the original building.[46] The facade of the annex is arranged in two styles. The Wall Street facade contains setbacks at lower stories, and the window arrangement is aligned with that of the original building.[15] The base consists of four stories. Like the original tower, the first floor is rusticated, and the second through fourth floors contain a colonnade. On upper stories, wide piers divide each bay, and narrow piers divide each window.[43] The piers are ribbed and are designed in a modernistic style.[35] The spandrels between each row of windows are ornamented aluminum panels.[35][43] The combination of piers, spandrels, and windows create a pattern of vertical striping.[47]
+
+The Pine Street and Nassau Street facades are more modern in design, with motifs in the Modern Classic and Art Deco styles. Due to variations in the lot lines on the annex's site, the annex projects 16 feet (4.9 m) further onto the street than did the original building.[6] In addition to an entrance at the center of the annex's Nassau Street side, there are service entrances on Pine Street.[48] The annex facades contain carved ornament, curved piers at the base, wrought-iron gates and grilles, and an eagle sculpture above the entrance on Nassau Street.[15][35] There are five bays on Nassau Street and eleven on Pine Street; the bays each contain between one and three windows.[43] The base is two stories tall, excluding the basement, which is partially visible as Nassau Street slopes downward from Pine Street toward Wall Street. The design of the upper stories' facade is similar to that on the Wall Street side.[48]
+
+Structural features
+For the foundation of 14 Wall Street, caissons were sunk around the site's perimeter, reaching to the layer of rock 65 feet (20 m) below the street. Concrete was then poured in between these caissons to create a watertight cofferdam[14][49] measuring 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 m) thick.[45][50] The membrane was needed because the surrounding ground was filled with quicksand.[14][28][50] Afterward, the lot was excavated, the Gillender Building's foundations were removed, and deep foundations were placed within the lot.[49] Due to high pressure on the cofferdam, temporary timber trusses were used to brace the cofferdam.[24] A 3-foot-thick (0.91 m) pad of concrete, overlaid with waterproof cement, was then placed at the bottom of the pit. The method was not only cheaper than the then-standard method of driving caissons down to bedrock, but also provided more basement space,[14] as the basements were not interrupted by piers for the foundation.[45]
+
+The superstructure contains more than 8,000 short tons (7,100 long tons; 7,300 t) of steel.[24][37][39] The second floor does not contain any columns because of the elaborate network of heavy trusses used to support the outer walls.[24][37][51] "Unusually heavy bracing" is used to support the fourth floor.[24][52] There are also four large trusses, two each at the fifth and 29th floors; they each measure 12 feet (3.7 m) thick and weigh 50 short tons (45 long tons; 45 t).[52] A standard girder-and-column steel structure is used for the rest of the building.[24] The steel frame includes about 39 tiers of beams, which extend to 537 feet (164 m) above ground. Thirty-six columns carry the building's estimated dead load of 47,102 short tons (42,055 long tons; 42,730 t).[45] The largest columns are 500 feet (150 m) tall and carry loads of up to 2,200 short tons (2,000 long tons; 2,000 t).[36]
+
+Interior
+The builders ensured that 14 Wall Street would be constructed with fireproof material. Metal was used in place of the wood trim that was used for decoration in other buildings, and a sprinkler system was placed in the roof.[21][14][44]
+
+Bankers Trust offices
+Bankers Trust's offices occupied basement levels A and B, as well as the first, second, and fourth stories.[53][54][a] The offices housed the banking, trust, and foreign departments of Bankers Trust.[22] These offices were designed "in a pure classic style"; the metalwork in the offices was a light-colored bronze, while Italian marble lined the main banking spaces on the first and second floors.[44][38] At the time of the building's opening, The Bankers Magazine observed that the offices used modular equipment that could be moved easily in case the company needed to expand. Further, the floor surfaces were made of cork, and each department had telephone service.[55] Pneumatic tube systems made it easy to send papers between different departments and to a lawyer's office on the 26th story.[45][55]
+
+The second floor contained the main banking room, with tellers' windows, trust departments, and other banking departments.[54] The main banking room was designed in a Greek style[56] and had 27-foot-high (8.2 m) ceilings;[57] the walls were clad in Tavernelle marble for their full height.[45] The tellers' counters  originally aligned with the exterior windows.[30] There was a small room on the south side of the second floor, which was dedicated to Henry Pomeroy Davison of the bank's executive committee.[54] Three elevators connected the Bankers Trust office floors and rose only to the fourth floor.[38][44][54] Unusual for buildings of the time, the lower portion of the shared elevator shaft was covered in marble, while the upper portion was plate glass.[34][38]  The fourth floor contained the boardroom and clerical force.[36][54] The boardroom's walls and table were made of Circassian walnut, and there was enough space for 38 people to sit around the table.[54]
+
+At the center of the Wall Street side, a wide staircase led to the first floor. Initially, this was the main entrance to the Bankers Trust offices.[44] The lobby contains a bronze gate with symbols of capitalist enterprises such as metallurgy, shipping, construction, power, agriculture, manufacturing, and mining.[41] Allegorical paintings in the lobby depicted similar motifs.[56] When the building was expanded from 1931 to 1933, the former banking room on the first floor was converted into an officers' seating area, and the floor level was raised to harmonize with the new extension. The double-height second story was divided into two stories, and the third story was created.[15][a] The new addition, with the address 16 Wall Street, contained a T-shaped banking room covering 10,000 square feet (930 m2), with "a forest of squared-off, trunk-like columns clad in Oregon myrtle".[58] The new banking room's coved ceiling was 27 feet (8.2 m) tall.[35][58]
+
+Basements
+The building has four basement levels, two of which were occupied by Bankers Trust's safe-deposit vault.[36] Described by The Bankers Magazine as "the strongest vault in the world", the vault measured 28 by 32 feet (8.5 by 9.8 m) across.[59] The vault weighed 1,550 short tons (1,380 long tons; 1,410 t) and had 160 safe-deposit boxes;[22] the vault door alone weighed 40 short tons (36 long tons; 36 t).[22][59] The vault walls were 28 inches (710 mm) thick, with 24 inches (610 mm) of concrete and 4 inches (100 mm) of "shock and drill-proof steel".[59] This would prevent both standard explosives and oxyacetylene cutters from penetrating the vault. The columns and beams that reinforce the vault are so strong that "a shock sufficient to disturb the vault would bring the building down in ruins upon it".[60] Inside, the vault was split into numerous aisles with combination locks; each safe in the vault required two officers to open.[61]
+
+When the building was completed, the basement also had a mail carriers' station, where couriers could collect packages and deliver them to tenants.[45] The third basement contained ventilation openings and fans, while the fourth and deepest basement contained the power and steam plants.[51]
+
+Upper stories
+The remaining stories were rented to various tenants.[62] The office stories contained floor surfaces made of concrete, as well as walls of marble, plaster, and terracotta.[44] As a fireproofing measure, the doors, window sash, and trim were made of metal; the trim was then finished to look like mahogany.[39][44] Each story contained ornate bronze mailboxes that were connected to a set of mail chutes.[45] A continuous 531-step staircase runs from the third floor to the 29th floor.[38] When the building first opened, entry to these floors was via an entrance on the western portion of the Wall Street facade, where a passageway linked to the Hanover Bank Building to the north.[44] During the 1931–1933 expansion, a new entrance was built on Pine Street.[15] The annex's lobby was designed in the Art Deco style.[63] Each story in the annex is at the same height as in the original building, allowing for continuous floor slabs across both structures;[64] the expanded floor slabs cover about 23,000 square feet (2,100 m2) each.[18] The upper stories of the annex have ceiling heights of 13 feet (4.0 m).[18]
+
+A system of eleven elevators connected the lobby to the rental floors, consisting of five "express" elevators, five "local" elevators, and one "relief" elevator.[44][36][65] The "express" elevators ran nonstop from the lobby to the 16th story and above.[54] The "local" elevators served the lower floors, and the "relief" elevators served all floors.[44][36][65] There was an additional elevator serving the 30th through 38th floors.[36][65][d] The elevator lobbies contained Botticino-marble walls and travertine floors.[45] As of 2023[update], the building has 34 elevators.[1]
+
+The present-day 32nd floor, the highest story beneath the roof,[e] was supposed to have been an apartment, which J. P. Morgan had an option to occupy. He chose not to pursue the option due to antitrust proceedings ongoing against Bankers Trust at the time of the building's completion,[8][34] and the space was instead converted to an observation deck.[66] The space measured 70 by 70 feet (21 by 21 m) and was illuminated by 36 windows.[67] The New York Times reported at the building's 1912 opening that $250,000 had been spent on "teakwood furniture, priceless rugs, luxurious baths, and a private observation balcony", though it was "entirely devoid of furniture".[68] The balcony was surrounded by an iron railing on three sides and was glassed-in on the remaining side.[69] Christopher Gray, an architectural critic for the Times, wrote in 2007 that there had been unsubstantiated rumors that Morgan used the apartment as a private getaway.[34] The 32nd floor contained an upscale French restaurant called The 14 Wall Street from 1997[70] to 2006.[71] Under the roof were 47 storage rooms,[39][45][54] as well as records, a sprinkler tank, a water tank, and elevator equipment.[31][45]
+
+History
+Context and land acquisition
+Bankers Trust was founded in 1903 when a number of commercial banks needed a vehicle to enter the trusts and estates market.[8][72][73] The company originally was located at Liberty and Washington Streets, with eight staff working in two basement rooms.[74] The Bankers Trust ultimately acquired space in the Gillender Building,[75][76] having been induced to move there because of the proximity of the New York Stock Exchange.[75] The company, with J. P. Morgan on the board,[75] grew rapidly and intended to land itself permanently in the "vortex of America's financial life".[77]
+
+During the latter part of the decade, financial institutions such as the Bank of Montreal, the Fourth National Bank, and the Germania Life Insurance Company acquired properties on Wall and Nassau Streets.[10] Bankers Trust started to negotiate the purchase of the Gillender Building in April 1909.[11] The bank first obtained the adjacent seven-story Stevens Building; that July, the trust leased the Stevens Building for 84 years at a cost of $1.5 million.[10][f] At the time, the press reported that Bankers Trust would erect a 16-story office building wrapping around the Gillender Building.[10] George B. Post, hired as a "professional advisor", proposed the new building as an L-shaped structure.[32]
+
+In November, Bankers Trust finalized an agreement to buy the Gillender Building from Helen Gillender.[11] The next month, the Manhattan Trust Company acquired the Gillender Building for $1.5 million (equivalent to $50,867,000 in 2023), then a record amount for land in New York City.[11][78] Manhattan Trust then resold the Gillender Building to Bankers Trust[8][76] for $1.25 million (equivalent to $42,389,000 in 2023),[12] although Manhattan Trust retained long-term lease rights for the ground floor as well as various other spaces. According to The New York Times, Manhattan Trust and Bankers Trust had colluded to acquire the Gillender Building.[76] During this time, Bankers Trust acquired a majority share in the Guaranty Trust Company; the same people served on both companies' boards of directors,[8][79] although Guaranty Trust built a new headquarters for itself rather than move to 14 Wall Street.[80] Bankers Trust and the Mercantile Trust Company also merged,[8][81] but, because Mercantile Trust's headquarters burned in a January 1912 fire, this affected planning for the new building.[8] Bankers Trust absorbed Manhattan Trust in February 1912: both companies had been owned by Morgan, and the proximity of the companies' spaces was cited as a reason for the merger.[82][83]
+
+Construction and early use
+To maximize land utilization, Bankers Trust desired to build a structure taller than either the Gillender or Stevens buildings.[14][32]  To "obtain the very best results" for the design, in 1909, Bankers Trust requested plans from four architects and architecture firms: Carrère and Hastings, Francis H. Kimball, Trowbridge and Livingston, and Warren and Wetmore.[32][84] Ultimately, Trowbridge and Livingston's bid was accepted.[32][73] The firm submitted plans for 14 Wall Street to the New York City Department of Buildings on April 20, 1910.[85]
+
+Initial building
+The first stage of construction commenced in April 1910 with the demolition of the Gillender Building,[12] which The New York Times claimed to be the first skyscraper that was demolished to make way for a taller skyscraper.[13] Demolition of the Stevens Building started the same month,[12] and both buildings had been demolished by June 1910.[49][86] After the site had been cleared, foundation work was started.[49][73] Foundational work was stymied due to the quicksand in the ground, as well as the presence of redundant supports underneath the Gillender Building's site and the proximity of other buildings.[28] Steel superstructure construction commenced after foundational work was completed in November 1910,[37] and the steel had reached the ground level by December 20, 1910.[45] Facade work commenced in February 1911,[36] with contractor Marc Eidlitz & Son erecting the facade at a rate of three-and-a-half stories per week.[37] The building topped out on June 14, 1911.[45] The stonework was completed by September 15, 1911, except for the pyramid, for which there had been a minor change in design.[36]
+
+The basements and the three lower floors were to contain the headquarters of Bankers Trust, although its main operations would be housed elsewhere in less expensive offices.[53] Most of the upper floors were slated to be rented to other companies.[62][87] By May 1911, The Wall Street Journal reported that "a large amount of office space" had already been rented in the building. Asking rates for rental space was $4 per square foot ($43/m2), equivalent to $131 per square foot ($1,410/m2) in 2023; this rate was higher than in other buildings in the area due to 14 Wall Street's proximity to the New York Stock Exchange.[88] That November, The Wall Street Journal reported that the building was 65% rented.[89] In April 1912, a month before the building's opening, a parachutist jumped from the 32nd floor of 14 Wall Street,[e] landing on the roof of 26 Wall Street.[90]
+
+14 Wall Street officially opened on May 1, 1912,[22] and Bankers Trust began moving into its offices on May 20.[91] Upon opening, the building was 85% rented.[87][91] J.P. Morgan & Co. had originally planned to move into 14 Wall Street, with Morgan occupying the 32nd-story apartment,[e] but these plans were canceled shortly after the building opened.[68] After Bankers Trust was investigated by the U.S. Congress's Pujo Committee for monopolistic practices, J.P. Morgan & Co. built another structure to the southeast at 23 Wall Street.[8][34] By 1917, Bankers Trust had become a full-service bank, and one of the country's wealthiest financial institutions.[62] Bankers Trust, having rented out the upper floors, found their existing space to be inadequate by the 1920s, with more than four times as many staff as in 1912. As a result, the company took up space in the Astor and Hanover Bank buildings.[84]
+
+Annex
+Bankers Trust began land acquisition in 1919, acquiring the Astor Building that June[92] and the building at 7 Pine Street two months later.[17][20] The Hanover Bank Building was not acquired until September 1929. By that time, Bankers Trust owned the eastern half of the block bounded by Broadway and Wall, Pine, and Nassau Streets.[16][18] Architect Richmond Shreve described the situation as "[falling] short of a true expression of the [company's] position".[93][94] Shreve's firm, Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, had created plans for an annex to the building by January 1931.[95][96] The firm filed plans for the $5.5 million edifice with the New York City Department of Buildings later the same month.[97][98] The Thompson–Starrett Company was hired as the general contractor for the annex.[64]
+
+Staff at 14 Wall Street were moved to a temporary location when work began in May 1931,[99][100] and the Hanover Bank, Astor, and 7 Pine Street buildings were being razed by the next month.[64][101][102] Workers used dynamite to clear the site of the annex. This damaged two nearby buildings near the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway, including the headquarters of the First National Bank of New York (now Citibank), which was demolished in late 1931.[103] First National Bank sued Bankers Trust and the project's contractors for $881,500 in April 1932, alleging that the excavations had damaged its adjoining building at Broadway and Wall Street.[104][105] The case lasted for two years, and First National Bank was awarded $237,500 in damages in January 1934, about a quarter of what it had sued for.[106][107] In addition, Bankers Trust was released from all liability for any damage caused during construction.[108][109]
+
+Meanwhile, in November 1931, contractors began working in two five-hour shifts per day instead of one eight-hour shift, doubling the number of jobs as well as increasing daily productivity.[110] The 25-story annex was completed in 1932, and the staff moved back into 14 Wall Street.[99] The bank hired brokers Brown, Wheelock, Harris & Co. that October to lease out its former space in the original structure.[111] The old building's main entrances were relocated, and its third story was also added;[15] these renovations were completed in March 1933.[99] The project tripled 14 Wall Street's rentable area.[112][84] Bankers Trust officially opened the annex on April 10, 1933, moving into seven stories of the annex.[100][113][114]
+
+Later use
+Bankers Trust occupancy
+The Bankers Trust Company had assets of $1 billion by 1935.[15] As a sign of the company's financial stability, in 1943, Bankers Trust bought the land under 14 Wall Street from the Sampson family, whose Stevens Building had been demolished to make way for the original tower.[115] The building was outfitted with a modern air-conditioning system in 1955.[116] During this era, the bank continued to grow through mergers.[15] The bank's second headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, at 280 Park Avenue, opened in 1962,[117] though Bankers Trust retained occupancy at 14 Wall Street.[15] The facade of 14 Wall Street was cleaned during the mid-1960s.[118] When One Bankers Trust Plaza was completed in 1974, more employees were relocated out of 14 Wall Street and four other locations.[119] Afterward, the eighth through 23rd floors of the Bankers Trust Building were vacant, representing 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2), though these floors were gradually rented to other tenants.[120]
+
+Bankers Trust retained ownership of 14 Wall Street until 1987, when the building was sold to 14 Wall Street Associates, who subsequently sold the building to 14 Wall Street Realty in 1991 and to General Electric Investment in 1992.[15] After buying 14 Wall Street, General Electric Investment started to renovate the building for $7 million.[121] Though Bankers Trust retained a lease through the building until 2004, with an option to cancel in 1995, the company vacated the space earlier in 1992. Manufacturers Hanover and the Chemical Bank then occupied the space that Bankers Trust had formerly used.[122]
+
+Subsequent occupancy
+Boston Properties agreed to buy 14 Wall Street for $320 million in August 1997,[123] and the 32nd floor was converted into an upscale French restaurant called The 14 Wall Street that November.[70][124] The tenant of the annex's banking room, Chase Bank, donated the space to the Skyscraper Museum for one year starting in 1998. During this time, the museum held an exhibition on the Empire State Building within the space.[58] An investment group led by Laurence Gluck and Arthur Wrubel bought 14 Wall Street from General Electric Investment in 1999.[125] The former banking room became an Equinox Fitness location in December 2000. The Rockwell Group designed an 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m2) mezzanine for the room.[57]
+
+Gluck had sole ownership of 14 Wall Street by 2004, and Leviev Boymelgreen bought the building from Gluck the next year for $215 million.[126] Initially, the new owners wanted to convert the entire building from offices into luxury condominiums but, in 2006, they dropped their plan for a residential conversion.[127] Instead, Leviev Boymelgreen ultimately converted the lower stories to condos.[34] The 14 Wall Street restaurant also closed in early 2006.[71] Early the following year, Leviev Boymelgreen agreed to sell the property to Cushman & Wakefield for $325 million.[34] Ultimately, 14 Wall Street was purchased by the Carlyle Group and Capstone Equities, who planned to renovate the building for $50 million, including $5 million for the restoration of the lobby.[128]
+
+Carlyle and Capstone sold majority control of the building in 2012 to Alexander Rovt, a Ukrainian fertilizer tycoon, for $303 million in cash.[129][130] Rovt paid off the building's outstanding debt as part of the deal. At the time of the purchase, the building had 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of vacant space, and three potential tenants were in discussion to lease about two-thirds of the vacant space.[129] Rovt began renovating the building and increased its occupancy rate from 70 to 95 percent by 2014, mostly by leasing space for ten years to tenants such as office-space operator Regus.[130] After $60 million of renovations, the building was 90% leased by early 2016.[131][132] Cushman & Wakefield handled leasing for 14 Wall Street until it was replaced by the CBRE Group in 2017.[133]
+
+Tenants
+Impact
+At the time of its completion, 14 Wall Street was the world's tallest bank building and the city's third- or fourth-tallest skyscraper.[14] 14 Wall Street and the nearby Singer Tower, as viewed from Manhattan's waterfront, resembled "the posts of the gigantic 'Gateway of New York.'"[14][65] Cassier's Magazine wrote that the building "presents a beautiful and impressive appearance, free from ornate decoration", though the magazine misattributed the building as being influenced by Egyptian pyramids.[31] The building was perceived by several observers as a symbol of the future.[24] During the early 20th century, Bankers Trust used imagery of 14 Wall Street in its advertising to depict it as a "tower of strength";[41][84][142] the bank used the icon and slogan until the 1980s.[56] Charles Phelps Cushing wrote in 1929 that the building's stepped pyramidal roof was "the meeting place for the midnight frolics of modern jazz sprites".[143]
+
+The iconography persisted even after the annex was constructed.[144] 14 Wall Street's likeness became synonymous with capitalism and Wall Street, having been shown in Berenice Abbott's photos as well as the 1921 documentary film Manhatta,[84] and Bankers Trust sent a miniature model of the building to the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915.[45][145] Christopher Gray said that the massive height of 14 Wall Street posed a sharp contrast to the one-story 23 Wall Street, diagonally across Wall and Broad Streets, though both were designed by Trowbridge & Livingston and occupied by J.P. Morgan.[34]
+
+14 Wall Street's pyramidal roof inspired the design of several other buildings. Its completion was described as the "beginning of a vogue for the use of a temple or mausoleum" at the top of skyscrapers, utilizing enhanced details or a full depiction of a temple.[33][84] Architecture magazine projected that such a roof "will be used a great many times more".[34][38] Several roofs in Lower Manhattan were influenced by 14 Wall Street's design, including those of 26 Broadway,[146] 40 Wall Street,[147] 60 Wall Street,[41][84][56] the annex of 195 Broadway, and the Jewish Museum annex.[56]  14 Wall Street's architecture also provided inspiration for buildings in other cities, such as the Union Central Life Insurance Company Building in Cincinnati,[56] the Metropolitan Tower in Chicago,[84] and the Foshay Tower in Minneapolis.[84][56]
+
+The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 14 Wall Street as an official city landmark in January 1997.[3][148] In 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District,[149] a National Register of Historic Places district.[4]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

1501_Broadway.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+1501 Broadway
+
+
+
+1501 Broadway, also known as the Paramount Building, is a 33-story office building on Times Square between West 43rd and 44th Streets in the Theater District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Rapp and Rapp, it was erected from 1925 to 1927 as the headquarters of Paramount Pictures. The building is designed in the Art Deco and Beaux-Arts styles. The office wing on Times Square contains numerous setbacks as mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, while the rear wing housed the Paramount Theatre from 1926 to 1967. Newmark & Company owns 1501 Broadway.
+
+The facade is mostly designed with brick walls, though the first five stories are ornamented with limestone piers. The main entrance is on 43rd Street. There is also a five-story arch on Broadway, facing Times Square, which leads to a Hard Rock Cafe; it is an imitation of the former Paramount Theatre entrance. Atop the building is a four-faced clock, with two large faces and two small faces, as well as an illuminated globe that could display the time. The ground floor historically had an ornate lobby leading to the theater, which had 3,664 seats over four levels. The modern building contains office space in both the original office wing and the theater wing.
+
+Paramount predecessor Famous Players–Lasky proposed the theater in 1922, but Rapp and Rapp had revised the plans to include an office tower by 1924. The theater opened on November 19, 1926, though the offices did not open until the following year. The clock and globe on the roof were blacked out during World War II. A group led by David Rosenthal converted the theater to offices in 1967 and removed the theater's original arch. The Paramount Building's facade became a New York City designated landmark in 1988. The arch, clock, and globe were restored starting in the late 1990s, and the main entrance was relocated in another renovation in the 2010s.
+
+Site
+The Paramount Building is on 1501 Broadway, between 43rd and 44th Streets, at Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.[2][3] While the building carries a Broadway address, it is actually on the west side of Seventh Avenue.[3] The section of Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 43rd and 45th Streets is officially listed on city maps as "Times Square",[4][a] but the adjoining section of Broadway was converted into a permanent pedestrian plaza in the 2010s.[5][6] The Paramount Building's rectangular land lot covers 41,586 square feet (3,863.5 m2),[3] with a frontage of 200 feet (61 m) on Broadway and 207 feet (63 m) on 43rd and 44th Streets.[3][7][8]
+
+The surrounding area is part of Manhattan's Theater District and contains many Broadway theatres.[2] 1501 Broadway shares the block with 229 West 43rd Street, the Hayes Theater, and the St. James Theatre to the west. Other nearby buildings include the Majestic Theatre, the Broadhurst Theatre, and the Shubert Theatre to the northwest; One Astor Plaza to the north; 1530 Broadway to the northeast; 1500 Broadway to the east; 4 Times Square and One Times Square to the southeast; 3 Times Square to the south; the American Airlines Theatre, Lyric Theatre, and New Victory Theater to the southwest.[3]
+
+Prior to the development of the Paramount Building, the eastern portion of the site had been occupied by the Putnam Building, a six-story commercial structure.[9][10][11] It was named after American Revolutionary War general Israel Putnam, who had passed through the site in 1776 during the war.[9][10] The Putnam Building had long been occupied by theatrical agencies[12] and, before its demolition in 1925, had a large electric sign measuring 200 by 50 feet (61 by 15 m) on its facade.[13][14] The western part of the site was occupied by a group of brownstones, operated by the Astor family as a set of apartments called Westover Court.[10][11] The Astor family had owned the land since 1803. Until about 1850, the vicinity had also been known as the "Eden Farm" a title that came from a previous landowner.[15]
+
+Architecture
+1501 Broadway was designed by brothers Cornelius Ward Rapp and George Leslie Rapp, of the firm Rapp and Rapp, in the Beaux-Arts and Art Deco styles.[2][16][17] It was constructed from 1925 to 1927 as the headquarters of Paramount Pictures, one of the major American motion picture companies in the 1920s.[2][16] R. E. Hall & Co. were the construction engineers, and Thompson–Starrett Co. was the general contractor;[17][18] numerous other engineers, contractors, and suppliers were involved in the building's construction.[17] 1501 Broadway contains 33 stories,[19] although early reports cite the structure as containing 35 stories.[8] It measures 372 feet (113 m) tall to its roof and 455 feet (139 m) to its pinnacle.[1][19] At the time of its completion, the Paramount Building was the tallest building in Times Square,[20] as well as Broadway's tallest building north of the Woolworth Building.[16]
+
+Form
+1501 Broadway was designed in two parts: the 33-story office section in the front, along Broadway, and a shorter wing in the rear, which formerly housed the Paramount Theatre.[7][8] This was typical of New York City theater buildings, where the theater was relegated to cheaper lots on side streets, while the office space took up the more valuable frontage on the main avenues.[21] While the building had initially been planned with a 29-story office section,[9][18][21] this was changed in the middle of construction.[9] The office tower's decorative details was influenced by the Beaux-Arts style,[16] while the theater was designed in a Neo-Renaissance style.[20] The Art Deco decoration was limited largely to the massing.[22]
+
+1501 Broadway contains eight setbacks,[21][23] seven of which are above the theater wing.[24] The setbacks are placed on all sides as mandated under the 1916 Zoning Resolution.[9][21] On 43rd Street, the theater wing is twelve stories tall.[8][25] On 44th Street, the theater wing is nine stories tall, except for the westernmost bay, which is fourteen stories tall with a setback on the 12th story.[25] Along the office wing, the setbacks on the north, east, and south elevations start above the 18th story; there are six setbacks on these elevations, placed at regular intervals.[25][26] Each setback is separated by two or three stories.[25][24] The office wing's west elevation rises above the roof of the theater wing, with a small setback on the 26th story and a deeper setback on the 28th story. The top section of 1501 Broadway rises above the 28th story and is two bays deep.[25] The massing was intended to resemble that of a pyramid[26] or a mountain as depicted in the Paramount Pictures logo.[24]
+
+Facade
+Base
+The first five stories of both wings are clad in limestone and constitute the building's base.[7][8] The ground story contains storefronts.[7] The main entrance since 2018 is on 43rd Street, with bronze doors and a bronze marquee sign.[27] The 2nd through 4th stories are divided into bays, containing three-story window openings flanked by rusticated piers. The windows on each story are separated by iron spandrels and are divided by vertical iron mullions. The spandrels are ornamented with classical motifs, as well as theatrical icons such as masks, scrolls, and festoons.[7] The 5th story contains one-over-one sash windows with metal frames. Between the 5th-story windows are oval cartouches.[28]
+
+The theater entrance was near the south end of the eastern elevation, facing Broadway. Originally, it had a five-story archway and an elaborate curved marquee.[15][18] The original archway was removed in the late 1960s and replaced with windows and rusticated piers, which were taken from the 43rd Street elevation.[29] The only indication of the former archway was the presence of blank limestone panels instead of windows on the 5th story.[29][30] The arch was restored in 2001 and is constructed of concrete reinforced with glass fibers. The archway is surrounded by a frame with scrolls, rosettes, and lyre players, attached to a steel frame. The replica marquee, measuring 39 feet (12 m) wide, is made of three glass panels, reinforced with plastic and finished in bronze.[31] The marquee includes a curved LED display but was otherwise designed to match historical specifications.[32] A sign with the name "Paramount" is mounted over the archway and contains 400 lights.[31]
+
+Prior to 2018,[33] the main office entrance was just north of the center bay along Broadway; the opening still exists but leads to a retail space. It contains a double-height limestone frame with a lintel above the second floor. The doorway is divided vertically into a large center section flanked by two narrower sections. At ground level, the entrance includes a set of double doors, flanked by a single door, all made of brass and glass. Above the center doors is a clock flanked by brackets. There are windows above the remainder of the ground floor, as well as another set of windows on the 2nd story.[7] The ground and 2nd stories of the doorway are separated by decorative iron spandrels; the center panel has an oval motif.[7][34] The spandrels contain other motifs including theater masks, instruments, and branches.[34] The building's cornerstone is placed in a niche within the former main entrance.[35] The cornerstone includes copper boxes with several newspapers' front pages, gold coins, film reels, and a news reel showing Richard E. Byrd's 1926 North Pole flight.[35][36]
+
+Office stories
+Starting on the 6th story of the office tower, the window openings generally contain one-over-one windows, which are grouped into bays. The bays are divided by alternating narrow and wide piers. The narrow piers are plain, while the wide piers are either rusticated or plain. The rusticated piers project slightly from the facade. The rear wing on 43rd and 44th Streets has double-hung windows separated by plain piers. On 44th Street, there are oval openings at the ninth story, which are surrounded by festoons. The top of the rear wing on 44th Street is decorated with acroteria.[25]
+
+The setbacks of the office tower contain parapets.[25] Below the parapets were floodlights that originally illuminated the setbacks at night to emphasize the jagged massing.[9][21][26] Over one thousand lights were used in the setbacks' lighting system.[23] Trapezoidal finials, designed to resemble obelisks, are placed at the setback level atop many of the rusticated piers.[21][25] On the 28th through 30th stories, there are oversized consoles on the north and south elevations.[25]
+
+Clock and globe
+The Paramount Building has a large four-faced clock above its 30th story.[20][37] The clock faces on the west and east are made of limestone, with metal minute and hour hands.[25] The west and east clock faces measure about 25 feet (7.6 m) wide.[38][39][b] Inset within the stone are twelve circular glass panels, which measure 4 feet (1.2 m) high and denote the hours.[39] These panels contain five-pointed stars, forming a circle of stars as used in the Paramount Pictures logo.[9][20][37][38] The hour and minute hands were originally illuminated.[37][39][c] Flanking these faces is a pair of setback pavilions with oval cartouches and rusticated piers. The north and south clock faces are placed on these setback pavilions. They are made with metal frames and are smaller than those on the west and east.[25] The clock faces were mechanically operated from the building's completion.[39][40]
+
+Above the clock faces is a stone frieze and trapezoidal corner obelisks.[25] The top of the building contains a copper pedestal with an ornamental glass and copper sphere measuring 19 feet (5.8 m) across.[25][41][42] The sphere is made of 90 square panels, originally decorated with a map of the world. A smokestack is placed within the globe, measuring 2.5 feet (0.76 m) wide, with a maintenance ladder and catwalks inside.[41] The globe was intended to signify Paramount predecessor Famous Players–Lasky,[26] and it originally illuminated once every 15 minutes.[d] In its early years, the globe could be seen from several miles away at night.[38][39] During World War II, the globe and clock were painted black to maintain blackout conditions for fear of an enemy invasion. They were restored in 1996.[20][38] After its restoration, the globe was lit a constant white after dusk, with red pulses every 15 minutes to signify the time, as well as bell chimes.[37][38][e]
+
+In November 1927, a rooftop observation deck opened above the clock[43][44] at a height of 450 feet (140 m).[45] It included glass-enclosed rooms on either side of the clock.[39][43] Adults were charged 50 cents for admission, while children paid 25 cents.[43] The observation deck has since been closed.[44] The observation area is narrow, though urban explorers have climbed onto the deck.[46]
+
+Interior
+The central entrance on Broadway led to the offices, while the ornate arched entrance on the south end of the Broadway elevation led to the Paramount Theatre.[45][47] At ground level, a large amount of space was occupied by the theater's entrance, and other space was taken up by seven storefronts. There was also store space in the basement, as well as a foundation that extended 52 feet (16 m) deep.[8] In total, the building had 6,000 square feet (560 m2) of stores and 2,000 square feet (190 m2) of basements.[8][45] The office section of the building originally comprised 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2)[48] or 265,000 square feet (24,600 m2).[8] The entire building was served by an emergency staircase, and there were toilets on every floor.[8]
+
+Lobby and elevators
+The original Broadway lobby was relatively small; no one had to travel more than 35 feet (11 m) between the street and any elevator. The space had a travertine floor and polished black-veined marble walls. There was a tenant directory facing the main entrance, as well as a mail chute on the wall between the directory and the entrance. The lobby had a shallow vaulted ceiling with low-relief ornamentation, a gold finish, and bronze chandeliers. Inset into the walls were bronze elevator doors.[26] Originally, the lobby was served by six local and six express elevators. The local elevators traveled only to the 18th floor, while the express elevators skipped some intermediate stories and traveled to the 28th floor.[8] Visitors to the observation deck had to take an express elevator, then transfer to a lift that served the upper offices.[8][43]
+
+On one side of the lobby was a broad travertine staircase, which led to a second-story banking room occupied by the Chemical National Bank. This banking room was finished with a terrazzo floor and marble base, while all the trim and the counter screens were made of wood. The lower part of the counter screen, and the wainscoting on the walls, were composed of molded wood paneling. which was painted white. The upper part of the counter screen was framed in walnut with a natural finish, and all of the furniture and fixtures of the officers' platform were also made of walnut. Above the woodwork, the walls and ceiling were finished in white-tinted plaster.[26]
+
+In 2018, a third-story sky lobby was completed. The sky lobby includes a two-story escalator atrium and an additional elevator from the entrance on 43rd Street.[33] The offices were originally served by twelve elevators that could travel at up to 700 feet per minute (210 m/min).[45] As of 2021[update], there are 22 elevators in the building.[49]
+
+Former theater space
+The interior of the theater was decorated with French detailing.[37] The arch connected to a domed rotunda measuring 50 feet (15 m) tall, supported by veined-marble columns on black-and-gold bases.[8][50][51] A "Hall of Nations" was just past the rotunda.[45] The Hall of Nations had rocks from 37 countries, accompanied by explanatory plaques,[50][51] as well as a bust of Thomas Edison.[50] Past that was a grand hall along 43rd Street, which was modeled on the Versailles chapel and measured 150 feet (46 m) long by up to 50 feet (15 m) wide.[8][30][52] The hall's design features were also inspired by that of the Paris Opera House's foyer, with white marble columns, balustrades, and a grand staircase flanking the hallway.[15][47][50] The vaulted ceiling rose to a height of 50 feet (15 m) and had a mural of the Sun King.[50][52] Elevators connected with the Paramount Theatre's mezzanine levels and with a basement lounge.[50] An enormous crystal chandelier was hung from the hall.[47]
+
+The 3,664-seat auditorium was at the rear of the building.[53] It was 10 stories tall, with three levels of balcony seats, as well as a promenade for visitors to look down at the theater from overhead.[30][52] The orchestra was at the south end, while the stage was at the north end.[47] The theater was decorated in rose, turquoise, and ivory colors,[8][50] with red and gold draperies, as well as a cyclorama-style wall at the rear of the stage.[8] Fountains flanked the proscenium arch above the stage.[50] The height of the theater was emphasized by decorated vertical panels on either side of the proscenium.[52] The theater housed a large organ built by the Wurlitzer company.[54] The railings were manufactured from brass. There were Greek statues and busts carved in wall niches, while the restrooms and waiting rooms were grandiose in style in comparison to cathedrals at the time.[47] In addition to the auditorium, there was a music room[8] and three rehearsal rooms.[50][55] Various rooms were decorated with artwork, and there were seating lounges and a tea gallery as well.[50] The side rooms were given names,[8] such as the Elizabethan Room, a mixed-gender lounge paneled in walnut.[50][52]
+
+The theater space was converted to offices in 1967, requiring the installation of 64 steel columns within the auditorium shell.[56] The former auditorium is spanned by eight trusses, each measuring 122 feet (37 m) and weighing 144 short tons (129 long tons; 131 t).[7][8][57] The former theater lobby's space is occupied by a Hard Rock Cafe restaurant, spread across 5,500 square feet (510 m2) on the ground floor and 35,000 square feet (3,300 m2) in the basement, as well as a Hard Rock Cafe store measuring 1,500 square feet (140 m2). The restaurant can fit 600 diners or 1,000 concertgoers.[58]
+
+Offices
+The offices were decorated with similar French motifs as the rest of the building.[37] The fourth through twelfth stories, originally occupied by Famous Players–Lasky, included 65 executive offices that were finished in walnut, and some rooms contained veneers of burled walnut, The veneers contained carvings of figures that matched the burled surfaces of the wood. The private offices of Famous Players–Lasky cofounders Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky were decorated with walnut-paneled walls, separated by wide moldings. These offices had large ceiling beams, which were clad with walnut panels and separated by plaster coffers; the casement windows in these offices contained stained glass panels.[26]
+
+The stories below the 18th floor each contained 16,000 square feet (1,500 m2), while the upper stories were smaller because of the setbacks,[48] tapering to 2,100 square feet (200 m2) at the top.[24] As a result of the setbacks, the floors were also built in eleven different sizes.[8] The smaller upper stories were advertised as being suitable for companies that wanted to consolidate their offices on a full story and occupy it for themselves.[8][59][60] Another 190,000 square feet (18,000 m2)[61] or 220,000 square feet (20,000 m2) of office space was added in the late 1960s with the renovation of the former theater wing.[62] The conversion created floor plates of up to 37,000 square feet (3,400 m2) on the lowest stories.[61]
+
+History
+Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression.[63] Famous Players–Lasky, the predecessor to the Paramount Corporation, had been formed in 1916.[64] The company formed a subsidiary, the 1493 Broadway Corporation, to buy the Putnam Building and Westover Court on Times Square in 1919.[10] During the 1920s, Famous Players–Lasky president Adolph Zukor had acquired a controlling interest in the Chicago-based Balaban and Katz theatre chain, operated by Sam Katz, who became the head of Paramount's theatre division.[65][59] Balaban and Katz had a long working relationship with Chicago architectural firm Rapp and Rapp, which had designed numerous theaters for Katz's company in the Midwest.[65][66]
+
+Development
+Planning
+In June 1922, Famous Players–Lasky received a $5.5 million loan from the Prudence Bonds Corporation, and it planned to spend $2.5 million on a 4,000-seat movie theater behind the Putnam Building.[10][67] Rapp and Rapp were hired to design the new theater.[68] Shortly afterward, Famous Players–Lasky signed a 21-year lease with the 1493 Broadway Corporation.[69][70] Though Famous Players–Lasky had encountered difficulties in funding its motion pictures by late 1923, Zukor said the corporation would proceed once the lease on Westover Court expired the following year.[70] The size of the site would have allowed a theater with up to 7,000 seats, but this would have required an extremely crowded seating arrangement.[55] Famous Players–Lasky had raised $2 million toward funding the building's construction when it had run into financial issues. Ultimately, the company implemented a financing plan, wherein it cleared the debt from the bond issues.[71] After Famous Players–Lasky's financial issues were resolved, in October 1924, Zukor announced that the company would construct the theater and an office tower.[72]
+
+Early in 1925, Zukor appointed a special committee to oversee the development of the office tower and the as-yet-unnamed theater.[71] That April, Famous Players–Lasky announced that it would erect the 29-story Paramount Building and an adjoining theater for $13.5 million,[73][74][75] and Rapp and Rapp filed building plans.[9] The land alone was valued at $4.24 million, an increase from $3.2 million in 1917.[12] In addition to the theater, the building would include ground-story stores, Famous Players–Lasky's offices, a radio broadcasting station, a private rehearsal theater, and a children's nursery.[15][18][73] The theater would be operated as part of Famous Players–Lasky's Publix chain.[55][76] The lowest two stories and the 16th through 31st stories would be rented out, except to theatrical agents, who would instead be offered space at Paramount Studios in Queens.[76] The theater was planned to be completed first, followed by the office tower.[55] The tenants of Westover Court were asked to leave the site by the beginning of June 1925,[77][78] and the Putnam Building was to be demolished by that October.[74]
+
+Construction
+Demolition contracts were awarded in May 1925.[18][79][80] Famous Players–Lasky kept a film record of the work,[81] starting with the demolition of Westover Court.[79] To celebrate the project, Famous Players–Lasky held a barbecue in the nearby Hotel Astor that August, serving oxen and lamb that had been roasted over Westover Court's ruins.[82][83] By September, the Putnam Building was slated to be demolished.[12] In January 1926, the Paramount Broadway Corporation issued a first mortgage consisting of $10 million in bonds with a maturity of 25 years.[84][85] The same month, the Paramount Broadway Corporation leased the building to Famous Players–Lasky for 25 years at an annual rental of $807,500.[86] By then, the site's valuation had increased to $6 million, making it one of the most valuable sites in the neighborhood.[87] The Broadway Association was tasked with arranging a dedication ceremony for the Paramount Building.[88]
+
+The excavations descended about 53 feet (16 m) into the underlying layer of bedrock.[45] During excavations in February 1926, a water main and a gas main broke, flooding the site.[89][90] Later that month, the Thompson-Starrett Company began erecting the steel trusses above the auditorium. Traveling derricks were used for the process, which was captured on film and which attracted a large crowd.[7][57] Inclement weather during that month led to slight delays, prompting Thompson-Starrett to hire contractors for overnight shifts to make up for the lost time. By the end of March, the auditorium's trusses were completed and the steel for the office tower was being erected. In addition, the offices on the first 13 stories had been completely rented, as were much of the 18th through 23rd stories.[45]
+
+Mayor Jimmy Walker laid the ceremonial cornerstone on May 19, 1926, at a ceremony attended by Paramount's cofounders (Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky), as well as various producers and actors.[36][91] One of the building's architects, C. W. Rapp, died the following month during the construction.[92] The office tower topped out on August 2, 1926, with the raising of the U.S. flag 450 feet (140 m) above street level.[93][94] The same month, Roman governor Filippo Cremonesi presented an eagle from a Roman palace, on behalf of Italian leader Benito Mussolini, for the theater's Hall of Nations.[95] At that point, a variety of firms had leased space at the building, including Rapp and Rapp, the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the Educational Film Corporation of America.[96][97] In mid-November 1926, the New York Building Congress distributed craftsmanship awards to 21 construction workers.[98]
+
+Early and mid-20th century
+Opening and 1920s
+The Paramount Theatre opened on November 19, 1926,[99] with a ceremony including thousands of guests.[100][101] This was part of a three-day celebration of Broadway's 300th anniversary,[102] which included an event in which thousands of balloons were released from the roof of the office tower.[103][104] To date, $17 million had been spent on the entire project, including $3 million on the theater alone.[50][51] Within a week of the theater's opening, Famous Players–Lasky estimated that the theater would earn $20,000 a week in net profit.[105] The retail tenants included Chemical Bank,[105][106] Childs Restaurants,[105][107] the Knox Hat Company,[105][108] and the Sarnoff-Irving Hat Store,[109] while the office tenants included four firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[105] William A. White & Sons managed the leasing for the Paramount Building.[110] Zukor had the top-story office for himself.[111]
+
+By January 1927, the building was 35 percent rented;[112] the office structure was completed early that year.[9] Some of the storefronts began opening that May, including a barber shop[113] and the Chemical Bank branch.[106] Rapp and Rapp filed plans in July 1927 to convert the basement to a restaurant,[114] and the observation deck opened that November.[115] The building's retail tenants paid rent to Paramount based on a percentage of each tenants' gross profits. Paramount executives frequently patronized the shops, including a 3rd-story barbershop, the Childs Restaurant in the basement, and a Walgreens pharmacy at ground level.[116] Rapp and Rapp filed plans for further alterations in late 1928.[117] By then, Famous Players–Lasky was officially known as the Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation; that company, in turn, became Paramount Publix in 1930.[118]
+
+1930s to 1950s
+The office tower received several new tenants in the 1930s, including Fusion Party campaign offices,[119] advertisers Donahue & Coe,[120] and Prudential Insurance.[121] By February 1933, Publix was in receivership and seeking to reduce its rent payments;[122][123] in so doing, the firm moved to downsize its space.[124] A bankruptcy court agreed to reorganize the Paramount Building's debt in May 1934. The yearly interest rate on the bonds was lowered temporarily until half the principal of the bonds was paid off.[125][126][127] Paramount Broadway also sued to have the tax assessment for the building reduced by $3 million.[128] Despite opposition by bondholders,[129][130] Paramount Publix reorganized as Paramount Pictures Inc. in April 1935 and restructured its subsidiary, the Paramount Broadway Corporation.[131] Paramount Pictures owned all stock in Paramount Broadway.[118] The Paramount Theatre at the base closed for one week in 1934, the only extended closure in the theater's history.[132] The next year, the clock faces were refurbished after the hands had become badly corroded.[40][133]
+
+Paramount Broadway continued to post losses in the years after the reorganization.[134] Conversely, the Paramount Theatre at the building's base became highly popular, especially for live musical performances, hosting performers such as Buddy Holly and Frank Sinatra.[62][135] William A. White & Son prepared the building for air raids at the beginning of World War II,[136][137] which led the building to earn an award for air-raid readiness in 1943.[138] In addition, the Paramount Building's tenants collected scrap paper for the war effort,[139][140] and the globe and clock atop the building were blacked out.[20][38] By the end of 1944, Paramount Broadway had paid off a $6 million mortgage on the building.[141] Paramount attempted to sell the office building in 1948. After marketing the building for a few months and failing to find a buyer, the company listed it publicly that September for $13 million.[142] The clock faces were repaired in mid-1949.[143]
+
+In 1949, Paramount Pictures' board of directors voted to split the theater unit to a separate company, United Paramount Theatres (UPT).[144][145] The building became the UPT's headquarters, and UPT leased the theater from Paramount Pictures.[99] In addition, Paramount received a $9 million loan from Prudential Insurance in September 1950, including a $7 million mortgage on the Paramount Building.[146][147] After UPT's merger with ABC in 1953,[148][149] the building continued as American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres (AB-PT)'s headquarters.[150] The Child's Restaurant and Walgreens store at the base, which had occupied the building since its completion, were closed in 1957.[151] AB-PT relocated its headquarters to the ABC studios on 66th Street in 1959, though ABC's film syndication units remained at the Paramount Building.[152] The theater had dropped its stage-show policy in 1952 but was still popular,[153] though it faced increasing competition from television.[135]
+
+Late 20th century to present
+Sale and annex conversion
+William Zeckendorf Jr. of the firm Webb & Knapp offered to buy 1501 Broadway in June 1964, with plans to replace the Paramount Theatre with an exhibit hall and office space.[153][154] A Webb & Knapp subsidiary had made a $150,000 down payment, with a promise to pay $350,000 before the sale's closing and $10 million at closing.[155] The theater shuttered on August 4, 1964,[132] though it temporarily reopened the next month.[156] Paramount Pictures indicated it would remain in the building.[157] The conclusion of the sale was postponed to October,[158][159] then to November,[160][161] when the theater's art was auctioned.[162] 1501 Broadway was finally purchased in December 1964 by Paramount Building Associates, an affiliate of Webb & Knapp, for $10.5 million. By then, Webb & Knapp was financially troubled and was selling off property to pay off debts.[163][164] The Paramount Theatre was leased for stage/screen programs in March 1965[165] but closed again that June after failing to attract guests.[166]
+
+Paramount Building Associates contracted to resell 1501 Broadway in May 1965 to Evelyn Sharp, who paid $9 million and planned to renovate the building.[167][168] Mortimer M. Caplin had been appointed as trustee for Webb & Knapp's operations, and he sought to delay the sale of the building to Sharp.[169][170] The property title was to have been transferred in June 1965, but Caplin objected to the transfer at the last minute.[155][171] Caplin presumably wanted Webb & Knapp's $500,000 deposit on the building to be returned to his client.[172] This led Sharp to withdraw from the proposed sale,[173] allowing Caplin to proceed with selling the building at a foreclosure auction.[174][175] Though the auction garnered no buyers,[176] the building was sold that September to David Rosenthal, Joseph E. Levine, and Philip J. Levin.[177][178] ABC moved to 1330 Avenue of the Americas afterward,[179][180] while Paramount moved out after becoming part of the Gulf & Western conglomerate.[181]
+
+The owners planned to build a garage at ground level with offices above.[48][182] The group began renovating the Paramount Building in January 1967.[183][62] As part of the renovation, the Paramount Theatre was dismantled and turned into office space, and the archway leading to the theater was removed.[184] That March, Rosenthal and Levine sold their ownership stakes to Levin and Arlen Properties, who split ownership equally between them.[185][186] Existing tenants were not disrupted by the demolition of the old theater, which had been completed by that October.[56] A branch of the New York Bank for Savings opened in the base in early 1968, while construction was still ongoing, forcing the tellers to wear hard hats.[187]
+
+1970s to 1990s
+Newmark & Company managed the building on behalf of Arlen, signing ten-year leases for the expanded office stories.[61] Major tenants in the newly converted offices included The New York Times,[61] the Offtrack Betting Corporation,[188] Lane Bryant,[189] and the Metropolitan Diagnostic Institute.[190] The newly converted office space was not fully leased until the mid-1970s. By the end of that decade, many lower-story tenants had chosen not to renew, including the Times and Lane Bryant, but Newmark had added other tenants, including the Internal Revenue Service and Hardesty & Hanover. By contrast, the upper stories were fully rented.[61] In addition to the larger tenants, the Paramount Building hosted smaller offices such as those of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities.[191] All of the space in the building had been rented by the mid-1980s.[192] 
+The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the Paramount Building as a city landmark in November 1988.[193][194] The building was designated for its historical importance to the motion-picture industry and for its architectural importance as an Art Deco skyscraper.[194] In 1996, Newmark received permission from the LPC to restore the clock and globe atop the building and the large arch on Broadway.[195][196] An imitation of the original marquee was to be placed in front of the arch.[197] This was part of the company's effort to attract a retailer to the basement.[196] Planet Hollywood, which planned to lease the basement,[195][197] was to pay for the restoration.[196] The restoration of the clock and globe involved changing the power supply and rebuilding the clock mechanism.[197] The clock and globe were restored at the end of 1997.[38]
+
+Planet Hollywood spent $13 million on renovating 1501 Broadway's ground-floor space into a venue for live music.[198] Tobin Parnes was the restoration architect.[31][199] The project entailed lowering the basement by 7 feet (2.1 m), removing three support columns, and lengthening nine more columns.[200] Following Planet Hollywood's financial troubles,[201] it sold the basement and first-floor space to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment (WWF; later WWE) in July 1999 for $9 million.[42][198] WWF planned to open a theme restaurant at the base, known as The World,[202] and the company spent $7.5 million.[31]
+
+2000s to present
+The World opened in 2000.[203][199] That May, the LPC approved the addition of an LED marquee[204] after initially hesitating to do so.[199] The new marquee was unveiled with an American flag display on September 12, 2001, one day after the September 11 attacks.[32] WWE closed its store and restaurant in early 2003, only three years after opening the restaurant.[205] Bubba Gump Shrimp Company opened a restaurant in the building that year.[206] Hard Rock Cafe decided to move into the WWE space in 2004,[207][208] citing the improvements that WWE had already made.[58] Numerous retailers took space at 1501 Broadway in the early 2010s including Ben & Jerry's[209] and the New York Yankees.[210]
+
+Paramount Leasehold LP, the building's owner, obtained a $130 million mortgage from Cantor Commercial Real Estate in 2013. Paramount Leasehold planned to spend $50 million on renovating the building; it also considered adding an entrance on 43rd Street. At the time, 1501 Broadway was 70 percent occupied, and its tenants included entertainment companies and attorneys.[211][212] The LPC approved the renovation project in 2016.[27][213] The lobby was moved from Broadway to 43rd Street, and a tenant lounge was installed on the third story.[214][215] In addition, elevators and escalators were added, while hallways, restrooms, and windows were upgraded.[53][214][216] The contractors replicated the historical features using plaster moldings, and some original architectural details were salvaged and relocated. A specialty contractor provided the custom cast-bronze pieces and an Italian quarry supplied marble for the renovation.[33]
+
+The lobby relocation was completed in mid-2018,[33][217] after which Newmark signed leases with tenants such as the KIPP Foundation and the American Federation of Musicians.[218][219] The entire renovation was completed in 2019.[216] JPMorgan Chase gave Levin and Newmark a $200 million loan for 1501 Broadway in early 2020,[220][221] and the owners began adding a tenant lounge on the third story that year.[215] Ticketing platform TodayTix moved to 1501 Broadway in 2022.[222]
+
+Critical reception
+When the Paramount Building was completed, architect Francisco Mujica wrote that the building exemplified how setback skyscrapers resembled "the primitive pyramids of America".[223][224] H. I. Brock of The New York Times wrote that the Paramount Building was "the most extraordinary pile in New York".[21][225] Conversely, Lewis Mumford said "the posters describe it as the greatest palace that shadows have built", a phrase that had been created by film industry promoters,[21] "but it is in fact the greatest shadow that shadows have built".[226] While Mumford characterized the exterior as something that nobody could see, he called the interior "the reminiscence of a grandiose nightmare that might follow a rather arduous day of sightseeing in Paris".[21][226] George Shepard Chappell, writing in The New Yorker under the pseudonym "T-Square", wrote that he could not "conscientiously give the building anything except size"; in Chappell's view, this fit with the "concentrated tawdriness" of Times Square.[21][227]
+
+In the 1980s, The New York Times wrote that Times Square's skyline was characterized by "the beautiful Astor Hotel, the sleekly new Paramount Building and, of course, Times Tower".[228] The Times wrote that despite 1501 Broadway's location at the middle of Times Square, "some New Yorkers have never bothered craning their necks to see" the building's attributes, including its globe and clock.[229] 1501 Broadway was also significant in the film industry. Years after the destruction of the theater and the relocation of Paramount itself, Variety magazine said that "1501 Broadway will always be a symbol of 'where the action was'".[181]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

15_Central_Park_West.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+15 Central Park West
+
+
+
+
+
+15 Central Park West (also known as 15 CPW) is a luxury residential condominium along Central Park West, between 61st and 62nd Streets adjacent to Central Park, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was constructed from 2005 to 2008 and was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects in the New Classical style. The building consists of two sections: "the House", a 19-story structure occupying the eastern part of the city block, and "the Tower", a 35-story structure occupying the western part of the block. It has approximately 200 apartments, of which two-thirds are in the Tower and one-third are in the House.
+
+Both the House and the Tower contain several setbacks, complementing the design of older apartment buildings on Central Park West. The Tower rises above a retail podium, which faces west toward Broadway. The two sections are connected by an elliptical entrance pavilion, which abuts a cobblestone courtyard and a private garden. The facade of 15 Central Park West is made of Indiana limestone, with large window openings and metal balconies. The building's main entrance on Central Park West connects with two lobbies, one for each section of the building. Each unit has one to eight bedrooms, and there are also studio apartments for servants. The building also contains amenities such as a fitness center, wine cellar, and movie-screening room.
+
+15 Central Park West was built on the sites of the Mayflower Hotel, which dated from 1926, and a vacant lot. In May 2004, a joint venture composed of Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf, Whitehall Street International, and Global Holdings Inc. purchased the Mayflower and the vacant lot for $401 million. Robert A.M. Stern Architects was selected to design the building in August 2005, and construction began the next month, when the building's sales office opened. All apartments had been sold by early 2007, and the first tenants moved into the building in early 2008. Following 15 Central Park West's opening, many condominiums were sold at high prices. Its residents have included actors, athletes, CEOs, hedge fund managers, and entrepreneurs.
+
+Site
+15 Central Park West is the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.[6] The building's land lot occupies the entire trapezoidal city block between Central Park West to the east, 61st Street to the south, Broadway to the west, and 62nd Street to the north. The land lot has an area of 57,899 sq ft (5,379.0 m2), with a frontage of 232.31 ft (70.81 m) along Central Park West and a depth of 346.64 ft (105.66 m).[6] The building is adjacent to Central Park to the east, Trump International Hotel and Tower to the south, Park Loggia to the west, and the Century apartment building to the north.[6]
+
+The current condominium building replaced the Mayflower Hotel at 15 Central Park West, as well as a vacant lot.[4][7] The Mayflower, on the eastern part of the site, had been designed by Emery Roth in the Neo-Renaissance style. The hotel, originally known as the Mayflower-Plymouth, was completed in 1926 and contained 365 rooms across 18 stories.[8] The vacant lot contained several buildings until the 1970s; the wealthy Goulandris family of Greece acquired the Mayflower and all other buildings on the block from 1973 to 1978.[7][9] The Mayflower had been built with ornate terracotta ornamentation, which was removed in 1982.[8] All buildings on the western part of the site had been razed by 1987.[10] Several developers unsuccessfully offered to buy the site, which was valued at $300 million by 2001.[7][9] By then, several luxury residential buildings and hotels had been developed around Columbus Circle, three blocks to the south.[7][11]
+
+Architecture
+15 Central Park West (also known as 15 CPW[12]) was designed in a New Classical style by Robert A.M. Stern Architects.[13] It was developed by a joint venture of Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf, grandsons of real estate developer William Zeckendorf; Whitehall Street International, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs; and Global Holdings Inc., a company headed by Eyal Ofer.[4][7][9] 15 Central Park West is divided into two sections: the 19-story House on Central Park West[2] and the 35-story Tower on Broadway.[14] Because some floor numbers are skipped, the House's highest story is numbered 20, while the Tower's highest story is numbered 43.[15][5]
+
+Form
+The House measures 231 ft (70 m) tall,[16][2] while the Tower measures 550 ft (170 m) tall.[16][14] The Tower rises from a ground-level retail podium, aligned with the diagonal axis of Broadway,[17] though it was intended to blend in with other mid-rise buildings along Central Park West.[18] According to Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the design complemented Central Park West's twin-towered developments: the Century, the Majestic, the San Remo, and the El Dorado.[19] The two sections are connected by an elliptical entrance pavilion[20] with a copper dome.[4][15] The design of the entrance pavilion was inspired by that of the Sanssouci, a palace in the German city of Potsdam.[21]
+
+South of the entrance pavilion, accessed from a driveway on 61st Street, is a "motor court" paved in cobblestones.[15][21] The motor court measures 70 by 200 ft (21 by 61 m)[16] and is arranged around a black-granite fountain.[21] The building's management discouraged chauffeurs from waiting in the motor court; many chauffeurs instead wait on a shoulder along Central Park West, which is designated as a no-parking zone. After the building opened, there were controversies over the fact that chauffeurs were using the shoulder illegally.[22] There is also a private outdoor garden for tenants along 62nd Street, north of the entrance pavilion.[21][23] The private garden contains a reflecting pool, which serves as a skylight above the swimming pool in the basement.[21][24] The garden can also be arranged to accommodate additional seating for the building's dining room.[25]
+
+The penthouse apartments on the upper stories of both sections contain setbacks with terraces.[16][20] The House includes symmetrical setbacks, while the Tower has a more complicated massing with asymmetrical setbacks.[26] The southern elevation of the Tower contains multiple setbacks, allowing direct sunlight into these apartments. The Tower's northern elevation complements the Century and other high-rise buildings on Central Park West.[27] The penthouse atop the House contains a terrace measuring 282 ft (86 m) long.[16] The top of the Tower contains a crown,[20] which consists of an open loggia.[16][28]
+
+Facade
+The facade of 15 CPW is made of Indiana limestone, sourced from the same quarry as the Empire State Building.[15][29][30] The developers and the architect had selected limestone because of its durability and because there were other limestone structures along Central Park West.[30][20] There are 85,000 pieces of buff and gray limestone,[29] collectively weighing over 6,000 short tons (5,400 long tons; 5,400 t).[31] The facade is primarily clad with 2,832 limestone panels. There are also 80,000 pieces of ornamentation, of which 50,000 were designed specially for the building.[15]
+
+There are large windows, many of which contain small balconies.[16][28] The windows were intended to appeal to buyers while also retaining the character of the limestone facades.[20] Some of the windows are narrower than the others, indicating the internal arrangement of each apartment.[26] The southern elevation of the Tower is visible from Columbus Circle two blocks away. The center of the Tower's southern elevation contains a vertical strip of bay windows, emphasizing the building's vertical dimension.[32] On the Tower's western elevation, there is a deep indentation at the center of the facade, just above the retail podium on Broadway.[33]
+
+The building's main entrance is through a curved limestone doorway on Central Park West, which contains a set of double doors topped by a transom. There are lighting sconces on either side of the entrance, above which are grilles.[34] On the Broadway elevation of the Tower, the lowest two stories contain double-height storefronts.[17][33] These large storefronts were required under zoning regulations.[33]
+
+Features
+The building has a doorman, chef, and concierge service.[23] There are two lobbies, both of which are staffed by concierges.[15][35] The building has more than 50 employees.[35][36] In 2009, these included six doormen, seven concierges, eight lobby attendants, eight porters, and twelve engineers. At any given time, there were fifteen staff members in the lobbies.[35]
+
+Lobbies
+The House's lobby on Central Park West is designed in English oak with marble trim, as well as two fireplaces with elaborate mantels.[4][15][34] The lobby contains an elliptical dome at its center, as well as four Sarrancolin marble columns carved from linenfold. Two groups of seating, arranged around the fireplaces, flank the main passageway through the lobby.[34] Arthur Zeckendorf also commissioned two paintings, one above each fireplace, which depict Central Park in summer and winter.[25][33] Next to the House's lobby is a private library and dining room for residents.[4] The library is paneled in walnut,[15][25] giving what Robert A.M. Stern Architects described as "an atmosphere of calm sophistication".[25] The dining room is decorated with stucco veneziano walls[25] and can fit 60 people.[15] In 2012[update], it was one of three private restaurants at an apartment building in New York City.[36]
+
+A gallery connects the House with the Tower's lobby and the Tower's residences. The gallery is decorated with marble frames and mirrored panels.[37] The Tower's lobby is underneath the elliptical entrance pavilion connecting the two sections of the building.[15][37] It contains Sarrancolin-marble window frames, limestone walls with niches, as well as a monitor above the middle of the ceiling.[37] The gallery also gave the Tower's residents the impression that they lived on Central Park West, since it had a direct view of the Central Park West entrance.[33]
+
+Apartments
+The building contains either 201[4][38] or 202 apartments.[20][39] The Tower contains about two-thirds of the apartments, while the other one-third are in the House.[20] Each section has two elevator cores, which each originally served no more than two apartments per floor, although some apartments have since been combined. The arrangement of the elevator cores allows each apartment to have exposures on at least two elevations.[20] Each unit has one to eight bedrooms.[4] When the building opened, the average apartment covered 2,800 sq ft (260 m2).[39] Almost all rooms have an open view and layouts that borrow heavily from common 1920s and 1930s architectural styles, such as Art Deco.[40][41] The secondary bedrooms of each apartment have a flexible layout and could be converted into another type of room, such as a study.[41] The ceilings of the smaller apartments measure 10 ft (3.0 m) high, but many rooms have taller ceilings.[15] Some of the penthouses have ceilings measuring up to 14 ft (4.3 m) high.[42][43] Floor 9 (physically the sixth story) of the Tower contains four apartments, each with large terraces above the retail podium on Broadway.[44]
+
+In the original condominium offering, the largest residence covered 6,600 sq ft (610 m2).[45][46] This residence, on the 19th floor of the House, has an entrance hall with a skylight, as well as a three-sided terrace.[46] Mica Ertegun redecorated the unit in materials such as mahogany, onyx, and plaster;[47][48] the apartment's roof contains wind, moisture, and temperature sensors.[48] Before the building opened, the Zeckendorfs combined two apartments to create a 10,500 sq ft (980 m2) unit on floor 39 of the Tower (physically the 31st story).[45] The eight-bedroom unit contains a library,[39] a private screening room measuring 26 by 16 ft (7.9 by 4.9 m), and private yoga and massage rooms.[45]
+
+The lower levels also contain 27[49] or 29 studio apartments for tenants' live-in servants.[15][36] These units originally cost $650,000 to $1.74 million, though they could only be purchased along with an apartment;[50] some of these apartments were sold for more than $2 million.[36] One such studio is apartment 6H, formerly owned by banker Sanford I. Weill, who sold it for $5.34 million in 2017. It contains a private bedroom, two closets, a bathroom with a tub, a kitchen with a bar, and a private terrace.[51]
+
+Amenities and retail
+Some of the building's amenity spaces are below the courtyard.[16] There is a 14,000 sq ft (1,300 m2) fitness center.[30][52][23] One amenity within the fitness center is a 75-foot (23 m) swimming pool,[30][52] which can be divided into three lanes.[23][24] Other fitness equipment was placed next to one end of the swimming pool. In addition, a whirlpool tub and a seating area were placed next to the swimming pool.[53] According to William Lie Zeckendorf, the swimming pool was intended to attract potential tenants who would otherwise be hesitant to move there.[54]
+
+The basement contains a wine cellar with an octagonal wine-tasting area,[15][52] another feature intended to attract potential residents.[55] The wine-tasting area is surrounded by approximately 30 wine closets.[30][36][50] These wine closets are sold individually to residents[15][52] at prices ranging from $50,000 to $80,000.[50] In addition, there is a studio for yoga and massages, as well as storage bins (which are also sold individually).[23] Each of the 73 storage bins originally cost $35,000.[50]
+
+The lowest stories of the Tower contain four levels of retail space facing Broadway. The retail space spans 86,000 sq ft (8,000 m2) across the ground story, the second story, and two basement levels.[56] The three stories immediately above the retail space are numbered as floors 6 through 8. In addition to the servants' suites, they contain part of the amenity space.[44] This section of the building includes a movie-screening room with 20 seats.[15][30][44] There is also a billiards room, a computer room, and a conference space with two meeting rooms on floor 6.[44][57]
+
+History
+Development
+Planning
+In May 2004, a joint venture composed of Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf, Whitehall Street International, and Global Holdings Inc. purchased the Mayflower and the adjacent vacant lot for $401 million.[4][7][9] Architectural critic Paul Goldberger described the assemblage as "the most expensive site in Manhattan".[4] The developers had paid $690/sq ft ($7,400/m2) for the land, more than twice the amount other developers had paid for comparable sites.[7] The Mayflower closed in October 2004,[10] and the Zeckendorfs sold the Mayflower's furnishings at auction.[58][59] They expected to raise $1 million but only received about $200,000, a circumstance which W. L. Zeckendorf called "idiotic".[58]
+
+More problematic for the Zeckendorfs was the fact that the Mayflower Hotel still had four residents who refused to move out of their rent-regulated apartments.[60] All four residents had resided there for at least 30 years.[61][62] They all lived in the hotel's north wing; if any of them refused to relocate, the Zeckendorfs planned to seal off and demolish the south wing first. Two of the tenants readily agreed to leave after receiving large amounts of compensation.[61] The third resident was Arthur MacArthur IV, the reclusive son of General Douglas MacArthur, who had lived there in near-total anonymity since 1964.[63] The final resident, Herbert Sukenik, refused to even negotiate with the developers until the other three residents had left. After an extended period of negotiations, the Zeckendorfs started demolishing the south wing in mid-2005, while Sukenik still lived in the north wing.[64] Ultimately, Sukenik received $17 million and was allowed to live in the nearby Essex House for just $1 a month.[62][65][66] This was quoted as the most costly tenant relocation in New York City history.[62][66]
+
+The Zeckendorfs agreed to build affordable housing in another part of the city in exchange for a 421-a tax exemption for 15 Central Park West,[67] as well as 114,000 sq ft (10,600 m2) in additional floor area.[68] The joint venture initially did not divulge details of its plans, even as the site was being cleared.[16] The Zeckendorfs invited six architecture firms to present proposals for the new building, although most of the respondents presented plans for modern, slab-like glass towers.[4] Ultimately, the Zeckendorfs selected a proposal by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and SLCE Architects, which called for two limestone towers of different height.[4][5] Stern and SLCE presented details of the building's design to the local community in August 2005.[16] At the time, the building was expected to cost $700 to $800/sq ft ($7,500 to $8,600/m2), but the land was worth $2,500/sq ft ($27,000/m2).[69]
+
+Construction and sales
+Before starting construction, Arthur Zeckendorf conducted studies to determine which amenities to include in the building and which type of limestone to use for the facade.[70] The building's sales office opened in September 2005,[15][71] and construction work commenced the same month.[72] Within two months, 74 of the units had been sold at a combined $650 million, including 12 of the penthouses.[73] The building's sales agent, Richard Wallgren of the firm Brown Harris Stevens, told The New York Observer that tenants had signed contracts for apartments ranging from $2 million to $40 million.[74] Because the building was a condominium development, its apartment prices tended to be higher than in housing cooperatives on the Upper West Side, which generally were more restrictive than condos.[39]
+
+The developers did not host any parties to promote the new building.[75] Nonetheless, 15 CPW was popular, and sixty percent of the apartments had been sold by May 2006. At the time, the developers planned to start selling units on the lower stories in early 2007.[76] Wallgren attributed the building's popularity to "careful pricing" and to promotional photos of the apartments.[77] Sales were also driven by reports of numerous high-profile personalities who bought condos at the building, such as sportscaster Bob Costas, NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, producer Norman Lear, actor Denzel Washington, musician Sting, and investment bankers Lloyd Blankfein and Sanford I. Weill.[78] Total condominium sales at 15 CPW surpassed $1 billion after Washington bought a condo in June 2006, and the building's developers hosted a "Billion-Dollar Bash" to celebrate the event.[79]
+
+The building's two sections topped out during mid-2006. Nine months after the sales office opened, the developers had sold around 150 of the apartments for an aggregate of $1.2 billion.[30] The average apartment had sold for $9.5 million (a rate of $3,300/sq ft ($36,000/m2)), although fourteen units sold for over $20 million.[30] In October 2006, electronics retailer Best Buy leased about half of the retail podium for $75 million, representing one of the largest real estate transactions in Manhattan during that year.[56] The last penthouse apartment was sold in December 2006.[15] About 30 apartments remained unsold by the next month, leading William Lie Zeckendorf to say: "I wish we had 20 more to sell."[80] All units had been sold by April 2007.[12][81] The building contained the city's most expensive apartment at the time, a $45 million penthouse owned by hedge fund manager Daniel Och,[82] though this record was quickly surpassed by an apartment at the Plaza Hotel.[83]
+
+Usage
+Opening
+15 CPW opened in August 2007. By the end of that year, a third of condo purchases had been finalized, though some tenants immediately sought to resell their condos.[84] Several units were listed for $80 to $90 million, far more than what their owners had paid;[85][86] at the time, the most expensive residence ever sold in New York City was a $53 million townhouse.[85] One penthouse was so expensive that the brokers were not allowed to formally advertise it, though its tenant sought $100 million.[42] Another unit, resold at $9,486/sq ft ($102,110/m2), was the city's most expensive condominium per square foot.[87] There was also demand for rental apartments at the building; in early 2008, a four-bedroom apartment (listed at $55,000 a month) was rented within three weeks of being listed.[88] Vanity Fair described 15 CPW as "the highest-priced new apartment building in the history of New York".[4] Though the real-estate market in general had slowed down due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008, luxury condo sales at 15 CPW and the Plaza Hotel disproportionately impacted average apartment prices in Manhattan.[89][90]
+
+The first tenants moved into the building in early 2008,[12] though the Zeckendorfs were still finishing the amenities by that May.[91] Several tenants had resold their condos by June 2008,[12] and Chase Bank and furniture store West Elm agreed to rent storefront space in the building's retail podium the next month.[92] The first staff residence at the building was resold in late 2008.[93][94] Asking prices for the building's condos had started to decline, amid a greater slowdown in the luxury real estate market.[95] Even so, high-priced sales at 15 CPW continued through 2009, leading The New York Times to call it "a beacon of hope for the battered luxury real estate market in Manhattan".[96]
+
+2010s to present
+High-priced sales at 15 CPW continued in the 2010s. The New York Times wrote: "15 Central Park West has sustained its status as a real estate success story at a time when 'real estate' and 'success story' rarely appear in the same sentence."[97] Although the building faced competition from newer Billionaires' Row developments like One57 by the early 2010s, William Lie Zeckendorf said he believed the building's units were underpriced.[36] In early 2012, Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev paid $88 million for a penthouse apartment for his daughter Ekaterina Rybolovleva,[98][99] making it the most expensive residence in New York City.[99] The transaction encouraged developers of nearby buildings to raise their apartment prices,[57] although it was surpassed by a sale at One57 not long afterward.[100] In spite of these high-priced sales, the building's residents paid relatively low tax rates due to an old New York state law regarding tax valuations.[101]
+
+According to a 2017 report, apartments at 15 CPW generally were more expensive than at any other building in the city, even compared with Billionaires' Row developments such as 432 Park Avenue and One57. There had been eight sales at 15 CPW over a twelve-month period, with an average price of $6,045/sq ft ($65,070/m2), compared to an average of $2,494/sq ft ($26,850/m2) for the top hundred buildings.[102][103] One of these was for a maid's residence, which had been sold for over $5 million.[104] In October 2018, Madison Realty Capital placed a $27.7 million first mortgage loan on the building, allowing the owners of 15 CPW to refinance the building's existing debt.[23] Best Buy closed its store within the building's retail podium in early 2023, putting the retail portion of the building in danger of foreclosure.[105][106]
+
+Notable residents
+According to journalist Michael Gross, many of the building's first residents came from BRICS countries, which had emerging markets, as well as countries with unstable governments.[107] Another large group of residents were alternative investment entrepreneurs or financial executives.[108] According to a 2013 Curbed article, fifteen of the building's residents were executives at a single investment bank, Goldman Sachs.[109] Due to the large number of hedge fund managers who lived in the building, Gross referred to 15 CPW as a "hedgie hive"; he estimated that these residents managed a total of $437 billion.[110] Residents also include those in the entertainment industry, including writers and actors.[110] The building has been nicknamed the "Tower of Power" because of the large number of residents in the financial and entertainment industries.[111]
+
+Gross wrote that 15 CPW's residents also included "more traditional wealthy types" such as doctors, chief executives, and lawyers. Smaller apartments also attracted less wealthy residents such as a TV writer, a cartoonist, and small business owners. In contrast to buildings on the Upper East Side, 15 CPW had few "old money" residents.[112] Furthermore, many residents used 15 CPW as a pied-à-terre, being occupied by their owners only occasionally, rather than as a primary residence.[113][114]
+
+Notable residents have included:
+
+Both Zeckendorf brothers also bought units at the building.[97][118] Though the condominium development's rules were less stringent than those of housing cooperatives, one broker described the buying process as "brutal, ludicrous, anal".[139] Prospective buyers had to complete a 32-page application form, including an acknowledgement that they had "read and agreed to seven pages of single-spaced house rules".[139] Residents could rent out their units for one year at a time, and the condominium board banned pets and smoking.[36] Conversely, any resident who sold a condominium had to pay two months' worth of maintenance charges, which were then used to fund improvements to the building.[97]
+
+Impact
+When 15 CPW was completed, it received mixed criticism. The New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger wrote that the building was designed to "echo" Central Park West's many notable late Art Deco buildings.[140] Goldberger also compared the building to the great apartment houses of the 1920s, 778 Park Avenue, 834 Fifth Avenue, 1040 Fifth Avenue, and 740 Park Avenue.[4] James Gardner of The New York Sun wrote: "Mr. Stern has applied a skillful sense of proportion and scale, not only between the two buildings in the project, but in the handling of the angular, pillared summit of the taller building, and the zigguratted terraces in the smaller building."[18] Justin Davidson, writing for New York magazine in 2007, described the building as the city's "best new prewar" structure during that year.[141] The New York Times said the building "pulls off the trick of appearing simultaneously new and as if it had always been there".[142]
+
+Conversely, the AIA Guide to New York City lamented Stern's "attempted re-incarnation" of the luxurious apartment buildings built on Central Park West between the two world wars. It criticized how "everything's exaggerated, retro and gigantic" and characterized the building as inferior to the Century just to the north.[143] Many of the building's residents had made their wealth through intangible assets such as software, music, or hedge funds, leading Justin Davidson to say: "Stern does not claim to be an architect of great originality; instead, he has built the best knockoff money can buy."[141]
+
+The Master Architect Series described 15 CPW as having sometimes been ranked among New York's most prestigious residential addresses.[144] Numerous commentators have described the building in various ways over the years. The Economist described it as the "Limestone Jesus",[145] while S. Jhoanna Robledo wrote for New York magazine in 2010 that 15 CPW had surpassed 740 Park Avenue as New York City's "most glamorous apartment building".[146] Michael Gross extensively described the building's history and residents in his book House of Outrageous Fortune, which was published in 2014.[147]
+
+Robert A.M. Stern Architects replicated 15 CPW's design at five other buildings in Manhattan.[148] These buildings have included Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown, in lower Manhattan,[149] and 220 Central Park South, about three blocks away from 15 Central Park West.[148] According to one real-estate commentator: "Developers keep hiring Stern in the hopes that he'll design something as successful as 15 Central Park West."[149] The firm has also recreated 15 CPW's design in West Palm Beach, Florida.[150] Stern's firm designed similar buildings as far away as the Chinese city of Xiamen, where Stern said he was hired specifically because of the success of 15 Central Park West.[151]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+
+Sources
+
+External links

1616_Walnut_Street_Building.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+1616 Walnut Street Building
+
+The 1616 Walnut Street Building or 1616 Building is a historic high-rise building in the Center City area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A twenty-four-story building, it stands ninety-four meters tall.
+
+Listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places on January 7, 1982, it was then also listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.[2]
+
+History and features
+ In 1930, the architects received an award for the building's design at the 12th International Buildings Congress in Budapest.
+
+Its five-story parking garage on the Chancellor Street side, part of the original construction, was considered a novelty in 1929.
+
+It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places on January 7, 1982.[2]
+
+Residential conversion
+In 2013, 1616 Walnut Street was renamed "Icon" as it underwent an extensive renovation, transforming it from commercial space to an apartment building.[3][4]
+
+References
+External links

1938_Lincoln_County_Courthouse.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+1938 Lincoln County Courthouse
+
+The 1938 Lincoln County Courthouse is an Art Moderne style building in Pioche, Nevada.  The 1938 courthouse replaced the so-called "million-dollar courthouse" built in 1871, whose last payment on the approximately $800,000 it cost was coincidentally made in 1938.
+
+In 1937, Lincoln County began to receive the proceeds of a major boom in lead and zinc mining that ran through the 1950s and provided a major portion of the county's tax revenues. As the old county courthouse deteriorated, sentiment grew to replace it, resulting in a 1937 bond issue. At the same time the county received a grant of $26,800 from the Public Works Administration toward 45% of the cost of a new courthouse. The PWA money carried conditions, one of which was a close review of the design. A modern look was preferred, to the point that a simplified Art Deco-Art Moderne style became known as PWA Moderne. The new courthouse was designed by Las Vegas architect A.L. Worswick in this taste.[2]
+
+After an initial bidding process in which all bids were above the $60,000 budget, a second bid in 1938 produced a low bid of $49,347. The bidder, L.F. Dow of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, completed the courthouse in 1939. The building has served as the county courthouse, jail, county sheriff's office, and state office building ever since.[2] It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.[1]
+
+References
+External links

1940_Air_Terminal_Museum.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+1940 Air Terminal Museum
+
+The 1940 Air Terminal Museum is a museum located in Houston, Texas, United States, at William P. Hobby Airport. Collections are housed in the original art deco building which served as the first purpose-built terminal for passenger flight in Houston.[1] The museum currently exhibits several collections focusing on Houston's civil aviation history and is operated by the Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society (HAHS), a recognized Texas 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.[2]
+
+History
+The museum is housed in the Houston Municipal Airport Terminal building, a streamline moderne airport terminal built with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1940.[3] The terminal building is among the few surviving examples of classic art deco airport architecture from the 1940s. The terminal served Houston during the years when air travelers dressed in their best and embarked for destinations aboard roaring prop liners like the Douglas DC-3 and the Lockheed Constellation.[4] Designed by architect Joseph Finger (who also designed Houston's City Hall), the terminal was designed to meet Houston's growing role as a center for air commerce in the late 1930s.[5] The terminal served as the only commercial air terminal for Houston until 1954, and was subsequently used by various tenants until 1978. In that year, Hobby Airport's manager James Delong proposed demolishing the 1940 terminal to free up ramp space, but enthusiasts blocked the demolition.[6] The terminal was then unoccupied for nearly 20 years.
+
+In 1988 Stephen Fox of Cite said that the terminal was "in very shabby condition."[7]
+
+Restoration and modern use
+The city of Houston stabilized the exterior of the building, and members of the Houston Aviation Alliance worked to save the terminal. In 1998, the Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society (HAHS), a nonprofit organization, was formed primarily to save the threatened terminal building. HAHS recognized that funding and renovation must be completed in phases, and created a plan to restore the building over time. In late 2003, HAHS's contractors completed the asbestos and lead abatement of the north wing of the terminal. The abatement process stripped the original plaster from the interior walls, leaving the non-loadbearing tile curtain walls of the terminal intact.[8]
+
+The North Wing of the Air Terminal was opened to the public in February 2004 as the first phase of the museum. The restored North Wing of the terminal housed the museum's collection and gift shop and served as the museum's base of operations while completing fund raising and restoration of the remainder of the building.
+
+The rest of the building completed asbestos abatement in May 2008 and completed atrium and mezzanine reconstruction in February 2009. The full lower floor will be restored to its original condition when funds permit. The museum will spread out and occupy the entire first floor of the terminal building and then begin renovation of the upper floors.
+
+The American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA) designated the 1940 Air Terminal Museum a Historic Aerospace Site. The 1940 Air Terminal is the AIAA's 35th aerospace site recognized as a rare example of classic Art Deco airport architecture.[9] In February 2010, the Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society was presented with a Good Brick Award for excellence in preservation for the 1940 Air Terminal Museum. Good Brick Awards are given annually from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance.[10] In 2008 the Houston Press declared the terminal the "Best Piece of Aviation History".[11]
+
+In 2008, HAHS was granted a license to the oldest hangar on Hobby Airport's grounds, a 1929 Great Silver Fleet Maintenance Hangar. The organization used this hangar to display larger exhibits from the collection, such as three simulators, and HAHS's aircraft collection, which includes a 1942 Lockheed Lodestar executive businessliner, and an S-58 Sikorsky Helicopter that was outfitted for civilian heavy lifting.
+
+Funding and special events
+The 1940 Air Terminal Museum receives funding through grants from many private and public foundations, as well as individual donors. The museum also operates a Members' Program, which allows special access to some functions for members. The museum and its buildings are also available for private functions.
+
+HAHS currently benefits from several fundraisers:[12]
+
+The Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society
+The 1940 Air Terminal Museum is the project of the Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society. The Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society is a Texan non-profit corporation founded to research, promote and preserve the aeronautical heritage of Houston and southeast Texas. The society was founded in 1998 by a group of aviation, architecture and history enthusiasts. The society includes persons from all walks of life, including students and retirees, architects and attorneys, educators and engineers, community leaders and commercial pilots.
+
+The Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society is recognized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization by the Internal Revenue Service. The society is funded through private and public grants, corporate and personal contributions and net proceeds from revenue generating endeavors such as museum memberships and gift shop sales.
+
+See also
+References
+External links
+29°38′49″N 95°17′10″W / 29.64694°N 95.28611°W / 29.64694; -95.28611

1_Wall_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+1 Wall Street
+
+
+
+1 Wall Street (also known as the Irving Trust Company Building, the Bank of New York Building, and the BNY Mellon Building) is a mostly residential skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City, on the eastern side of Broadway between Wall Street and Exchange Place. 1 Wall Street, designed in the Art Deco style, is 654 feet (199 m) tall and consists of two sections. The original 50-story building was designed by Ralph Thomas Walker of the firm Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker and constructed between 1929 and 1931, while a 36-story annex to the south was designed by successor firm Voorhees, Walker Smith Smith & Haines and built between 1963 and 1965.
+
+The facade, made of limestone, contains slight inwardly-curved bays with fluting to resemble curtains. On the lower stories are narrow windows with mullions, as well as ornate entrances. The massing of 1 Wall Street incorporates numerous small setbacks, and the top of the original building consists of a freestanding tower. The corners of the original building consist of chamfers, while the top of the tower has fluted windowless bays. The facade of the annex is crafted in a style reminiscent of the original structure. The interior features an ornate main lobby adorned with colored mosaics.
+
+1 Wall Street had been constructed for Irving Trust, one of the larger banks in New York City in the early 20th century. At the time of its construction, the building occupied what was considered one of the most valuable plots in the city. The building replaced three previous structures, including the Manhattan Life Insurance Building, which was once considered the world's tallest building. After Irving Trust was acquired by The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) in 1988, 1 Wall Street subsequently served as BNY Mellon's global headquarters through 2015. After Harry Macklowe purchased the building, it has been undergoing renovation since 2018, converting the interior to residential use with some commercial space.
+
+The building is one of New York City's Art Deco landmarks, despite initially remaining ignored in favor of such buildings as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the original portion of the building as a city landmark in 2001. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district created in 2007.
+
+
+
+Site
+1 Wall Street occupies the entire block in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, bounded by Broadway to the west, Wall Street to the north, New Street to the east, and Exchange Place to the south. 1 Wall Street is adjacent to the Adams Express Building, 65 Broadway, the Empire Building, Trinity Church, and Trinity Church's churchyard to the west; the American Surety Company Building to the north; 14 Wall Street to the northeast; the New York Stock Exchange Building to the east; and 52 Broadway to the south.[5] Entrances to the New York City Subway's Wall Street station, served by the 4 and ​5 trains, are adjacent to the building.[6]
+
+Because of the curves in the facade, the original structure does not completely occupy its full land lot; instead, 180 square feet (17 m2) is used as a sidewalk. At the chamfered corners of the building, the facade is recessed by up to 7.5 feet (2.3 m) from the lot line. Consequently, when 1 Wall Street was built, its main occupant Irving Trust embedded small metal plaques to delineate the boundaries of its lot.[7][8][9] Under municipal law, any private land that was adjacent to public property (but not clearly marked as such) would eventually revert to the government of New York City. The presence of the plaques was meant to preclude such a seizure.[10]
+
+Architecture
+The original building was designed by Ralph Walker of the Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker in the Art Deco style. The annex was designed by Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker's successor firm Voorhees, Walker Smith Smith & Haines.[11][2][12] Everett Meeks, the dean of the Yale School of Art, was the building's design consultant.[13] The original building reaches 50 stories and stands 654 feet (199 m) tall.[2][12][14] The southern annex was originally 28 stories tall with a height of about 391 feet (119 m),[15] but, in 2019, it was expanded to 36 stories[2][16] with a height of about 494 feet (151 m).[17] Dormer structures of up to two stories are located on the tops of both sections.[16]
+
+Although author Daniel Abramson said 1 Wall Street was "Art Deco in many respects",[18] historian Anthony Robins characterized the building as being "Gothic Modern—a skyscraper reflection of Trinity Church".[19] Walker had designed other Art Deco buildings in the New York City area, mainly telecommunications structures. These included the Barclay–Vesey Building (1927), New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building (1929), 60 Hudson Street (1930), and 32 Avenue of the Americas (1932), as well as telephone buildings in Upstate New York.[20]
+
+Form and facade
+1 Wall Street's facade is made primarily of limestone.[21][22][23] This contrasts with the brick facades of Walker's telecommunications buildings, the use of which was likely influenced by Dutch and German Expressionism.[21][24] At the time of 1 Wall Street's construction, limestone was a relatively expensive material and was rarely used for a building's entire facade, with cheaper brick being used instead.[25] 1 Wall Street also contains numerous setbacks on its exterior. Though setbacks in New York City skyscrapers were mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution in order to allow light and air to reach the streets below,[20][26] they later became a defining feature of the Art Deco style.[27] The facade contains uninterrupted vertical piers, similar to other Art Deco buildings. Although the piers emphasize the building's height, Walker said this effect was not the main goal of his design.[23]
+
+Original building
+The original 1931 building is on the northern portion of the site. The first twenty stories occupy almost the entire site.[25][28] The building contains a series of small setbacks starting at the 21st story[11][16][29] and continuing until the 35th story, above which a slender tower rises.[11][16] The setbacks on the Broadway and Wall Street elevations alternate with each other.[14] The southern portion of the original building rises as high as a dormer on the 37th floor, though the 36th floor is the highest story that also connects to the annex.[16] The original structure measures 179 feet (55 m) on Broadway by 102 feet (31 m) on Wall Street.[11][30][31] The tower stories, from the 37th to the 48th floors, measure 60 by 80 feet (18 by 24 m) each.[29] The top two stories constituted an executive penthouse.[32][33]
+
+Walker emphasized the design of the building's facade, rather than the massing, as was done for other early-20th-century skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan.[14] The facade contains several decorative elements that make it appear as an organic design, rather than a machine-produced design.[21] The facade has indented vertical bays with fluting that are arranged like curtains,[10][12][21][34] although it could also resemble a cliff-like natural shape from different angles.[28] Walker said the building would "have 200 thousand people looking at it from all sides" in a single year, including workers and pedestrians, and he wanted them to have "mental relief and pleasure" when looking at the building.[21][35][36] Walker also said he "tried to superimpose one rhythm upon a basic rhythm"; as such, he treated the facade as a series of "rhythmic motifs" in different sizes.[11][37][38] The resulting concave bays were angled inward at a pitch of 1:9.[36] Each of the bays is separated by curved, projecting piers that rise to each setback.[37][39] Several piers also contain vertical incisions for emphasis.[40] The windows of the original building contained custom curved frames to fit into the facade,[34][9] which added $40,000 to the construction cost.[36]
+
+The base of the original building is composed of the lowest three stories. The section of the base along Wall Street is eight bays wide, with a double-width entrance in the middle of the Wall Street facade, which is reached by a short flight of stairs and leads to the main lobby.[40] The entryway is framed by a jagged portal.[10] The sections of the base on Broadway and New Street are seventeen bays wide.[40] On the New Street elevation, the name "Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker" is printed in cursive script.[41] There is an exposed granite basement on New Street with a service entrance.[42] On the upper floors, each of the bays has a single sash window on each floor.[40] The northwestern and northeastern corners of the building both contain chamfers,[23][40] which visually connect the west, north, and east elevations of the facade.[23]
+
+Annex
+The southern annex, completed in 1965, is also mostly made of limestone.[11] On the New Street side, there are setbacks above the 5th and 10th floors; the building then rises as a slender slab with setbacks on the 29th, 34th, and 35th floors.[16] Along Broadway, the facade of the annex was originally recessed behind that of the original building by two bays.[40]
+
+In 2018, an entrance to the retail space was constructed in front of the annex;[43] the entrance is clad with glass.[43][44] The entrance structure ranges between one and seven stories high. The facade of the 2018 addition projects forward to the facade of the original structure.[16] Five to six stories were also built atop the initial portion of the annex.[45][46] In total, according to zoning documents, the annex measures 180 feet (55 m) on Broadway and 132.5 feet (40.4 m) on Exchange Place.[16]
+
+Features
+The building contains 10 elevators as of 2019,[47][48] compared with 43 elevators and 14 escalators prior to the residential conversion.[2] When built, 1 Wall Street contained 29 elevators,[11][49] some of which were near the building's exterior walls.[48] Irving Trust had six private elevators,[49] accessed from Wall Street.[50] The rest of the building contained three groups of elevators, serving the lower, intermediate, or upper floors;[51] these elevators could be reached from Broadway, New Street, or the subway.[50] Because the New Street side of the building was lower than the Broadway side,[52] engineers configured the original elevator shafts so that double-deck elevators could be installed if necessary,[49][52] but these double-deck elevators were never built.[53] At its completion, 1 Wall Street was the first office structure in Lower Manhattan to use alternating current for electric power. It contained a network of pneumatic tubes for sending documents between floors.[11] When 1 Wall Street was converted to residential use, all of the elevators were moved to the center of the building.[48][54]
+
+There is 1,165,645 sq ft (108,292 m2) of interior space,[1] of which the original building had 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) of floor space.[9][51][55] The original building's first through 21st stories each contained 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2).[9] There are also five basement levels under the original structure, three of which were below sea level.[51][56] A corridor inside 1 Wall Street's basement, stretching between Broadway and New Street, provided access to the northbound platform of the Wall Street station,[57][58] but it was converted to a communications room by 2000.[59] Upon the building's opening, Irving Trust occupied the basements, lowest ten floors, and uppermost three floors of 1 Wall Street.[11][55][60][61] Following its 2018–2021 conversion, 1 Wall Street contained 678,000 square feet (63,000 m2) of residential space and 166,000 square feet (15,400 m2) of commercial space.[62] The top stories of the annex (completed in the 2020s) were largely built as voided slabss with hollow plastic spheres embedded into the concrete, which reduced the weight of the floor slabs.[46][63] The glass retail addition is cantilevered outward from the original annex, avoiding the need to drill into the Wall Street subway station, which is located directly underneath the retail addition.[46]
+
+Red Room and lobby
+At ground level is the Red Room, a large space with a ceiling stretching 33 feet (10 m)[64] or 37 feet (11 m) high.[40] The Red Room measures 100 feet (30 m) long, stretching between the western and eastern facades, and 40 feet (12 m) wide.[13][51] Walker and his associate Perry Coke Smith designed the room, while Hildreth Meière was hired as a "color consultant".[13][37] The space functioned as a reception room rather than as a banking room,[11][51][65] and was accessed primarily from Wall Street.[61] As such, the Red Room had no tellers' counters.  Lewis Pierson of Irving Trust described the Red Room as a place "where we shall meet our customers and friends".[65] The eastern wall had desks for the brokers' loan officers, while the western wall contained desks for the officers of Irving Trust's city office.[66]
+
+The floor is made of red terrazzo tiles.[28][37] Walker and Smith personally supervised the creation of the floor tiles in Berlin.[37] The walls and ceilings are decorated with 8,911 square feet (827.9 m2) of mosaics designed by Meiere and manufactured by the Ravenna Mosaic Company in Long Island City and in Berlin.[55][64][67] The color scheme of the mosaic ranges from red-on-blue on the walls to gold-on-black on the ceiling.[28][66] The mosaic gradually becomes lighter near the ceiling, thus drawing visitors' attention toward the ceiling. The mosaic also contains abstract gold patterns.[68] The remainder of the walls are made of Pyrenees black marble, and the columns are made of Verona red marble; a similar design was used in the Stockholm City Hall.[37][55][61]  The ceiling had an allegorical painting measuring 20 by 66 feet (6.1 by 20.1 m), depicting the influence of wealth on the creation of beauty.[53][55][61] Meiere and Kimon Nicolaïdes designed the painting.[53][69]
+
+Just inside the Wall Street entrance is a foyer that runs between Broadway and New Street, with two polygonal piers.[66] The foyer in turn connected directly to the building's elevators.[50] The Broadway and New Street lobby had walls made of Pyrenees black marble.[61] When the annex was built, the expanded lobby floor was clad in travertine, and the original lobby's ceiling was covered with a dropped ceiling.[53]
+
+Upper floors
+As with other early-20th-century skyscrapers in the Financial District, the lower stories had large floor areas for the building's primary tenant, Irving Trust, while the upper stories were smaller and were rented to other companies.[70] Irving Trust occupied the first ten stories,[11] using their large floor areas to house its clerical staff.[71] The second floor originally contained Irving Trust's Wall Street office, which served businesses in the Financial District.[72] The third floor was for the bank's corporate and personal trust divisions.[72][71] The fifth floor contained the bank's executive offices, wainscoted with wood from around the world, while the sixth floor accommodated the out-of-town and foreign divisions and a telephone room for long-distance calls.[72] The 10th through 45th floors were rented to outside tenants.[11][51][53] Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker were not responsible for the layout of the offices, instead hiring specialists for that task.[73] Architectural firms also designed some of the offices; for example, the Fiduciary Trust Company's 30th-story offices were designed by Delano and Aldrich, while the offices on the 31st story were designed by Cross & Cross.[74] Generally, law firms and financial firms leased entire stories for themselves.[75] These included brokerage house Bear Stearns, which hired H. J. Horvath & Company and designer W. A. Zwicke to subdivide its 10th-floor space into various offices and other rooms.[76]
+
+Irving Trust's dining room was on the 46th floor. The directors' room, on the 47th floor, contained 18-foot-high (5.5 m) wooden wainscoting, as well as directors' chairs arranged in a semicircle.[49] The stories above it had dining spaces and a three-story observation lounge; these spaces contained Art Deco furnishings.[37][53] The executive lounge, at the 49th story, had a ceiling made of gold-leaf seashells,[22][32][77] as well as walls covered with multicolored patterned fabrics.[32][78] The executive lounge also had a triple-height ceiling, fluted walls, teak floors, and a fireplace,[79] as well as four full-height windows that faced each of the cardinal directions.[32]  The walls were also decorated with depictions of Native American war bonnets.[28]
+
+After 1 Wall Street's residential conversion, there have been 566 condominium apartments, of which 304 are studios and one-bedroom units. Forty-seven of the condominiums have private decks.[47][48][64] The upper three floors were converted into a three-story penthouse apartment with 12,965 square feet (1,204.5 m2), four bedrooms and four bathrooms, as well as a private library and chef's kitchen.[62][64] Other apartments included model units designed by FrenchCalifornia, Elizabeth Graziolo, and Cyril Vergniol.[80][81] There are also amenities such as a 75-foot (23 m) indoor swimming pool, 39th-floor observation deck, library, golf simulator, dog spa, and playroom,[44][48][64] as well as a lounge and a private restaurant.[82] The building also contains communal spaces with kitchens, phone booths, AV equipment, and printers.[83] These amenities are mostly clustered in the annex,[43] occupying the 38th and 39th floors.[80][81] Lifetime Fitness operates a four-story "resort" within the building,[84]
+
+Vault
+Irving Trust's bank vault, weighing 5,000 short tons (4,500 long tons; 4,500 t),[61] was located 69 to 72 feet (21 to 22 m) below ground level. At the time of the building's 1931 completion, the vault was the second-largest in the city and third-largest in the world, behind those of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building and the Bank of England.[34][55][85] The vault was encased on three sides by a 6-foot-thick (1.8 m) wall composed of iron, steel, and concrete;[55][61][85] the fourth side was composed of 3 feet (0.91 m) of concrete and a thick layer of metal.[61] The vault had three stories, of which the top level was used by safe-deposit customers, and the lower floors stored Irving Trust's own fortunes.[11][61][86] Each story had 2,700 square feet (250 m2) of space.[11][86][87] There were six vault doors,[88] each measuring 30 inches (760 mm) thick;[88][89] the doors were laced with chemicals that reportedly emitted "paralyzing fumes" if a robber tried to open the door using a blowtorch.[89] The two main doors on the upper level, and one door on each of the other levels, weighed 45 short tons (40 long tons; 41 t) each.[88] A tank of water, as well as modern chemical, electrical, and mechanical features, were used to prevent potential break-ins.[85][88][90]
+
+History
+Previous structures
+Northern portion
+Since the settlement of New Amsterdam in the 17th century, only three buildings on the northern portion of the current skyscraper's site had carried the address 1 Wall Street. The first was a 17th-century stone house, and the second was built in the 19th century.[91][92] The third such structure was an 18-story office building built in 1907 and designed by St. Louis-based firm Barnett, Haynes & Barnett.[93][94] The structure was known as the "Chimney Building"[95][96] or the "'chimney corner' building",[97] and its footprint measured only 29 by 39 feet (8.8 by 11.9 m).[98][99] The Chimney Building was developed by a syndicate from St. Louis, headed by Festus Wade of the St. Louis Mercantile Trust Company.[95] In mid-1905, the company paid $700,000 for the 1,131-square-foot (105.1 m2) plot, or an average of $576 per square foot ($6,200/m2).[100][101] The next year, the syndicate announced that it would start erecting an 18-story structure at 1 Wall Street.[102] The Chimney Building was completed in 1907,[99] and for years afterward, its site was regarded as the world's most valuable.[96]
+
+Adjoining the Chimney Building were five other structures: a 20-story building at 74 Broadway, the 15-story Union Trust Building at 80 Broadway, and three other buildings of between 10 and 12 stories. The oldest of these was the Union Trust Building, which was erected in 1889 and had 8-foot-thick (2.4 m) masonry walls because engineers of the time did not know how much steel the building required.[103] One of the twelve-story structures surrounded the Chimney Building, and in 1926, this structure and the Chimney Building were sold to a syndicate of bankers.[96] The writer Washington Irving, the namesake of the Irving Trust Company, had occupied a house at 3 Wall Street several years before the building's development.[9][104]
+
+Southern portion
+The southern half of the block contained two structures: the Manhattan Life Insurance Building on the north and the Knickerbocker Trust Company Building to the south. The 18-story Manhattan Life Building, completed in 1894, was located in the middle of the block at 64 Broadway.[105] The Manhattan Life Building was slightly extended north in 1904 to encompass all lots between 64 and 70 Broadway.[106]
+
+The Knickerbocker Trust Company bought the land immediately south of the Manhattan Life Building in early 1906,[107] and finalized building plans the next year.[108] The 22-story Knickerbocker Trust building at 60 Broadway was completed in 1909[109] and contained a ground-floor banking room, a private penthouse restaurant, and eight elevators.[107] There was a 23-foot-wide (7.0 m) space between the Manhattan Life and Knickerbocker Trust buildings.[107] A 10-inch (250 mm) strip of land on the northern side of the gap was sold to John E. Schermerhorn in 1912.[110] The Schermerhorn family subsequently built an eight-story structure at 62 Broadway, within the gap.[111]
+
+Development
+The idea for the current skyscraper was attributed to Irving Trust president Harry Ward.[112] Irving Trust, founded in 1851, had merged with numerous other banks in preceding years,[113] and had outgrown its offices in 60 Broadway, the Equitable Building, and the Woolworth Building.[114] At the time of the proposal, the bank was known as American Exchange Irving Trust, having merged in 1926 with the American Exchange-Pacific National Bank.[115] During the mid- and late 1920s, many Art Deco office buildings were constructed in New York City, peaking around 1929 and 1930.[114][116] Additionally, banks in Manhattan were clustering around Wall Street, and the corner of Broadway and Wall Street was seen as a valuable location.[117][118]
+
+Planning
+By April 1928, the Central Union Trust Company controlled the buildings from 64 to 80 Broadway, and reportedly planned to build a 36-story structure at the site of the Chimney Building.[119] The following month, American Exchange Irving Trust bought the Chimney Building along with three adjacent structures at 7 Wall Street, and 74 and 80 Broadway, in exchange for $5.5 million in cash and a $9 million mortgage.[97][30][31] The transaction cost approximately $725 per square foot ($7,800/m2).[30] Following the sale, the Central Union Trust Company moved to the Manhattan Life Building[97] and modified the structures at 60, 62, and 70 Broadway.[120]
+
+Immediately after the purchase, Irving Trust announced it would erect an office building on the site.[121][122] This announcement occurred amid an increase in the number of large banks in New York City.[122] The company's board of directors founded a sub-committee for construction oversight, and several Irving Trust employees formed the One Wall Street Unit to coordinate logistical planning for the new skyscraper. Thirty-five potential architects were identified and interviewed extensively.[31] Ultimately, in June 1928, Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker were hired to design the structure,[123] and Marc Eidlitz was hired as builder.[31] Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker filed plans with the Manhattan Bureau of Buildings the next month.[124] The initial plans, known as Scheme B1,[121] called for a 46- or 52-story building[121][124] on a plot of 178 by 101 feet (54 by 31 m).[124] The plans called for two banking rooms at ground level.[121]
+
+An August 1928 memorandum between the architects and Irving Trust prompted several changes to the plans. Among those were separate elevators for bank employees and rental tenants; the removal of retail spaces and luncheon clubs; and the addition of a common reception lobby.[125] In October 1928, local newspapers reported that Irving Trust had accepted "final plans" for a 44-story building rising 560 feet (170 m).[118][126] This design resembled the current structure, with setbacks and a curving facade.[127] The actual final plans, filed in June 1929, provided for a 50-story structure.[31] The 1929 plans were released after Irving Trust applied for, and received, a zoning variance that allowed the base's first setback to be higher than would normally be allowed. The variance also allowed for a shallower setback, and the tower was allowed to cover more than 25 percent of the lot, the maximum lot coverage ratio typically allowed under the 1916 Zoning Resolution.[29]
+
+Construction
+Construction on the site of 1 Wall Street began in May 1929[98][128][56] with the demolition of the four buildings on the northern portion of the site.[98] Several engineering professors from Columbia University were hired as consultants for the demolition process.[129] Work was complicated by the fact that one of the previous buildings on the site had extremely sturdy walls ranging from 4 to 10 feet (1.2 to 3.0 m) thick.[130] Excavations began in July 1930,[56] and work on the building itself began that August.[11] The ceremonial cornerstone was laid on January 15, 1930.[56][131][132] During the construction process, nearby structures such as Trinity Church were shored up.[11] In March 1930, Irving Trust signed an agreement with the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, at the time one of the operators of the city's subway system, to build three new entrances to the Wall Street station on Broadway and another entrance in 1 Wall Street's basement.[133] The project also employed timekeepers and auditors, who checked employees' attendance, as well as job runners, who delivered architectural drawings and ensured that materials were delivered.[134]
+
+The frame involved the installation of 250,000 rivets and was completed within five months of the groundbreaking without any serious incidents.[135][136] During December 1929, Ward sent engraved letters to 500 nearby property owners, apologizing for the noise created during the riveting process; this generated positive publicity for the building in both the local and national press.[137] When the steel frame topped out on May 12, 1930, workers hoisted an evergreen tree to the top of the frame. While the workers were securing the final rivets, a hot steel rivet fell from the building's top and hit a truck below, narrowly missing the truck driver's head and causing a small fire on the street.[135][136] The exterior was completed by August 1930.[51] Several hundred boxcars were used to transport the building's Indiana Limestone to New York City;[b] according to railroad workers, it was the largest-ever such order.[34] Before being used in the building, the limestone blocks went to a workshop in Long Island City, where they were carved to meet the building's specifications.[11][34]
+
+Irving Trust use
+By December 1930, Irving Trust announced that 80 percent of the space had been leased in the nearly-completed building.[60] Tenants started moving into 1 Wall Street by mid-March 1931, before its formal opening. Among the tenants were several members of the New York Stock Exchange and Curb Exchange.[138] The Irving Trust Company moved into the building on March 23, 1931. Two hundred guards armed with machine guns moved the bank's $8 billion holdings from its former location at the Woolworth Building.[85][139][140] The same day, 1 Wall Street opened to public use, with thousands of visitors.[141][142] By that time, the building was 90 percent occupied.[140] Shortly afterward, the Fiduciary Trust Company of New York also moved its banking quarters to the 30th floor, making that space the highest banking quarters in New York City.[143][144] In a 1938 incident, an electrical transformer on the 21st-story setback blew up; though the windows were shaken, nobody was injured.[145][146] An air-conditioning system was installed at 1 Wall Street in 1953.[147]
+
+The original building soon became too small to accommodate the operations of Irving Trust and its tenants. Accordingly, in 1961, Irving Trust purchased the three buildings at 60, 62, and 70 Broadway from Hanover Bank, thereby giving Irving Trust control of the entire block between Broadway, Wall Street, New Street, and Exchange Place.[148][149] The company initially anticipated that the annex would cost $25 million.[150][151] Voorhees, Walker Smith Smith & Haines were hired to design the annex,[152] while Turner Construction was hired as the main contractor.[153] By mid-1963, the site had been cleared;[152] in preparation of the work, Irving Trust took a sublease at 2 Broadway.[154] To finance construction, Irving Trust sold the building to a subsidiary, which then sold $30 million of secured notes to investors.[155] Renovations also took place in the original building; tenants continued to use 1 Wall Street during construction, but the vault in the basement was emptied. A refrigeration plant was installed on the annex's roof to provide air-conditioning to both buildings,[156] and cooling machinery was also installed in the basement.[157] The project was finished by late 1965.[158]
+
+By 1980, Irving Trust had decided to relocate its operations center to another building near the World Trade Center.[104] Between 1987 and 1988, Irving Trust was negotiating to merge with the Bank of New York, which at the time was headquartered nearby at 48 Wall Street.[42] Irving Trust initially rejected buy-out offers from the Bank of New York because the latter had "undervalued" Irving Trust's assets such as 1 Wall Street.[159] By October 1988, with a merger imminent, Irving Trust placed 1 Wall Street for auction; at the time, the building was valued at $250 million.[160] The Bank of New York then acquired Irving Trust in December 1988.[161][162] BNY decided to sell its old headquarters at 48 Wall Street[162] and relocate its headquarters to 1 Wall Street.[163]
+
+BNY Mellon opened a museum on the 10th floor in 1998, which was dedicated to the history of both banks. During the same time, BNY Mellon hired Hoffmann Architects to conduct mortar repair and window replacements.[53] While 1 Wall Street was not damaged following the September 11 attacks at the nearby World Trade Center in 2001, BNY Mellon's operations were disrupted, and 1 Wall Street had to be cleaned up.[164]
+
+Sale and conversion
+By January 2014, BNY Mellon was looking to sell its headquarters, as it was moving to a location with less space.[165] In May 2014, BNY Mellon sold the building to a joint venture led by Harry B. Macklowe's Macklowe Properties for $585 million,[166][167][168] though BNY Mellon continued to occupy the building until September 2015.[169] Macklowe added up to 174,000 square feet (16,200 m2) of retail space at the base.[48][170] He initially planned to make 1 Wall Street a mixed-use residential and office building,[171][172] and he planned to rent out 65 percent of the residences.[47] In early 2017, Macklowe changed these plans so that it would be almost entirely residential condominiums, since an all-residential building, owned by its tenants, would require less debt.[171][172] Macklowe Properties partnered with former Prime Minister of Qatar Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani in a bid to convert the office property into 566 condos with retail at the base.[173] The renovation was originally supposed to be undertaken by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, though it was replaced by the firm SLCE Architects.[48] Deutsche Bank provided $750 million in debt for the conversion.[173]
+
+As part of the renovation, 34 elevators and 16 escalators were removed.[174] The original layout of the building included elevators near the perimeter wall, but this took up usable space near windows. As such, Macklowe removed 20 of the elevators that served upper floors and added 10 new elevators in the building core; new stairs were also constructed to replace the existing stairs.[45][48][169] The demolition of the interior was completed in November 2018.[175] In addition, the Red Room was restored between 2016 and 2018, in advance of its conversion into a retail space.[48][170][176] The Red Room's restoration used tiles that had been placed in storage and unused when the building was originally erected.[176] The facade was restored using stone from the quarry that had supplied the material for Walker's original building.[82] The third floor was demolished to make a higher ceiling for the retail space.[45] A new entrance was also constructed on Broadway, with a design based on one of Walker's unrealized plans for the building,[43] and five stories were added to the southern annex.[45]
+
+Whole Foods Market leased a 44,000-square-foot (4,100 m2) storefront in 2016,[177][178] and Life Time Fitness signed a 74,000-square-foot (6,900 m2) lease for a gym on the lowest four floors in 2019.[179] The residential units, the Red Room, and Whole Foods were then all planned to open in 2021.[170][180]  Macklowe had originally hired Core Real Estate to market the apartments. However, he replaced Core with Compass in December 2020,[181] prompting Core to sue Macklowe for unpaid brokerage fees.[182] The facades of the annex's additions had been completed by mid-2021,[183] and sales of residential units were launched in September 2021.[184] By March 2022, Macklowe and Al Thani planned to refinance 1 Wall Street for $1.1 billion, using the proceeds to pay off construction costs and outstanding debt.[185][186] At that point, the renovation was projected to be completed by the end of 2022.[186] The building's retail space was nearly complete by mid-2022,[187] and French retailer Printemps announced it would open a store at 1 Wall Street.[188][189] In addition, Macklowe Properties began exhibiting model apartments to prospective residents in 2022.[190]
+
+The Whole Foods opened in January 2023.[191][192] The first residents were scheduled to move into the building that March,[193] and construction was officially completed that month.[84][81] Macklowe received a $300 million inventory loan for the building in October 2023 after sales underperformed expectations.[194][195] At the time, there were 479 unsold units out of 566 total apartments, and the project had cost $2.9 billion to date.[194]
+
+Impact
+Critical reception
+1 Wall Street received an accolade from the Broadway Association in 1931; the association designated the building as the "most worthy of civic endorsement" out of all structures erected around Broadway in 1930.[196][197] A writer for the New York Evening Post called Meiere's lobby mural "one of the most costly and beautiful pieces of mural decoration ever attempted in the United States".[198] Eugene Clute of Metal Arts magazine described the walls as "a rich, free-hanging fabric" and "a cage set within the frame of the building and finished with a lining that has no more structural significance than the lining of my lady's work basket".[66]
+
+Architectural critics of the mid-20th century generally ignored the building in favor of more widely renowned structures, such as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and 40 Wall Street.[53] Lewis Mumford criticized 1 Wall Street's facade for not accurately representing its internal design, saying: "Chaste though that exterior is, it is mere swank, and unconvincing swank at that".[199][200] Because of Irving Trust's role as a receiver for bankrupt companies, 1 Wall Street was called the "Central Repair Shop for Broken Businesses".[53] Architectural historian Robert A. M. Stern wrote in his 1987 book New York 1930 that 1 Wall Street's proximity to other skyscrapers including 70 Pine Street, 20 Exchange Place, 40 Wall Street, and the Downtown Athletic Club "had reduced the previous generation of skyscrapers to the status of foothills in a new mountain range".[201] Daniel Abramson wrote in 2001 that the "corner and tower treatments appear blocky and conventional" compared to 70 Pine Street, though 1 Wall Street was still distinguished in its massing and the curves in its facade.[14]
+
+There was also praise for what Stern characterized as "Walker's only completed skyscraper".[202] Ada Louise Huxtable of The New York Times wrote in 1975 that 1 Wall Street was "an Art Deco masterpiece".[203] The Times said in 2001 that a "triumvirate of great Art Deco contemporaries" in New York City would include the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and 1 Wall Street.[67] Stern stated that in 1 Wall Street's design, "structure became an unseen prop for poetry"; he further called the building's form "a natural precipice of stone shaped by erosion".[37][22] Architectural writer Eric P. Nash called 1 Wall Street "one of the most delicate, even feminine, skyscrapers ever built".[12] After the building's residential conversion was completed in 2023, a Daily Beast reporter wrote that the structure's conversion could be a model for other office-to-residence conversions,[82] and Adriane Quinlan of Curbed described the building as a contrast to Macklowe's ultra-luxury tower at 432 Park Avenue.[54]
+
+Landmark designation
+In 2001, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the original portion of 1 Wall Street as an official city landmark. The designation only included the exterior of the original building and did not extend to the southern annex.[43][67] The Red Room's interior was not given a separate interior-landmark designation because such designations at the time were reserved for publicly accessible spaces. Since the Red Room could only be used by BNY Mellon workers at the time of the exterior designation, it was legally considered to be closed to the public.[67] The LPC agreed in December 2023 to hold hearings on whether to designate the Red Room's interior as a landmark.[204]
+
+As a result of the exterior landmark designation's limited scope, most of the improvements made in the 2010s condominium conversion, such as the glass retail addition, were made to the annex. Changes to designated landmarks required the commission's approval, but the annex was out of the commission's scope.[43][45] Additionally, in 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District,[205] a National Register of Historic Places district.[4]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

20_East_End_Avenue.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+20 East End Avenue
+
+
+
+20 East End Avenue is a residential condominium apartment building located in the neighborhood of Yorkville on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed in a New Classical style by Robert A.M. Stern Architects. The building consists of 43 apartments, including two duplex townhomes, one maisonette and two penthouses. 
+
+History
+20 East End Avenue was developed by Edward Baquero of Corigin Real Estate Group. An entry-level, two-bedroom apartment was initially priced at approximately $4.5 million and one of the two penthouses at $39 million.[2][3] Renderings for the building were released in late 2014.[4] Construction began in early 2015,[5] and the building topped out in November 2015.[6] Facade installation was complete in mid-2016, and residents moved into the building later that year.[7][8]
+
+Location
+The building is located on the corner of 80th Street, near Carl Schurz Park, on East End Avenue in Yorkville, Manhattan, a neighborhood in the Upper East Side. East End Avenue, on the eastern edge of the Upper East Side, has long been home to some of the city's richest residents including  Vincent Astor and Gloria Vanderbilt.[9][10]
+
+Architecture
+The building is similar to several others designed by Robert A. M. Stern. It was inspired by buildings constructed in the 1920s and 1930s and other pre-war buildings, particularly those designed by J.E.R. Carpenter and Rosario Candela.[11] The building includes features often found in pre-war buildings, such as a porte-cochère, setbacks, and a brick and Indiana limestone façade. In 2019 the building won the distinguished Stanford White Award for residential architecture. The ceremony was held at the Metropolitan Club. This is the second time Robert A.M. Stern has won this prize.  The first time was for 15 Central Park West in 2012. https://archinect.com/firms/release/150058034/20-east-end-avenue-wins-2019-stanford-white-award/150168208
+
+Amenities
+The building is the last in New York City to incorporate wood-burning fireplaces after New York City banned  new ones in 2014.[12][13] Other amenities include a gym, library, billiards room, poker room, 9,000 bottle wine cellar, private dining room, spa, kid's playroom, and storage facilities.[13]
+
+See also
+References

20_Exchange_Place.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+20 Exchange Place
+
+
+
+20 Exchange Place, formerly the City Bank–Farmers Trust Building, is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Completed in 1931, it was designed by Cross & Cross in the Art Deco style as the headquarters of the City Bank–Farmers Trust Company, predecessor of Citigroup. The building, standing at approximately 741 feet (226 m) with 57 usable stories, was one of the city's tallest buildings and the world's tallest stone-clad building at the time of its completion. While 20 Exchange Place was intended to be the world's tallest building at the time of its construction, the Great Depression resulted in the current scaled-back plan.
+
+The building has a granite and limestone facade, while its internal superstructure is made of steel. The lower section of the facade fills an entire irregular city block, and contains giant piers supporting standalone figures depicting the "giants of finance", as well as decorations designed by David Evans. The main entrance on Exchange Place has a round arch with granite medallions representing the countries where City Bank Farmers Trust operated offices. The upper stories rise as a square tower with chamfered corners and is offset from the base.
+
+The City Bank–Farmers Trust Building was built between 1930 and 1931, for the newly merged National City Bank of New York and the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company. It remained the company's headquarters until 1956 and was ultimately sold in 1979. The 16th through 57th floors of the building were converted from commercial to residential space by Metro Loft Management during the 1990s. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 20 Exchange Place as an official city landmark in 1996. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district created in 2007.
+
+Site
+20 Exchange Place occupies a full block along Exchange Place to the north, Hanover Street to the east, Beaver Street to the south, and William Street to the west.[5][6][7] The surrounding street grid, built as part of the colony of New Amsterdam, remains mostly as documented in the 17th-century Castello Plan. As such, the block is irregular in shape.[6] Nearby buildings include 55 Wall Street to the north; the Wall and Hanover Building to the northeast; the 1 Wall Street Court to the east; 56 Beaver Street and 1 William Street to the southwest; and 15 William and the Broad Exchange Building to the west.[5]
+
+The first recorded structure on the site was the house of Dutch ship's carpenter Tymen Jansen, built in the 17th century.[8][9] By the 1890s, the block was occupied by larger buildings.[6] Just prior to 20 Exchange Place's construction, the block contained four structures: two 10-story buildings on William Street, one 9-story building on Hanover Street, and one 15-story building extending between Beaver Street and Exchange Place.[10]
+
+Architecture
+The City Bank–Farmers Trust Building was designed by Cross & Cross[11][12][13] and constructed by the George A. Fuller Company.[11][12][14] George Maguolo was the chief designer of the building,[13] while Moran & Proctor as the engineers for the foundation and tower.[11][12]  Cross & Cross described the building as having no particular architectural style,[12][15][16][17] although the firm said its client, the City Bank-Farmers Trust Company, "will always want a tie with the past".[18] Observers characterized the building as having a "modern classic" style with minimal Art Deco ornamentation.[12][19]
+
+The precise height of 20 Exchange Place is disputed. The author Daniel M. Abramson gives the largest figure for the building's height, citing 20 Exchange Place as being 760 feet (230 m) tall with 54 stories.[13] According to Emporis, SkyscraperPage, and author Dirk Stichweh, the building is 741 feet (226 m) tall with 57 usable stories;[1][2][20] Emporis and SkyscraperPage also cite the building as having an antenna reaching 748 feet (228 m).[1][2] Christopher Gray of The New York Times described the building as being 59 stories high and 750 feet (230 m) in 2008.[21] Another Times article and the Wall Street Journal, in 1931, quoted the building as being 745 feet (227 m) tall (accounting for minor deviations), but having only 54 usable stories, excluding the spaces at the top.[11][22] The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission quotes New York City Department of Buildings records as saying that the building is only 685 feet 7.125 inches (209 m) tall.[23][21]
+
+The base of the building fills the entire block and is shaped as a keystone.[24] There are three setbacks between the base and tower portions of 20 Exchange Place,[25] including at the 19th and 21st floors.[26] The tower portion, rising above the 21st floor, is octagonal in plan, with four chamfered corners between four longer sides.[25][27][28] Only the William Street elevation of the base is parallel to the tower, creating the effect of an offset tower; a similar design was used at 19 Rector Street and 26 Broadway.[25] When 20 Exchange Place was completed, the Architectural Forum wrote that the building avoided "exaggeration of forms for originality's sake alone".[15][27]
+
+Facade
+The facade was made almost entirely of white Rockwood stone, except the first floor, which is clad with Mohegan granite.[11][22][26][29] Some 180,000 cubic feet (5,100 m3) of gray- and blue-tinted stone was quarried from Alabama and brought to New York in pieces weighing up to 49,500 pounds (22,500 kg).[10][30] The stone weighs 27,000,000 pounds (12,000,000 kg) in total.[31][32] British sculptor David Evans was hired to design much of the lower stories' decoration.[27][33] In contrast to older classical-style buildings, but similar to other early-20th-century skyscrapers such as 70 Pine Street, the facade of 20 Exchange Place was designed as a "flowing unified surface" and was not visually linked to its internal superstructure.[34]
+
+Entrances
+The entrances are designed with nickel-silver doors rather than bronze doors;[12][27] one source attributed this to the architects' desire to avoid using "colored metal".[12][15] The main entrance, on the Exchange Place elevation, has a round arch surrounded by eleven granite medallions, representing the countries where City Bank Farmers Trust operated offices.[21][27][33] There are also granite medallions flanking and above the arch, as well as the National City Bank's seal at the top left and the National City Company's seal at the top right. Two vertical illuminated signs, one on either side of the arch, contain the word "Twenty". Within this arch, there are steps leading to doors underneath a large grouping of windows, while a lamp hangs from a soffit at the top of the arch's ceiling.[33]
+
+Another entrance faces the corner of Exchange Place and William Street. It has four doors made of silver and an alloy of bronze, zinc, and copper, and are trimmed with bronze. The doors each contain three panels showing different modes of transportation.[27][33] Above the outer doors are nickel silver panels with allegorical bronze figures, one symbolizing banking and the other symbolizing abundance; both are surrounded by animal and floral figures. There are glass panes above the doors and panels; they are separated by mullions ornamented with industry symbols. A seal of City Bank Farmers Trust and a flagpole are mounted above the entrance.[33] This led to City Bank Farmers Trust's main banking space.[35]
+
+A third entrance, at Beaver and William Streets, is similar to the Exchange Place and William Street entrance, except that it only has two paneled doors. The doors and the panels above the doors are surrounded by a granite frame. The glass panes above the granite frame do not have ornamented mullions.[33]
+
+A fourth entrance faces Beaver Street and consists of three round arches with carved surroundings. The center arch is a service entrance and has another carved surround with a small pediment above the door, consisting of snakes flanking a bison head above the door. The side arches each have four nickel-silver doors underneath marble-and-glass transoms. There is also a medallion above the center arch.[36]
+
+A fifth entrance is centered on the Hanover Street elevation, and is an arched opening with a carved surround. Similar to the entrance at Exchange Place and William Street, there are four paneled doors, as well as nickel silver panels above the doors, and a set of glass panes above the doors and panels separated by ornamental mullions.[37] When the building opened, the Canadian Bank of Commerce used a banking space accessible from this entrance.[35][38]
+
+Other base elements
+On the William Street, Beaver Street, and Exchange Place elevations, the lowest two stories of the base have several double-height window openings, all of which contain a silver grille at the bottom and keystones above the top center. There are smaller square-headed windows at the extreme ends of all of the building's elevations, including the Hanover Street side. On William Street, the only side that does not have a direct entrance, there are five large window openings. The Beaver Street elevation has seven large windows: three to the west of the entrance and four to the east. The Exchange Place elevation has three large windows east of the center archway and one large window to the west, as well as an additional two small windows on either side of the arch. The Hanover Place entrance is flanked by the smaller windows.[37]
+
+The rest of the base contains relatively little decoration, with sash windows on each floor. The 4th floor contains small rectangular openings, and the 5th floor contains single windows or pairs of windows separated by geometric panels, and topped by a boxy cornice with geometric shapes.[37] Between the 6th and 17th stories, the spandrels between the windows on each floor are made of either blue-pearl granite or aluminum, and many spandrels have medallions. Piers subdivide the windows into either singular or paired groupings.[36] The spandrels are decorated with motifs themed to agriculture, such as wheat sheaves and flower heads. Other motifs on the spandrels include balancing scales resembling trade, hourglasses resembling investment, and eagles and fasces resembling government.[24][29]
+
+Tower elements
+There are fourteen figures at the 19th floor, corresponding to the piers directly in front of the tower.[37][39] The figures, designed by David Evans, contain representations of "giants of finance"; half are depicted with scowls, while the other half have smiles.[21][27][37] These faces allude to a prophecy made by biblical figure Joseph, who predicted that "seven years of plenty" would precede "seven years of famine".[39] The piers also aesthetically separated the base and tower, as well as symbolized the bull and bear markets of finance.[17][40] The intake pipes for the building's heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system are concealed behind the spandrels, while the exhaust pipes are behind the giants of finance.[35][41][42] A 2022 article in The New York Times characterized the giants of finance as being "Assyrian-style busts".[43] The outermost piers are topped by eagles at the 17th floor.[27][37] At the highest setback, there are buttresses that transfer some of the upper-story loads to the base.[41]
+
+The upper floors contain sparse decoration as well.[35][37] Between the sash windows on each floor are aluminum spandrels, many of which also contain medallions.[33] These windows are grouped into three pairs per side.[37] They are separated by projecting piers, which rise to the top of the tower.[29] The corners of the tower are chamfered, with one window on each floor.[37] At the 29th, 39th, 48th, and 55th stories, there are ashlar bands between each floor, instead of aluminum spandrels. The 55th through 57th stories contain three tall arches on each side.[28] The arches are underneath the two-tiered "crown", which has communications equipment.[37] The crown is similar in design to that of the General Electric Building, also designed by Cross and Cross, at 570 Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.[29]
+
+Features
+The underlying ground contained quicksand and water, as well as foundations from the previous buildings on the site, and the entire city block was irregularly shaped. As a result, the building used cross-lot bracing as well as a heavy steel frame.[12][44] The building's foundation descends 65 feet (20 m) below the curb and includes four[11][22]  or five basement levels.[45] The two lowest basement floors were dug out of the bedrock, which extended 40 feet (12 m) below the depth of the groundwater.[10][12][44] The basement also had to avoid a nearby New York City Subway line.[46][47]
+
+The superstructure uses 20,200 short tons (18,000 long tons; 18,300 t) of steel[10] as well as 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2).[32] The building was constructed with four elevator banks, containing a total of 31 elevators;[48][a] these are placed in the core of the building, allowing them to rise to the upper stories without interruption.[49] The banking floors also had what was described as the world's largest pneumatic-tube system to be used in a banking facility.[12][44] The two buildings comprising National City Bank's global headquarters, 20 Exchange Place and 55 Wall Street, were connected by a pedestrian bridge over Exchange Place,[50][51][52] located at the ninth floor.[11] The bridge, which no longer exists,[51] was 109 feet (33 m) above the ground.[47]
+
+The building was intended to accommodate 5,000 bank employees as well as 2,000 other office employees.[24] As with other early-20th-century skyscrapers in the Financial District, the lower stories had large floor areas for the building's primary tenant, Irving Trust, while the upper stories were smaller and were rented to other companies.[53] The high ceilings of the building's lower stories have been used as a filming location for several movies such as Inside Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2.[54]
+
+Lower stories
+David Evans designed many of the lobby's decorations, including doors and grilles containing representations of navigation, engineering, mechanics, and architecture.[24][27][55] The entrance from Exchange Place and William Street leads to a rotunda[21][24] that measures 30 feet (9.1 m) high by 36 feet (11 m) across.[35][38] The ceiling of the rotunda is carried by six red columns, whose capitals are decorated with carvings of eagles.[56][57] The floor of the rotunda contains various motifs representing the bank, while the walls contain stone pieces in various hues.[57] The lobbies contained 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of marble in 45 different types. signifying "corporate America's global reach".[57] The lobby included marble from at least six European countries,[56] such as Czechoslovak golden travertine;[21][24] only two types of marble were from the United States.[56] The rotunda's design might have been inspired by French architect Roger-Henri Expert's work.[58] The dome consists of stepped concentric rings with black and silver stenciling, with a plastic hemisphere at the apex of the dome.[35][56]
+
+A half-flight of stairs leads upward from the rotunda to a space that formerly served as the senior officers' room.[35][38][57] The space measures 48 by 85 feet (15 by 26 m), with large pillars and English oak paneling,[35][38] and contained officers' desks on either side of a central hall.[59] The senior officers' room was decorated with reliefs of the building and representations of agriculture, banking, and industry.[60] The central hall contained oak paneling, leather seats, and wood carvings by Evans.[55] City Bank's executive office were behind the senior officers' room.[38][48][61] These offices contained classical decor such as carpeting, lamps, curtains, chairs, and desks.[62][63] According to Abramson, the president's office was intended to "combine dignity with warm friendliness".[62]
+
+Another half-flight of curved marble stairs, leading down from the rotunda, connected to the branch banking rooms, whose main entrance was at William and Beaver Streets.[38][56][57] The lobby from the center of Exchange Place leads to separate elevator banks for the lowest 14 stories, the upper office stories, and the dining rooms on the 51st and 52nd stories.[56] This lobby, used as the tenants' lobby,[39] contains colored mosaic panels,[64] as well as details inspired by Native American culture, such as "radial ceiling patterns, eagle motifs, and earth tones".[65] There is also a private ground-floor lobby with green-marble decorations.[64]
+
+The lower stories housed the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the City Bank Farmers Trust Company, which required separate entrances and rooms.[49][66] There were five banking rooms used by the City Bank Farmers Trust Company.[38][67] As of 2016[update], there was a Works Progress Administration mural behind one of the banking rooms' teller windows.[63] The ground level contained a narrow space for the National City Bank, which handled commercial and retail banking clients.[66] There was also a securities room at ground level, a transfer room and another securities room in basement level A, and a reserve banking room in basement level B. The basements contained two large vaults each measuring 156 by 52 feet (48 by 16 m), as well as a smaller vault for overnight storage; the vaults were guarded by doors weighing between 30 and 40 short tons (27 and 36 t).[38][67] The security system could detect tiny vibrations in the steel and concrete.[68][69] The basement also had a three-man shooting gallery for the vault's guards to practice.[38][67][69] The Canadian Bank of Commerce occupied the ground level and first story on the Hanover Street side.[38][66][70] Floor plans indicate that this space had cable and telegraph offices on the Exchange Place side and accountants' offices on the Beaver Street side.[70]
+
+Upper stories
+The 15th floor was occupied by a telephone exchange,[38][64] which supposedly could handle over 100,000 calls per day.[71] Telephone engineers considered the exchange to be the world's largest,[67] with 37 switchboard operators connecting with 600 trunk lines and 3,600 extensions.[38] The rest of the building was similarly technologically advanced. For instance, soap was stored in a basement reservoir and pumped to every bathroom sink.[64][72] The offices were connected by an extensive system of pneumatic tubes. Wires were concealed within the elevator shaft, beneath the floor surfaces, and within the baseboards of the walls.[72] There were dining rooms and kitchens on the 51st and 52nd floors.[38][56][67] The 57th story was designed as an "observation floor", although it is unknown if the 57th story was ever used in this way.[73]
+
+The upper floors were decorated with 15 types of wood.[48][38] A copper and nickel alloy was used for other ornamental features; the baseboards used stainless steel; and the handrails and toilets were plated with chromium.[15][48] The floors in the 27 upper stories average 5,000 square feet (460 m2).[50] The top floors taper to 2,000 square feet (190 m2).[74] Since being converted to residential use, 20 Exchange Place has contained 767 residential apartments.[75] There are also several residential amenities such as a gym, lounge, and gaming room.[75][76]
+
+History
+National City Bank and the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company were both longstanding New York City institutions, with the former being founded in 1812 and the latter in 1822.[6][77] In subsequent years, other banks began moving to residential buildings on Wall Street and, by the 1820s, financial institutions made up the vast majority of tenants there.[6] By the late 19th century, the site of 20 Exchange Place had become associated with the banking industry as well, with institutions such as the Canadian Bank of Commerce occupying the buildings on the block.[6][68] In 1908, National City Bank moved its headquarters to 55 Wall Street, directly north of what would become 20 Exchange Place.[78][79] The Farmers Loan and Trust Company, meanwhile, occupied one of the buildings on 20 Exchange Place's site.[9][80]
+
+Development
+Planning
+In February 1929, Cross & Cross filed plans for a 25-story building for National City Bank at 22 William Street, which would replace the bank's existing building there. The plans called for a structure with setbacks and chamfered corners, but no tower.[81] National City Bank and the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company merged in April 1929.[81][82] National City Bank took over the expanded bank's banking operations, while Farmers' Trust became the City Bank Farmers Trust Company, a subsidiary of National City Bank that took over the trust operations.[82] After the merger, City Bank Farmers Trust commissioned a new structure at 20 Exchange Place to house the operations of the expanded bank.[21][51] The site was one of the few large lots near the New York Stock Exchange Building that was still available.[20] Cross & Cross subsequently proposed a 40-story building that would replace all structures on the block, including the structure occupied by the Canadian Bank of Commerce. Following further revisions, the proposed building was expanded to 52 stories; this design would have contained a colonnade at its base, as well as a pyramidal roof.[81]
+
+When plans for 20 Exchange Place were announced, several skyscrapers in New York City were competing to be the world's tallest building, including the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and 40 Wall Street, none of which were yet under construction.[9][83][84] 20 Exchange Place was originally among those contenders for that title.[51][84][85] According to the Architectural Forum, the design process had to be "a coordinated solution to complex mechanical problems and the strenuous demands of economics", with aesthetic considerations as an afterthought.[15][32] Cross & Cross established an office at 385 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan specifically for the project; the office contained drafting, filing, and sample rooms, and  relevant desks and files were clustered for convenience.[32][86] George J. Maguolo supervised a design team that sculpted clay models for the proposed skyscraper.[32][81]
+
+In October 1929, City Bank Farmers Trust filed tentative plans for a structure of either 846.4 or 925 feet (258.0 or 281.9 m),[b] with 75 stories[47][81][c] and a budget of $9.5 million.[87][90][91] This building would have consisted of an 80-by-80-foot (24 by 24 m) tower rising above the 28th floor and tapering at the 50th floor, with a 15-foot (4.6 m) globe-shaped lantern at the pinnacle supported by four eagles.[51][88][92] The skyscraper, as initially planned, would have been the headquarters for a larger bank, to be created by merging the City Bank Farmers Trust and the Corn Exchange Bank.[51][92] At least three early architectural sketches were drawn.[9][15] The merger between the City Bank Farmers Trust and the Corn Exchange Bank was canceled after the Wall Street Crash of 1929.[81][92][93] Consequently, the building was reduced to 64 stories, then to 54 stories.[81]
+
+Construction and opening
+Steel construction started in late February 1930,[48][67] with the first steel column being placed on February 25.[19] The building took twelve months to construct.[94] The Fuller Company, the building's contractor, employed an average of 2,000 workers simultaneously, with up to 3,000 workers on-site at a time.[31][95] A large proportion of the workforce, comprising over 600 workers, were hired for the stonework.[31] The project also employed timekeepers and auditors, who checked employees' attendance, as well as job runners, who delivered architectural drawings and ensured that materials were delivered.[95] The builders anticipated a total payroll of $7.5 million with 5,000 total workers.[31] A contemporary source wrote that the project provided "unemployment relief, a matter of much moment at this writing", when the Great Depression in the United States was just beginning.[96] The stonework was completed in November 1930.[31][97] Some of the construction workers involved in the project were honored in a January 1931 ceremony.[98][99]
+
+The bank had started moving into its quarters by February 20, 1931,[10] and the building opened for City Bank Farmers Trust workers on February 24.[100][101] On opening day, the building had 25,000 visitors;[102] The New York Times stated that about 3,851 people per hour visited the building.[100] The upper floors were not open because the elevators had not been completed.[38] When it opened, 20 Exchange Place was the tallest stone-clad building in the city and the world,[22][30][32] but that record was surpassed by the Empire State Building,[103][38] which opened on May 1, 1931.[104] In addition, 20 Exchange Place was the fourth-tallest building in the world, behind the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and 40 Wall Street.[47][49] Construction was officially completed in mid-March 1931, one and a half months ahead of schedule.[10] The same month, National City Bank conveyed a one-fourth interest in the building to the City Bank Farmers Trust Company in March 1931.[105]
+
+Office use
+When the building opened, it had an estimated 6,500 employees.[106] City Bank Farmers Trust occupied almost all of the space on the first through 12th floors, as well as the basement stories.[10][67] The Canadian Bank of Commerce also took some space on the Hanover Street side of the ground level.[38] Other tenants took space in the upper floors, including law firms, which comprised a majority of the building's outside tenants.[107][108] The building also contained offices for financial firms such as Lehman Brothers,[107] BNY Mellon,[109] and First Boston.[110] City Bank Farmers Trust remained the largest occupant of the building, occupying 75 percent of the floor area at its peak.[50] Part of the interior was altered in 1945.[111]
+
+National City Bank merged with the First National Bank in 1955, becoming First National City Bank.[112][113] Shortly afterward, in March 1958, City Bank Farmers Trust took over the construction of a skyscraper on 399 Park Avenue, which was to contain most of the operations of First National City Bank.[114] City Bank Farmers Trust moved to the newly completed 399 Park Avenue in 1961.[115] The same year, 20 Exchange Place's eastern wing was undergoing renovations; in late 1961, some of these materials caught fire, leading 25 people to be trapped in the elevators.[116] First National City Bank was renamed Citibank in 1976,[117] and the bank sold off 20 Exchange Place in 1979, though it retained space there.[37][118] Both Citibank and the Canadian Bank of Commerce moved out of 20 Exchange Place in 1989.[37][113][118] Although the facade remained largely unchanged over the years, the lobbies had been closed to the public by the end of the 20th century.[113]
+
+Residential use
+In late 1997, the building was sold to a joint venture between the Witkoff Group and Kamran Hakim. Witkoff and Hakim considered plans to convert 20 Exchange Place into a hotel or a residential building, or retain office uses, before they ultimately decided to renovate the building for $25 million and convert the upper floors into apartments. Some 130,000 square feet (12,000 m2) in the lowest eighteen floors was retained as commercial space; a third of this area was taken by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1999.[50] During the renovation, some of the building's decorative elements were stolen.[119] When DMJM Harris Arup took a 70,500-square-foot (6,550 m2) sublease at 20 Exchange Place in early 2002, it became one of the largest office leases in Lower Manhattan since the September 11, 2001, attacks.[120]
+
+By 2004, developers Yaron (Ronny) Bruckner and Nathan Berman had bought 20 Exchange Place. They proposed converting the building to nearly entirely residential use, with 250 condominiums in the tower and commercial space at the building's base.[54][121] DTH Capital, a joint venture between the Bruckner family's Eastbridge Group and AG Real Estate, became the new developers of the building.[54] The project received two mezzanine loans of a combined $135 million in 2004.[122] Two years later, the joint venture received a $256.5 million construction loan from a group of several lenders; this loan was refinanced in 2009.[123] These loans were used to convert some units to apartments.[124] The first apartments were ready for occupancy by early 2008.[125] Metro Loft Management, which oversaw the conversion,[21] created 350 units between the 16th and 57th floors.[20][21] In 2014, DTH Capital received an additional $240 million loan that allowed the firm to convert the 9th through 15th floors to 221 luxury units.[54][123] DMJM Harris Arup had recently vacated the space at the time.[54] The remaining units were added in a third phase that was ultimately completed in 2015.[75] Some of the units benefited from rent stabilization.[126]
+
+Starting in November 2021, the building's elevators began to break down frequently, particularly eight elevators that served units above the 15th story. As a result, DTH Capital hired elevator mechanics to remain on site at all times and offered rent concessions and hotel rooms to 20 Exchange Place's residents.[43] DTH had also hired several teams of experts, who suspected the issues were related to power surges from Consolidated Edison machinery, but Con Ed said its equipment was functioning properly.[43][126][127] The New York Times reported that DTH had tried to acquire controller boards for the elevators, but the 2021–2022 global supply chain crisis had delayed the delivery of those boards.[43][128] The elevator issues led some residents to report feeling trapped in the building, while others said they had to climb many flights of stairs to access their apartments.[43] Local politicians met with 20 Exchange Place's residents in March 2022 to address the chronic elevator outages.[43][127] Problems with the elevators persisted through mid-2022.[129] Conwell Coffee Hall opened within one of the banking rooms in 2024.[130][131]
+
+Critical reception and landmark designations
+At the time of the building's completion, the Times characterized 20 Exchange Place as "magnificent", and other unnamed critics had called it "one of the handsomest buildings" in New York City.[67] In a book published in 1932, W. Parker Chase wrote, "Everything in connection with this monumental building expresses beauty, completeness and grandeur."[12][132] According to the Real Estate Record and Guide, 20 Exchange Place was "conservative modern in style and classic proportions".[42]
+
+In 2014, Christopher Gray of the Times said that "from a distance it appears a straightforward limestone skyscraper. But up close, it is rich with silver nickel moderne-style metalwork, and the interiors are a perplexing mix of staid banker and Art Deco classicism."[133] By contrast, architecture critic Robert A. M. Stern wrote in his 1987 book New York 1930 that 20 Exchange Place's proximity to other skyscrapers including 70 Pine Street, 1 Wall Street, 40 Wall Street, and the Downtown Athletic Club "had reduced the previous generation of skyscrapers to the status of foothills in a new mountain range".[134]
+
+The building was designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission as a city landmark in 1996.[3] In 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District,[135] a National Register of Historic Places district.[4]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

21_West_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+21 West Street
+
+
+
+21 West Street, also known as Le Rivage Apartments, is a 33-story building located in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, on Morris Street between West Street and Washington Street. It was built in 1929–1931 as a speculative office tower development in anticipation of an increased demand for office space in Lower Manhattan. The building was converted into apartments in 1997 and was renamed Le Rivage.
+
+The building has an Art Deco design with many lavish architectural finishes and a series of setbacks which taper toward the top floors. It was designed by Starrett & van Vleck, who at the same time designed the adjacent Downtown Athletic Club. 21 West Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 and designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1998.
+
+Site
+21 West Street is located near the southernmost point of Manhattan Island, closest to its western shore. The building faces West Street to the west, Morris Street to the north, and Washington Street and the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel portal to the east. It is adjacent to the Downtown Athletic Club building at 18–20 West Street to the south,[a] which also occupies the entire block between West and Washington Streets.[3][4][5] The lot has a frontage of 75 feet (23 m) on each of West and Washington Streets, and 179 feet (55 m) on Morris Street, covering a total area of 13,500 square feet (1,250 m2).[4]
+
+The building stands on filled land along the shore of the North River (an archaic name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River). The surrounding neighborhood, the Financial District, was the first part of Manhattan to be developed as part of New Netherland and later New York City; its population growth led city officials to add land on Manhattan's shore by filling and land reclamation in the 18th and 19th centuries.[6][7] As the North River shoreline was deeper and had a denser concentration of buildings than the East River shoreline on the east side of Manhattan Island,[8] the land under 21 West Street was not filled until 1835, when debris from the Great Fire of New York was dumped there.[6] As a result of the land filling, 21 West Street was constructed without a basement,[9][10] which was "a decidedly rare feature" in New York City buildings, hence the need to import steam and electricity.[10] The site of 21 West Street was first occupied by small landowners who built houses in the area.[6] The surrounding neighborhood became a financial and shipping hub during the late 19th century;[7] as the Financial District became more densely developed, the residential landowners moved uptown and their former lands were combined to build larger commercial buildings.[6]
+
+Architecture
+21 West Street is 31 stories tall.[b] It was designed in the Art Deco style by Starrett & van Vleck, who simultaneously designed the adjacent Downtown Athletic Club building in the same style.[5][6] The two buildings were constructed for different purposes and accordingly have different appearances; namely, the facade of 21 West Street is lighter in color than that of the Downtown Athletic Club.[5] Starrett & van Vleck had already designed several New York City department stores, including the Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdale's, and Saks Fifth Avenue buildings.[13][14] Architectural historian Anthony W. Robins described 21 West Street as "one of the area's handsome Art Deco towers".[14]
+
+Form and facade
+As mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, the design of 21 West Street features six setbacks.[15][16] The setbacks create the impression that the building tapers off as it ascends.[14][11] The setbacks are placed on the Washington Street elevation above the 10th and 16th floors; at the northwest and northeast corners above the 21st floor; and on all sides above the 26th, 29th, and 30th floors.[c][12][17]
+
+The facade of 21 West Street was designed with molded and oversized brick "to emphasize the structural lines and to enrich the texture of the materials".[4] Red, orange, yellow, and purple brick and terracotta were used.[16][18] The polychrome design was influenced by Harvey Wiley Corbett's plan for the Master Apartments on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.[15] For instance, the light-tan vertical piers highlight the building's vertical dimension, while other brick patterns give the impression of a "skin", including the horizontal lines of the spandrels between the floors.[19] At each setback and on the three lower levels, the parapets have various designs of molded brick to provide surface texture to the building's exterior.[11] The southern facade is hidden behind the Downtown Athletic Club building to the south.[12][20]
+
+Arcade
+The building has a ground-story arcade which overhangs much of the Morris Street sidewalk, giving the impression that pedestrians have been transported inside the building.[15][21] The arcade is ten bays wide on Morris Street. Despite its address, 21 West Street's primary entrance is at the center of the Morris Street elevation, within the arcade. Smaller five-bay-wide arcades exist along the West and Washington Street elevations.[11][12]
+
+The arches of the arcade are mostly laid in stepped brickwork. On the Morris Street elevation, the fifth bay from the east is a square marble-framed arch that leads to the main entrance. The spandrels above the arcade are textured in a chevron (V-shaped) design with tan and purple brick.[11][12]  There are numerous storefronts beneath the arcade, as well as the entrance to the building's lobby.[11] The arcade, storefronts, and main entrance contain decorative metalwork painted in silver and gold tones, which extend into the interior.[16][21] The metalwork was described by the National Park Service as "an unusual design feature".[16] The piers and interior walls of the arcade are outfitted with bronze panels and lighting installations. The ceiling of the arcade has multicolored and patterned mosaics.[11][12][21]
+
+Upper stories
+21 West Street contains a uniform fenestration pattern in contrast to the Downtown Athletic Club, which has several windowless floors.[14] Above the ground floor, each floor of 21 West Street generally contains two rolled steel windows per bay, with wrap-around windows at the corners, each of these windows having four panes, two on each side.[11][22] One exception to this is the second floor,[c] which has three windows per bay, also with wrap-around windows at the corners; the second-floor bays are separated by purple and tan brick piers.[11][22] Below the setbacks on the 21st and 26th floors, the corners facing Morris Street are replaced with a single diagonal chamfered bay.[11]
+
+The corners of the building were outfitted with windows wrapping around the edge at a 90-degree angle.[4][18] This was a contrast to previous buildings with structural columns at their corners. 21 West Street possibly the first commercial building in the U.S. to have wrap-around corner windows.[4][15][23][d] Prior to the construction of 21 West Street, corner windows had only been used on residential structures.[16] After 21 West Street was built, corner windows were used on several buildings in the Central Park West Historic District and in several Bronx apartment buildings.[21]
+
+Features
+Having constructed 21 West Street as a speculative development in anticipation of growing demand for office space in lower Manhattan,[6][25] the building's developers aimed to attract potential tenants through the unique design of the structure.[15] When built, 21 West Street included high-speed elevators and other innovations "to contribute to the comfort and convenience of its tenants".[15][26] A lobby, 1+1⁄2 stories high, is located on the north side of the ground floor, linking to the two elevator banks.[22] The lobby has a colorful marble mosaic on its floor, depicting the old street grid of Lower Manhattan in a style similar to a mariner's map.[15][16][21] There are bronze lighting installations near the elevator banks, decorated with waves and shell motifs.[16]
+
+Since its conversion to an apartment building, the interior of 21 West Street has included a terrace on the 34th floor, a play area for children, and a fitness room.[27] The rooms were created from former office spaces; for instance, the play area was previously a locker room.[28]
+
+History
+The construction of 21 West Street occurred when the Financial District was being expanded as a commercial area. The construction of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company's elevated railroad lines, and later the New York City Subway, had spurred the relocation of the area's residential population uptown in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the tenements that developed at the edges of the Financial District were being demolished and replaced with office buildings.[25]
+
+The building was owned by the 21 West Street Corporation, which had close ties with the maritime industry along the Hudson River.[25] It was developed by civil engineer Alfred Rheinstein.[27][29] Work began on the structure in 1929,[25] the foundations had been laid by April 1930,[4] and building work was completed in 1931.[25] Real estate agents William A. White & Sons were hired to rent out the space in 21 West Street.[4] After the building's completion, the owners identified tenants in the maritime and shipping industries, including lawyers, transport companies, and import/export companies associated with the sector. In addition, naval architecture firm Gibbs & Cox was headquartered at the building for over 30 years.[25] Other early tenants included the Peruvian consulate in New York City,[30] the Moran Towing and Transportation Company,[31] the Shepard Steamship Company,[32] and the Hedger Transportation Corporation.[33] Around 1950, the main entrance was modified and a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system was installed.[34]
+
+In 1997, the residential development and management firm, Rose Associates, announced plans to convert 21 West Street into a 293-unit apartment building called Le Rivage. It was to be the firm's first project in 10 years and its first Manhattan project below 8th Street.[35] The building was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1998,[36] and was listed on the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places the following year,[37] at which time it was recorded in the register that 21 West Street had been "abandoned for over a decade".[16] When the building was damaged in Hurricane Sandy in 2012, residents' rents were temporarily lowered.[27] The residential units in 21 West Street were partially renovated in 2014.[38]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

240_Central_Park_South.txt

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+240 Central Park South
+
+
+
+
+
+240 Central Park South is a residential building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Albert Mayer and Julian Whittlesey, it was built between 1939 and 1940 by the J.H. Taylor Construction Company, an enterprise of the Mayer family. 240 Central Park South is designed in a combination of the Art Deco, Moderne, and Modern Classical styles, with over 300 apartments.
+
+240 Central Park South faces Central Park to the north, Columbus Circle and Broadway to the west, and 58th Street to the south. The building occupies half of its 1-acre (0.40 ha) land lot, and is largely C-shaped in form. It consists of a 20-story section along Central Park South topped by an 8-story tower, as well as a 15-story section along 58th Street; the two sections are connected by the ground-level lobby. The facade is made of orange brick with jagged storefronts on Broadway, while some of the apartments contain cantilevered balconies. The building contains Marea, a Michelin-starred restaurant, as well as open spaces such as an interior courtyard and rooftop terraces. A mosaic by Amédée Ozenfant hangs over the main entrance on Central Park South.
+
+When completed, 240 Central Park South was one of Manhattan's largest apartment buildings. The apartment complex was marketed as an alternative to the fast-growing suburbs being developed in the New York City area at the time. The design received critical acclaim from reviewers such as Lewis Mumford and the Architectural Forum. The building was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2002 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
+
+Site
+240 Central Park South is on the southeastern side of Columbus Circle in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.[3][4] It has lot dimensions of 189 feet (58 m) on Central Park South (59th Street) to the north; 215 feet (66 m) on Broadway to the west; and 145 feet (44 m) on 58th Street to the south.[4][5][6][a] The land lot covers 36,475 square feet (3,388.6 m2).[7] Gainsborough Studios and 220 Central Park South are to the east; Central Park is across Central Park South; 2 Columbus Circle, Deutsche Bank Center, and Trump International Hotel and Tower are across Columbus Circle; and Central Park Tower and 1790 Broadway are across 58th Street.[3] Entrances to the New York City Subway's 59th Street–Columbus Circle station, served by the 1​, A, ​B, ​C, and ​D trains, are directly outside the building.[8]
+
+In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Central Park South was developed as Manhattan's "Gold Coast", with many prestigious hotels and apartment buildings being erected on its route.[9][10] The site of 240 Central Park South was previously owned by George Ehret, a brewer who had become one of New York City's largest real estate owners by the 1920s, behind only the Astor family. Ehret combined seventeen lots on the site between 1881 and 1908.[11][12] He had intended to build a "roadhouse or hotel" on his land.[11][12][13] By 1927, the Ehret lot was one of only two undeveloped blockfronts on Broadway between Columbus Circle and Times Square.[14] Shortly afterward, Ehret's lot and the neighboring Engine Company 23 firehouse on 233 West 58th Street were developed, with a two-story building being erected on the site to cater to the area's automobile industry.[11][12]
+
+Architecture
+240 Central Park South was designed by Mayer & Whittlesey, a partnership between Albert Mayer and Julian Whittlesey,[4][15] in a mixture of the Art Deco, Moderne, and Modern Classical architectural styles.[16] Cynthia Wiley and Eleanor Robertson Paepcke were the landscape architects.[17][18][19] The building was constructed by the J. H. Taylor Construction Company and managed by the J. H. Taylor Management Corporation; both companies were operated by the Mayer family.[20][21] Sarah Tobias, renting manager of J. H. Taylor Management Corporation, was involved in the inclusion of interior design elements.[22] Various contractors were hired for the windows, materials, elevators, floor and wall coverings, furnishings, hardware, electrical installation, plumbing, and heating and air conditioning.[23]
+
+Form
+240 Central Park South occupies about half of its land lot.[13][24][25] The building is largely C-shaped in form and contains two primary sections, a 28-story section on Central Park South and a 15-story section on 58th Street, connected by the lobby running along Broadway.[13][24] Atop the main roofs of each apartment block are placed chimneys and water towers.[26][16][27] 240 Central Park South is variously quoted as having either 325,[24] 326,[16][27] or 327 apartments across its two apartment blocks.[28][b]
+
+The northern apartment block on Central Park South is 265 feet (81 m) tall and rises 28 stories.[30] The lowest 20 stories rise without setbacks, except in the corners where there are balconies, while the center section contains a smaller 8-story tower atop the 20th story.[30][31] The bulk of the northern block is C-shaped with two wings to the west and east flanking a small court to the north. The eastern wall is set back from the lot line and the adjoining building.[32]
+
+The southern apartment block at 235 West 58th Street is 166 feet (51 m) tall and contains 15 stories.[33] It rises without setbacks on any side.[29]
+
+Facade
+The facade of the building is made of orange brick with varying hues, set within a six-course American bond. The facade typically contain slate window sills.[31][32] The apartments have wide steel-framed casement windows facing the street.[16][34] Some of the corners contain windows that are cantilevered at the corner, with between one and three panes in each window.[32] Smaller windows are used where the views contained obstructions, such as adjacent office structures, at the time of the building's development.[35] Another window type used in the building was a wide opening with a high sill, used at locations that required cross ventilation.[36]
+
+Base
+The main entrance is at Central Park South and is within a small landscaped courtyard between either of the northern block's wings.[4][32] The entrance is reached through a concrete sidewalk, flanked by low retaining walls and situated under an awning.[37][38] The entrance doors are within a slightly projecting curved pavilion with a brick facade and large windows.[4][37] The western (right) side of the courtyard has a gray-blue terracotta wall of square tiles made by the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, which encloses a single-story storefront.[37] The eastern (left) side had ceramic plaques that were removed by the 2000s.[16][27] On the northern facade, above the center three windows on the second and third story, are two abstract mosaic panels, which comprise "The Quiet City", a mural by Amédée Ozenfant.[31][32]
+
+The secondary entrance is at 58th Street near the corner with Broadway, and contains a double doorway surrounded by Atlantic Terra Cotta blocks, as well as a planter to the west (left) of the entrance.[37][39] A loading dock was provided on the easternmost portion of the 58th Street side to eliminate congestion.[24][40] The loading area has a ramp descending directly to the basement.[16][41] The ramp is made of concrete and can fit two vehicles. Planting beds originally flanked either side of the ramp, while a canopy encloses the northern side of the ramp.[42][43]
+
+There are ten storefronts on Broadway in total; the center four have rounded corners and are flanked on each side by three square storefronts.[42][43] The central shops on Broadway are staggered along the diagonal property line, with jagged setbacks and rounded windows. Mayer intentionally included the rounded storefronts to increase the value of the display windows, because he said that the rounded windows gave each shop "many of the advantages of a corner location".[13][16][27] Architectural Forum magazine, in 1941, said that the storefronts "permitted the enlargement of the normal sidewalk area into a kind of concourse".[44]
+
+Balconies
+About 100 apartments have open-air balconies.[13][45] These balconies have an average floor area of 8 by 8 feet (2.4 by 2.4 m) and are cantilevered from the windows.[16][34] The balconies are concrete slabs and largely retain their original metal railings as of the early 21st century.[32]
+
+At the northern apartment block, the balconies are above the seventh story on the northern side facing Central Park, and above the twelfth floor on the southern side.[46][47] The only exception is on the northeastern corner, where the balconies start above the 16th floor.[47] The balconies on the northern facade were meant to give residents a view above the park's tree line, which was not possible below the seventh floor.[26] In addition, the "tower" of the northern block contains balconies at either northern corner on the 22nd through 26th floors, and a terrace on the 27th floor.[31][46] At the southern apartment block, all of the balconies are above the 10th story.[29][42]
+
+Features
+240 Central Park South's interior structure is composed of a steel skeleton frame made by Bethlehem Steel. The columns rest on footings made of reinforced concrete, while the floors are made of concrete slabs between the interior beams.[11][18] The building has a gross floor area of 387,428 square feet (35,993.2 m2).[7]
+
+The building was designed with its own power generation plant, containing steam boilers, a diesel engine, and two steam turbines with a combined capacity of 625 kilowatts (838 hp), as well as an attached hot water heating system.[44] There are six elevators in the building, four for passengers and two for freight.[16][34] Four of the elevators serve the northern apartment block and the other two elevators serve the southern apartment block.[29][48] The building was designed with several methods of soundproofing and insulation.[16][44][34] For example, some elevator parts were made of leather, carpeting was placed on the corridor floors to reduce noise, and bedrooms are generally placed away from elevator shafts.[44]
+
+Lobby
+The lobby has entrances from both Central Park South and 58th Street, and is divided into two sections, one around each entrance. The northern lobby contains access to the four northern elevators, two on either side of the passageway connecting to the southern lobby.[29][48] The elevator banks are surrounded by marble. The northern lobby contains green terrazzo flooring, copper-clad walls, recessed lighting, and a marble mail desk. The copper-clad walls and terrazzo floors are continued in the passageway between the northern and southern lobbies. A solarium, with marble wall panels and large windows, is next to this passageway, facing onto an enclosed conservatory to the east.[29] The southern lobby contains access to the two southern elevators.[29][48]
+
+The lobby contains doors to the storefronts facing Broadway and Columbus Circle, as well as a restaurant space on the northeastern corner of the building at Central Park South.[32][48] The northernmost storefront was adjacent to the western wall of the entrance courtyard and was initially entered from the lobby, before being combined with the two northernmost storefronts on Broadway.[37] Since 2009, the restaurant space has housed Marea, a Michelin-starred Italian and seafood restaurant.[49] Plans of the lobby also show maids' rooms and offices clustered around the central courtyard and near the 58th Street entrance.[48]
+
+Gardens
+240 Central Park South's open spaces include the small courtyard at the main entrance, plantings along 58th Street, the enclosed conservatory at ground level, and rooftop gardens and terraces atop various parts of the building.[17][18] The conservatory at ground level was planted with crabapples, magnolia, and white birch, with Boston ivy on the conservatory's walls. On the roof of the lobby between the two apartment blocks, a garden with willows, forsythia, rhododendrons, and grass plots with flower beds was planted.[19] The roof of the conservatory curves above and east of the lobby roof.[42] The rooftop of the 58th Street apartment block was planted with geometrically shaped flower beds.[19]
+
+Apartments
+The apartments on the 2nd through 20th floor of the northern block are arranged around a C-shaped corridor.[29][50] The apartments in the 21st through 28th floors of the northern block are arranged around a T-shaped corridor, and the apartments in the southern block are arranged around a straight corridor.[50] All of the corridors have plaster walls, carpeted floors, and terrazzo baseboards. The corridors also contain soffits, which carry utility wires.[29]
+
+The layouts of the units vary, and even between different floors, tenant preferences affected the floor plan of each unit. However, several design elements were standardized, such as doors, windows, and kitchen units.[35] Each apartment had a window in its kitchen, although these were technically unnecessary, as mechanical ventilation systems had been legalized shortly before the building's completion. Above the seventh floor, each corner room was designed as a balcony containing a large window. The units were each designed with between one and four rooms; the three- and four-room units have separate dining rooms, while the one-room units have dining alcoves. The units above the sixth floor also had log-burning fireplaces.[13][16][34] Some units retain their original bookcases and shelves, which were built into the walls. Many apartments contain plaster walls, hardwood floors, wooden wall moldings, and exposed-beam ceilings.[51]
+
+At its opening, the building provided maid service, and had restrooms and service halls for personnel on every floor. Additionally, the basement had rooms for work, storage, and laundry, while the 20th floor of the northern apartment block had a solarium and recreation area.[16][29][34] The 20th floor of the northern block also contains three roof terraces, one each to the west, east, and south of the tower.[32]
+
+History
+In the early 20th century, the Mayer family was prominent in the development and management of New York City real estate.[20][21] Albert Mayer and four of his five siblings were active in the industry. He worked at the J. H. Taylor Construction Company from 1919 to 1939, when he worked with Whittlesey.[20][52] By the 1930s, Mayer and Whittlesey were formulating plans for an apartment building combining an urban setting with suburban features such as green space.[25] The New York Herald Tribune said they came up with the idea as they studied architecture in the European cities of Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Vienna.[13][18][16]
+
+Planning and construction
+Several investors from Chicago were planning a 25-story apartment building on the Ehret site at Columbus Circle by March 1939.[53] 240 Central Park South Inc., a subsidiary of J. H. Taylor Management, bought the Ehret site that May, with plans to erect a $4.5 million development there. The sale included a building loan of $2.5 million and the transfer of an existing $875,000 mortgage.[5][6] Mayer and Whittlesey had selected the site as the location for their apartment block because it was near a park, transportation, businesses, and entertainment. The architects wanted the building to be profitable, modern in design, and socially desirable,[25] while also maximizing the number of apartments with views of Central Park.[35] Mayer and Whittlesey reviewed several designs before deciding to build 240 Central Park South as two towers. The decisions were made by a "design board" composed of the architects, owner, operating manager, rental manager, and builders.[11][18][25]
+
+In July 1939, Mayer and Whittlesey filed plans for the apartment building, estimated to cost $1.6 million (equivalent to $35 million in 2023).[11][12] 240 Central Park South was the largest apartment project in Manhattan at the time.[22] By January 1940, steel was being erected, and the building was scheduled to be completed that June.[13][45] Leasing started in March 1940,[22] and J. H. Taylor Management commenced a marketing campaign with mailers and newspaper advertisements to attract people looking for a suburban ambience.[34][54] Fifty-two units had been rented within one month, which renting manager Sarah Tobias attributed to the inclusion of trees and balconies.[55] Potential tenants were carefully selected by Tobias's team, and the entire tenth floor was furnished to demonstrate the variety of apartments available.[56] The amenities in 240 Central Park South, such as the restaurant, stores, solarium, and roof terraces, were characteristic of those found in both apartment hotels and traditional residential apartments of the time.[16][41][57]
+
+Use
+20th century
+Residents started moving into the building in September 1940,[11][12] by which 194 of the apartments had been rented.[58] A ground floor storefront was leased to Fanny Farmer.[59] The restaurant space was leased to a cafe called Le Cafe Arnold, whose operators hired Mayer and Whittlesey to design the restaurant's plant- and vine-inspired decorations and furnishings. Le Cafe Arnold opened in the building in December 1940.[60][61]
+
+One of its first residents, opera singer Helen Jepson, signed a lease at 240 Central Park South soon after its completion.[58] Another resident was the author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who lived in Manhattan from 1941 to 1943[62] and resided at 240 Central Park South during that time.[63] Samuel Solomon, a gangster better known as Sam Boston, was arrested at his home inside the building in 1943, and was charged and convicted of running an illegal gambling ring at his residence.[64] A resident was killed in a gas explosion in her apartment in 1952, which caused a bomb scare that prompted a lockdown of the surrounding area.[65][66]
+
+In the late 20th century, actors Sylvia Miles, Angie Harmon, and Lou Jacobi also took up residence at 240 Central Park South.[67] In addition, the building's own architect Albert Mayer lived in 240 Central Park South from 1975 until his 1981 death.[32][68] The building was also shown in works of fiction, being the residence of Lois Lane in the 1978 film Superman,[32][68][69] as well as a key setting in the 1957 film A Face in the Crowd.[69] 240 Central Park Associates owned the building from its opening until May 1976, when the building was sold to Central Park South Associates, a company operated by real estate developer Sarah Korein.[32][68] In 1988, Italian restaurant San Domenico opened inside 240 Central Park South.[70]
+
+21st century
+In the 1990s, preservationists unsuccessfully attempted to create a Central Park South Historic District, encompassing properties on Central Park South between Fifth Avenue and Columbus Circle, including 240 Central Park South.[71]  By the first decade of the 21st century, the building was in disrepair; the facade bricks were in mismatched colors, while the courtyard had "shattered tiles and dry fountains", according to The New York Times. A group of preservationists, led by New York state senator Thomas Duane, started to advocate for official city landmark protection in 2001, with the commencement of major renovations at the building. Despite the fact that the Central Park South Historic District had been proposed a few years earlier, 240 Central Park South's historical significance had never been questioned, which had led to the failure of the historic district proposal.[67] The building became a New York City designated landmark on June 25, 2002.[2]
+
+240 Central Park South's exteriors and public interior areas were restored in 2007.[4] The renovation included a green roof designed by Balmori Associates as well as upgrades designed by Douglas J. Lister.[72] The $25 million project received the New York Landmarks Conservancy's Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award for 2007.[73][74] San Domenico closed its space inside 240 Central Park South in 2008,[75] with Marea moving into that space the next year.[76] The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 12, 2009.[1]
+
+Critical reception
+240 Central Park South was one of the few mid-rise apartment buildings with courtyards to be constructed following the Great Depression, and was praised for its overall treatment.[11][18][77] In 1940, the Museum of Modern Art's Guide to Modern Architecture said that the building's designers had given "particular attention to light, air, and view".[78][79][80] The same year, architecture critic Lewis Mumford wrote for The New Yorker that 240 Central Park South was "a real success" and expressed admiration for the building's form, facade, balconies, windows, Broadway storefronts, and main entrance.[78][81][82] Architectural Forum, the next year, stated that the design had "a host of improvements which taken together add up to one of the best apartment buildings yet produced", which could be attributed mainly to its improvements.[83] Buildings and Building Management praised the landscaping as "ingenious"[11][18] and commended the diversity of apartment layouts, which made every unit "a sort of penthouse".[24]
+
+More modern reviewers also praised 240 Central Park South as innovative, even if its design often went unnoticed.[78][84] Paul Goldberger wrote in 1977 that 240 Central Park South, while "often overlooked", had apartments that were "well organized and a far cry from the cramped layouts" of that era.[28] Goldberger also called the building "a remarkably sophisticated design" for its time, with its varied apartment layouts, Broadway storefronts, and park views.[85] In 1980, architectural historian Robert A. M. Stern wrote that the building was a paradigm of the contextually responsible high-rise apartment in Manhattan".[11][18][77] In his subsequent book New York 1930, Stern called the building "a synthetic work that was at once infill and icon", despite what he saw as shortfalls in the building's courtyard and "bland facade".[26] As early as 1996, Stern had suggested that 240 Central Park South was a viable candidate for official landmark status.[86] Martin Filler, writing for The New Republic in 2000, described 240 Central Park South as Columbus Circle's best structure, saying: "This stylish exemplar of high-density urbanism, completed just before civilian construction halted with our entry into World War II, has never been superseded."[87]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

271_North_Avenue.txt

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+271 North Avenue
+
+271 North Avenue (also known as the Schiff Building, Pershing Square, the Kaufman or K Building) is a 13-story art-deco office tower located in the downtown section of New Rochelle in Westchester County, New York.
+
+Overview
+The brick, limestone and terra-cotta structure was designed by the architectural firm Schwartz & Gross and constructed by Harry Schiff & Sons.[1] It was completed in 1930 at a cost of $1 million.
+
+The building is built-up following the principles which guided early skyscraper design.
+
+Overall, the building's use of massing  is derived from the sections used in all classic columnar orders, consisting of a base, shaft and capital.
+
+The 3-story retail storefront space serves as the base, upon which are 10 stories, serving as the shaft, and, above this, is the cornice, representing the capital.[2] The lower floors include commercial storefronts on the first story with a round-arched arcade on the second and third. The upper facade is designed with flat topped windows with minor detailing in the brick surrounds. In 1936 an additional floor was added to the building. The cornice is of terra cotta and includes medallions and dentils.[3]
+
+This was the tallest building in Westchester County when it was built in the 1920s. It was originally called the "Pershing Square Building", derived from its location on Pershing Square at the intersection of North Avenue and Huguenot Street. The building is located on the site of the former "Besley's Tavern", a Revolutionary War-era establishment where town meetings were held in 1773–1776. George Washington had once lodged at the tavern on a trip through New Rochelle.  The building was developed, built and owned by Harry Schiff & Son, prominent New York developers who erected and owned numerous buildings in New Rochelle and New York City. It was later renamed "Kaufman" by a later landlord, the owner of Kaufman Studios in Queens, New York.[4]
+Paul Terry established his animation company Terrytoons here in 1934. The firm created such well known characters as Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle, in the building until 1949 when it relocated to a nearby downtown location.[5]
+WVOX-AM 1460 maintained studios and offices here for decades.
+
+References
+External links

29_Diner.txt

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+29 Diner
+
+The 29 Diner is a diner in the City of Fairfax, Virginia. The diner is located at 10536 Fairfax Boulevard (U.S. Route 29/U.S. Route 50), a short distance west of the Boulevard's intersection with Chain Bridge Road (Virginia State Route 123).
+
+History
+The 29 Diner opened on July 20, 1947. It was built by the Mountain View Diners Company of Singac, New Jersey.   D.T. "Bill" Glascock (deceased) purchased the diner and had it shipped to a strip of land that he owned in Fairfax, Virginia.  Glascock and his wife, Elvira "Curly," ran the diner for the first several years, and thereafter leased the building to a succession of business owners.
+
+In 1973, the Tastee Diner company bought the location and it became the Tastee 29 Diner.
+
+In 1992, the diner was declared to be a historic site. Marc Christian Wagner, an architectural historian from the Charlottesville-based Preservation Associates of Virginia organization wrote the statement of significance. The opening of the statement declares:
+
+The Tastee 29 Diner is a rare survivor among the once-numerous streamlined Moderns diners that operated in the United States. While it is rare to find one of these 1940's diners still standing, it is even more unusual to find one still in operation. The high quality of this Mountain View diner has withstood the test of time in a hostile environment.
+Thus, in 1992 the Tastee 29 Diner was added to the list of National Register of Historic Places.
+
+In the late-1990s, Fredy and Ginger Guevara (Ginger being a former waitress at the 29 Diner in the mid-1960s) bought the location and restored its original name of 29 Diner.
+
+For years the diner was-open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, with the exception being Christmas Day. In January 2009, the diner began closing on Monday nights due to the recession facing the United States, however in 2014 it was restored back to being open 24 hours a day.
+
+In May, 2014, the 29 Diner went out of business under the operations of Fredy and Ginger Guevara, but the property lease was quickly picked up by Fairfax native John Wood, who planned to reopen it in the summer of 2014.[3] After some delays, the diner reopened to the public at 12:01 am on September 11, 2014. It was open 24 hours Tuesday through Sunday and closed on Monday.
+
+Two days before Thanksgiving 2021, a chemical fire near the kitchen resulted in closure of the diner until further notice. A GoFundMe campaign by community members was approaching half of its collection goal within a week of the fire.[4]
+
+Culture
+Fairfax, Virginia, mayor Robert Lederer has made a recent annual tradition of dining at the 29 Diner on Thanksgiving.
+
+John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted, made a visit to the diner in 1999 with two bodyguards.
+
+Bill Griffith featured 29 Diner in the July 23, 2003, and April 21, 2012, installments of Zippy the Pinhead.
+
+References
+External links

2_Horatio_Street.txt

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+2 Horatio Street
+
+2-10 Horatio Street is a 17-story co-operative apartment building located between Greenwich and Eighth Avenues, on the corner of Greenwich Avenue, across from Jackson Square Park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Built in 1929–31 and designed by Robert T. Lyons, the building is located within the Greenwich Village Historic District,[1] but is not an individual landmark. The building also has the address 123-129 Greenwich Avenue.[1]
+
+Between 1959 and 1963, an addition to the western end of the building, fronting on Horatio Street, added four apartments per floor, as well as air conditioning and new windows.[1] This section of the building occupies what was the site of the Caledonian Club, at #8-10 from 1880 to 1897[2][3] after which it was occupied by a number of church-related organizations.[1] Altogether, the building, along with the 17-story apartment building at 54 Eighth Avenue – also known as #14-18 Horatio Street – at the other end of the block, replaced six older low-level buildings. The building is known for having a number of celebrity residents.
+
+Development
+On April 1, 1929, the real estate development firm Bing & Bing – founded in 1906 by brothers Leo S. Bing and Alexander Bing[4] – announced that they had quietly acquired 75 small lots and old buildings largely around Abingdon Square, Sheridan Square and Jackson Square Park, on Horatio, West Twelfth and Christopher Streets, sufficient to build five high-end residential buildings in a concerted effort to "recreate" the Greenwich Village neighborhood.[5] In addition to 2 Horatio Street, the project would result in 299 West 12th Street,[6] 59 West 12th Street,[7] 302 West 12th Street,[8] and 45 Christopher Street.[9]
+
+Although Bing & Bing had built many residences on the Upper West and Upper East Sides, this project was their first major venture this far downtown. According to a 1985 article in The New York Times, the firm's structures were "regarded as among the city's finest prewar properties ... [Bing & Bing] built hotels and apartments at a time when luxurious in New York was still synonymous with spacious."[4]
+
+The firm hoped to take advantage of some of the amenities which would make the western part of Greenwich Village a more desirable place to live, including the coming Eighth Avenue Subway, the recent completion of the West Side Elevated Highway, and easy access to the Holland Tunnel.[10]
+
+Leo Bing said in the firm's announcement that the goal of the project was to "recreate the entire district as a modern counterpart of the high-class residential section it once was", saying that it would "rival Central Park West and the fashionable east side within a few years." He cited the goal of neighborhood reinvention as the reason for the simultaneous building, saying his hope was that "complete transformation of the section may be achieved as quickly as possible."[5]
+
+Seven months after the announcement that the land had been bought and that clearing and construction would commence, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred on October 29.
+
+Architect
+For 2 Horatio Street, Bing & Bing chose architect Robert T. Lyons, who they had just worked with on the Gramercy Park Hotel, which had opened in 1925. The Bing brothers and Lyons also partnered on what was then a major technological breakthrough – creating the world's tallest apartment building – 17 stories – at 903 Park Avenue, which was completed in 1916.[11][12]
+
+Lyons worked in New York between 1891 and 1931, mostly hotels or residential buildings but with a few commercial buildings as well. Many of them are located on Park Avenue, but other areas include the Upper West Side and Midtown.[12] A notable project designed by Lyons was the "St. Urban" apartment building on Central Park West at 89th Street, which opened in 1906.[13]
+
+Architecture and interior
+2 Horatio Street is rendered in red and brown brick. It has Art Deco references that include four horizontal, terra cotta decorations using greek key motifs at the fourth and sixteenth floors and circle-in-square motifs at the cornice. Overall, the building is not interestingly ornamented, the primary features being rusticated bricks at the corners and balconies under the 15th floor windows. In addition, the penthouse has a tower with terra cotta ornamentation.[14]
+
+1931 promotional material for 2 Horatio Street declared, "In every case the living room is large and beautifully proportioned and has a wood-burning fireplace. The wide expanse of unbroken wall space permits the expression of your individuality in furnishing." Special features cited were "oversize rooms, immense closets, dining foyers, dressing rooms, ornamental railings and RCA radio outlets ..."[15]
+
+Rentals
+As the opening of 2 Horatio Street and other four buildings of the Bing & Bing project approached, there were reports that the developers were having difficulty finding tenants. The headline of a New York Times article about the five buildings said: "Tall Apartments in Village Center / Opening This Fall / Presents Rental Problem / Situation Unprecedented."[16] Quoted in the same article, Bing & Bing reported that the "five new buildings on Christopher, Horatio and West Twelfth Streets are proving among the most popular of all the Bing & Bing apartment properties. Callers have been numerous…and a high percentage of the space has been leased."[16]
+
+The building was sold by Bing & Bing in 1985, and became cooperative apartments in 1987.[4]
+
+Criticism
+Concerning the two massive apartment buildings which sit next to each other, at 2 Horatio Street and 54 Eighth Avenue (also known as 14 Horatio Street), the latter built in 1959, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission commented that "[I]t is not at once evident that they defy their neighbors ... Conspicuous from the park, they might well have been designed in better character with the houses in the surrounding blocks, had some regulatory body been in existence to give expert guidance."[1]
+
+References
+Notes
+
+Bibliography
+
+External links

2_Park_Avenue.txt

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+2 Park Avenue
+
+
+
+
+
+2 Park Avenue is a 28-story office building in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The structure, along the west side of Park Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets, was designed by Ely Jacques Kahn and was developed by Abe N. Adelson from 1926 to 1928. The building, known for its facade of brick and colored architectural terracotta, is a New York City designated landmark.
+
+The facade of the first three stories is made of stone and largely contains storefronts, except for a central entrance on Park Avenue. The lower section of the building occupies nearly its entire lot, and the building contains setbacks at the 11th, 18th, and 25th stories. The facade contains a polychrome color scheme above the 16th floor, including colored terracotta tiles manufactured by Léon-Victor Solon. The design of the vaulted main lobby dates to the 1970s, when decorations such as a mural by Winold Reiss were added. Office tenants over the years have included the Boy Scouts of America, as well as various textiles, clothing, media, and financial firms.
+
+The site had been occupied by the Park Avenue Hotel since the 1870s. Developer Henry Mandel bought the hotel in 1925 in conjunction with a nearby development; he sold the site to Adelson, who erected the building and issued bonds to fund the project. The Continental Bank and Trust Company took over the building in foreclosure in 1935, and real-estate firm Webb and Knapp acquired it in 1953. After several sales in the 1960s, Sheldon Lewis Breitbart bought 2 Park Avenue's leasehold in 1962. Breitbart renovated the lobby after buying the building outright in 1976. Bernard H. Mendik acquired the building in 1986 after several of the building's limited partners accused Breitbart of impropriety. Mendik merged his company in 1997 with Vornado Realty Trust, which sold the building in 2003 to a German firm. Morgan Stanley Real Estate has owned 2 Park Avenue since 2007.
+
+Site
+2 Park Avenue occupies the eastern section of a city block in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 32nd Street on the south, Park Avenue on the east, and 33rd Street on the north; the city block extends westward to Madison Avenue.[2][3] The building's land lot has a total area of 40,500 sq ft (3,760 m2).[2] It measures 197.5 ft (60.2 m) from north to south and 205 ft (62 m) from west to east.[2][4] Entrances to the New York City Subway's 33rd Street station are directly outside the building's northeast and southeast corners.[5] The building is on the same block as 29 East 32nd Street to the west. Other nearby buildings include the Hotel Grand Union to the southwest, Madison Belmont Building to the northwest, 4 Park Avenue to the north, and 3 Park Avenue to the northeast.[2]
+
+The adjacent portion of Park Avenue slopes upward from south to north.[6] The site was part of the 18th-century estate of merchant Robert Murray.[7] In the 1860s, after the Park Avenue Tunnel was built, the segment of Fourth Avenue between 34th and 40th Streets was renamed Park Avenue, while the avenue's name south of 34th Street remained unchanged.[8] Fourth and Park Avenues in Murray Hill had been developed with upscale residences by the 1870s.[9]
+
+The site had previously been occupied by the Park Avenue Hotel, which was built in 1878 by dry-goods businessman Alexander Turney Stewart and was originally a hotel for "working girls".[10][11] This building was seven stories high and had an internal courtyard.[12] Despite being destroyed in a 1902 fire that killed 17 people, the hotel was rebuilt and continued to operate for two decades.[10][11] The New York Times described the hotel as "one of the most popular hostelries in New York City" when it was in operation.[10]
+
+Architecture
+2 Park Avenue was designed by Ely Jacques Kahn in the Art Deco style.[3][13][14] It rises 28[15] or 29 stories[13][16] and measures about 350 ft (110 m) to its roof.[13][17] 
+The lower section of the building occupies nearly its entire lot, but there is a light court facing west toward the adjacent building. On the western side of the building, there is a setback along 32nd and 33rd Street on the 11th story.[15] There is a setback on all sides at the 18th story, above the tops of the western wings.[15][18] The building has another setback at the 26th story; the top three stories are treated as a penthouse.[15][19] The building's height was intended to maximize profit; since elevators and other service areas took up a significant part of the rentable area on upper stories, it would have been unprofitable to build a taller structure.[19]
+
+Facade
+The western elevation of the facade, on Park Avenue, is divided into nine bays along each of the 1st through 17th stories and seven bays on each of the 18th through 25th stories. Generally, the two outermost bays are designed similarly to each other, and the central bays share a common design that contrasts with the outer bays.[20] The northern and southern elevations are each divided into ten bays along each of the 1st through 17th stories. The easternmost seven bays are divided into two outer bays and five central bays (similar in design to the facade on Park Avenue), while the westernmost three bays are again different in design. These taper to six bays on the 18th through 25th stories.[21]
+
+The facade contains a polychrome color scheme above the 16th floor, which Kahn said was inspired by the texture of fabric.[22][23][24] Kahn's friend Léon-Victor Solon designed the polychrome terracotta panels.[19][24][25] These consisted of red, yellow, green, and blue panels with glazing, and black panels with a luster finish.[26] According to Kahn's biographer Jewel Stern, Solon had been selected because he was "the nation's leading authority on architectural polychromy".[19][24] At the time of the building's completion, few buildings used colored terracotta panels on facades,[27][28] though such panels were characteristic of Kahn's work during the 1920s.[29] Kahn had wanted to include decorative forms in the building's design, but typical sculpted ornamentation was difficult to see from the street.[30][31] Unlike traditional decorations (which were applied to a completed curtain wall) the terracotta panels on 2 Park Avenue's facade are part of the curtain wall itself.[32]
+
+Base
+The main entrance is recessed within the central bay.[15] The floors of the vestibule are paved in travertine.[33] The main entrance to the lobby consists of two revolving bronze doors flanked by single bronze doors; all are decorated with geometric motifs.[15][34] Above these is an ornate bronze transom bar, as well as a semicircular window.[15][35] The transom contains motifs relating to machines, designed in a style resembling Frank Lloyd Wright's work.[33] The mosaic ceiling was intended to evoke the design of a tapestry,[34] with blue, black, and red tesserae as well as gold accents.[33] The walls on either side are made of polished gray marble and originally contained light sconces.[20][33] The side walls each contain a bronze door with an illuminated sign above it. The south wall also has a bronze tenant directory and the north wall contains a second door leading to the storefronts.[20]
+
+At the bottom of the 1st story is a water table made of granite.[21] The 1st through 3rd stories are clad with tan stone, which blends in with the brick on the upper stories.[36] The 1st and 2nd stories contain double-height openings, divided by vertical stone piers.[21] The 1st story includes storefronts made of metal and glass, above which are horizontal spandrels made of cast iron.[24][36] Panels were installed in front of these spandrels at some point in the 20th century before being removed.[24] Each 2nd-story window is composed of a large central window between a pair of smaller sash windows, except in the central bay on Park Avenue, which contains four sash windows separated by triangular piers.[21] There is a cyma reversa molding above these windows.[36] On the 3rd story, the outermost two bays each contain two sash windows. The central bays are separated from each other by wide triangular piers; each bay has four narrow sash windows separated by flat pilasters.[21]
+
+The lowest three stories on Park Avenue, 32nd Street, and 33rd Street are similar, with minor exceptions. On 33rd Street, there is a secondary entrance in the fifth bay from east, with bronze and glass doors. An unused service entrance is placed on 32nd Street as well. The westernmost two bays on 32nd Street contain vehicular loading docks with roller shutters.[21]
+
+Upper stories
+The upper stories are clad with brick. On all three elevations, at the 4th through 15th stories, each of the outer bays has two rectangular windows per floor, which are separated by flat pilasters.[21] The flat brick surfaces of the outer bays contrast with the central bays' textured surfaces. Furthermore, the bricks in the outer bays are lighter in tone than with the bricks in the central bays, providing more visual contrast.[26]
+
+On all three elevations, each of the central bays contains four windows on each floor.[36] The windows of each bay are separated vertically by narrow brick pilasters and horizontally by darker-brick spandrels, which are textured to resemble woven fabric.[21] The spandrels alternately contain narrow brick headers, which project from the wall, and wider brick stretchers, which are flush with the wall.[26] Furthermore, each four-window bay is separated by triangular brick piers, which are supported by stone corbels on the 3rd story and rise to the 17th story. At the setbacks, the brick piers are topped by blue terracotta panels.[36] On the north and south elevations, the westernmost three bays are also faced with brick and divided by triangular piers, but there are only three windows per bay.[21]
+
+Between the 16th story and the roof are polychrome terracotta panels, designed with several geometric and abstract motifs.[36] In the center bays, the spandrels above the 15th and 16th stories contain superimposed geometric motifs in red, yellow, green, and blue.[37] The panels above the 17th story are treated as an attic section, with different designs above the central and outer bays.[38] The central windows are topped by projecting yellow bars, while the brick piers are topped by blue terracotta. In the outermost bays, the 16th- and 17th-story windows are interspersed with horizontal bands of orange and yellow. Above the 17th story, the outer bays contain red, blue, and black bands (from bottom to top), each with vertical yellow bars.[21] The outer panels above the 17th story contain curving shapes, the only curved motifs used in any of the terracotta panels.[39]
+
+Above the 18th to 22nd stories, there is a blue-on-yellow spandrel above each of the windows in the central bays. The outer bays contain horizontal orange-and-yellow bands between the windows on each story. The spandrels between the 24th and 25th stories contain geometric motifs in red, yellow, green, and blue, while the windows in the outer bays are interspersed with horizontal bands of orange and yellow. Above the 25th story, the central and outer bays are topped by ornament similar to that above the 17th story.[21] The main difference is that the outer bays contain incisions above the 25th story.[39] The top three stories are decorated similarly to the 16th and 17th and the 24th and 25th floors, except that the outer bays also have colored terracotta.[21]
+
+Interior
+Ground level and lobby
+The main entrance to the building is from Park Avenue, though the building also has entrances from 32nd and 33rd Streets, all connected via passageways. There was also an entrance from the subway station in the basement.[30][31] The lobby's design largely consisted of bronze, marble, and mosaic tiles, arranged in overlaid geometric motifs.[33][40] The passageway from Park Avenue contained travertine floors. Each of the walls consisted of a tall gray-marble wainscoting, above which was a gilded plaster frieze with motifs such as plants, chevrons, volutes, prisms, and column shapes. Octagonal bronze-and-glass chandeliers, with cantilevered glass panels, were initially suspended from the ceiling via metal rods.[33] The Park Avenue lobby intersects a vaulted north-south passageway connecting 32nd and 33rd Streets.[41] The north-south passageway originally had multi-tiered chandeliers, each containing eight bronze pendants.[41][42] The north-south passageway contained an arch leading back to Park Avenue, which was topped by a colorful tympanum.[43] The lights, mailbox, and radiator grilles were decorated similarly to the rest of the lobby.[40][43]
+
+In the 1950s, many of these decorations were replaced, while the ceiling was painted white.[44] During a renovation in the 1970s, a Winold Reiss mural of New York City's skyline and Sabino glass chandeliers were added to the lobby.[44][45] The mural came from a Longchamps restaurant at 59th Street and Madison Avenue, while the chandeliers came from a Simpsons department store in Toronto, Ontario. The ceiling was also painted blue.[44] Originally, there were also nine storefronts at ground level.[46]
+
+Other interior spaces
+Below street level are freight and loading platforms.[30] Each of the lowest floors spans 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2). Above the 17th-story setback, each of the floors are 22,500 sq ft (2,090 m2).[18] Though 2 Park Avenue could accommodate both offices and showrooms, its developers also wanted the ability to lease the space to manufacturers if there were not enough office or showroom tenants. At the time of the building's construction, up to 25 percent of the space could be used for manufacturing. Consequently, 2 Park Avenue's floor slabs contained a high floor–load capacity, and it also included freight elevators and other services.[19]
+
+The building contains 26 elevators.[19][30][31] At ground level, the elevators are clustered where the passageways from each entrance intersect. On the remaining stories, there are mechanical rooms surrounding each elevator bank.[19] The superstructure used 10,000 short tons (8,900 long tons; 9,100 t) of steel.[30][31] The 1st through 17th stories are divided by piers, which are spaced 21 to 22 feet (6.4 to 6.7 m) apart at their centers; at the rear of each story, the piers are spaced more closely. The ceilings measured 12 feet (3.7 m) high, providing large work spaces for industrial tenants. The work spaces above the 17th story were generally shallower, accommodating office tenants.[19] On the 20th floor is a business center with a coworking space, 74 offices, and meeting rooms.[47]
+
+History
+The developer Henry Mandel acquired the lots on the eastern side of Fourth Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Street in 1923 under the name "One Park Avenue Corporation". He intended to erect an office building on the site. Since the house numbering system reset at the southern end of Park Avenue, buildings between 32nd and 34th Streets originally had Fourth Avenue addresses. Park Avenue was extended southward from 34th to 32nd Street in 1924,[48] but controversies over the renaming continued until 1930.[49] The site of the Park Avenue Hotel had long been difficult to redevelop because it faced a streetcar depot across Park Avenue, which was demolished to make way for 1 Park Avenue.[22]
+
+Development
+Mandel bought the old Park Avenue Hotel in May 1925, with plans to build 2 Park Avenue, a 35-story office building, on the site.[50][51] He immediately started planning for the new development, even though the hotel continued to operate under a lease that did not expire until 1927.[52] Mandel wanted to connect 1 and 2 Park Avenue via an underpass that also provided access to the subway.[10] The Park Avenue Hotel site was sold again in April 1926, this time to Abe N. Adelson, who formed the Two Park Avenue Corporation to develop the building.[53][54] That September, the Park Avenue Hotel closed and all its furnishings were sold off.[55]
+
+Ely Jacques Kahn was hired to develop alternative plans for an industrial building or an office building, since the owners did not know what to develop on the site.[22][56] Kahn's firm Buchman and Kahn created four separate sketches of the building in four months. The first sketch, scheme A, called for a base with multiple setbacks and a central tower with a pyramidal roof. Scheme B was a variation of scheme A with diagonal corners and without a pyramidal roof.[57] Schemes C and D also depicted a central tower above a base with multiple setbacks, but the setbacks in scheme D were simpler than those in scheme C.[58] The final plans called for a much simpler massing without a tower.[19] Buchman and Kahn filed plans for a building at 2 Park Avenue, to cost $4 million, in October 1926.[4] The structure was to be designed in the Art Deco style, making it one of the first office buildings in Manhattan to be designed in that style. To maximize usable space, Kahn designed the structure as a nearly square block with large floor areas and a light court in the rear.[14]
+
+Solon and Kahn created mockups of the facade's terracotta panels using plaster and cardboard boxes.[28] The Federal Terra Cotta Company then created full-sized mockups of the panels to see how they looked from 250 feet (76 m) away.[26] Though Adelson doubted the effectiveness of these designs, consulting architect Raymond Hood reassured the developer of Kahn's expertise.[24][28] Halley, Knox & Koenig provided a $1.25 million mortgage on the site in December 1926.[59][60] The following month, S. W. Straus & Co. provided $9 million in permanent financing including a $6.5 million first mortgage.[61][62] Straus had also tried to convince Kahn to tone down the colorful design, but Kahn replied that his panels would be less expensive than traditional sculptured decoration.[28] Straus established the Park Avenue and 33rd Street Corporation, which would issue $6.5 million in sinking fund bonds, secured by the land and building.[63][64]
+
+Steel contractors Shroder & Koppel began erecting the steel superstructure at the end of March 1927, at which point over one-fifth of the building was leased.[30][31] That July, the New York Building Congress gave craftsmanship awards to many workers who were involved in construction.[65] By November 1927, the building was nearly fully leased.[18] Two months later, the Two Park Avenue Corporation hosted a dinner in which it presented a ceremonial cup to Adelson, honoring his involvement in the building's development.[66]
+
+1920s to 1940s
+When the building was completed, its storefronts were occupied by Seward National Bank,[67] Block, Maloney & Co.,[68] and the Bloomsburg Silk Mill.[18] Several dry goods and textiles merchants occupied the lower floors,[18] including Mills & Gibb.[69][70] Among the largest tenants were Peierle, Buhler & Co.[30][71] and Robert Reis & Co., which each occupied three full floors.[72][73] On the 17th floor were the national headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America.[74] Occupants of the 18th through 25th stories included the United States Leather Company,[75] the Building Trades Employers' Association,[76][77] and advertising firm Gardiner & Wells.[18] The Building Trades Employers' Association, which occupied the entire 25th floor, sought to name the building the "New York Builders' Exchange".[78] The top two floors were the offices of Buchman & Kahn, the building's own architects.[18][79] The Tammany Hall political organization also temporarily leased space at 2 Park Avenue while its permanent home at 44 Union Square was being completed.[80]
+
+The Straus National Bank and Trust Company placed a $2.5 million second mortgage on the property in July 1929.[81][82] At the time, the building's brokers cited 2 Park Avenue as being fully rented.[83] The same year, real-estate developer Robert W. Phillips cited 2 Park Avenue as one of several successful tall buildings that had been recently developed.[84] Among the building's tenants in the early 1930s were the Royal Typewriter Company,[85] the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company,[86] shirt manufacturer Cluett Peabody & Company,[87] several leather companies,[88] and several handkerchief manufacturers.[89] By February 1934, the Continental Bank and Trust Company sought to foreclose on the $6.5 million first mortgage from S. W. Straus & Co.[90][91] At the time, 8,000 individuals owned $8.175 million in outstanding bonds on the building, over two-thirds of which agreed on a reorganization plan.[92] The building was auctioned in August 1934[10][93] and Continental took over the building that month.[94][95] In the nine months after the reorganization, 2 Park Avenue had $225,000 in net profit.[96]
+
+Hunter College officials leased three and a half floors at 2 Park Avenue in February 1936, after Hunter's existing building burned down,[97][98] and the college added several classrooms and study halls to the space within three weeks.[99] Hunter continued to lease space at 2 Park Avenue for several years.[100] Other tenants during the 1940s included the Bibb Manufacturing Company,[101] the Home Owners' Loan Corporation,[102] the United States Mission to the United Nations,[103] and a regional office of the National Labor Relations Board.[104] In particular, the United Nations mission's presence led The New York Times to characterize 2 Park Avenue as "our global embassy on Park Avenue".[105] In 1947, Two Park Avenue Building Inc. refinanced the building with a $4.76 million mortgage, replacing the original first mortgage.[46][106]
+
+1950s to 1970s
+Bankers Trust leased some space in the 1950s,[107] as did the Free Europe Committee.[108] Real-estate firm Webb and Knapp acquired control of 2 Park Avenue in April 1953, paying off a $2.7 million mortgage.[109] That November, the Connecticut Life Insurance Company provided a $6.75 million mortgage loan for 2 Park Avenue to Webb and Knapp.[110][111] During the 1950s, the building was 98 percent occupied by companies in a variety of trades. These included the Boy Scouts, the Blue Shield Association, Chase Manhattan Bank, the Empire City Savings Bank, the Federal Housing Administration, Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance, and Radio Free Europe.[112] The law firm of Herrick Feinstein also leased some space in 1957 and stayed for over half a century,[113] while publisher W. A. Benjamin leased space in the 1960s.[114] Over a five-year period in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the building underwent a $3 million renovation, which included automating 16 manually operated elevators.[112]
+
+By 1960, Webb and Knapp was struggling financially and had sold off a partial ownership stake in 2 Park Avenue and several of its other buildings.[115] William Zeckendorf, the chairman of Webb and Knapp, subsequently testified that the building was sold in June 1959 to Chicago businessman Henry Crown, with a caveat that Zeckendorf had to buy it back if certain criteria were met. Crown asked Zeckendorf to buy back the building in January 1961, and Zeckendorf hired Samuel Lemberg to buy 2 Park Avenue, which Lemberg then sold to Joseph Lubin.[116] In June 1962, Sheldon Lewis Breitbart of the Breitbart Corporation bought 2 Park Avenue's leasehold from a limited partnership, Two Park Avenue Company.[112][117] The next month, Breitbart sold the leasehold for $8.35 million back to Two Park Avenue Company.[118] One of Zeckendorf's trustees, Mortimer M. Caplin, sued Zeckendorf in 1967, alleging the transactions were part of a trend of mismanagement.[116][119] Caplin dropped his complaints against the 2 Park Avenue transactions in 1972 in return for a $35,000 settlement.[120]
+
+Breitbart bought the land and building outright in 1976, paying $4 million to Ann L. Goldstein and Barbara Goldsmith.[121] The next year, Breitbart hired Kwan Lau and Beverly Birks to renovate the lobby with Art Deco decorations that were popular in the mid-20th century.[44] During that decade, 2 Park Avenue's tenants included publisher E. P. Dutton,[122] the editorial offices of Harper's Magazine,[123] and the offices of Esquire magazine.[124] In addition, the building's retail tenants included French restaurant La Coupole.[125]
+
+1980s and 1990s
+The lawyer Alan E. Bandler secretly bought a share in the building's ownership in 1982 after Breitbart had refused to allow Bandler's associate, Julien Studley, buy an ownership stake. Bandler and Studley bought more shares in 2 Park Avenue over the next two years, but Breitbart also refused to acknowledge that the men were partial owners. In an attempt to gain total ownership of the building, Bandler and Studley convinced some of the building's 1,040 limited partners to file a class action lawsuit against Breitbart, on the basis that he had paid "unauthorized and excessive management fees" to himself and to his wife Barbara.[126] The New York Supreme Court ruled in Breitbart's favor, but acting Court of Appeals justice Francis Pecora reversed the Supreme Court's decision. The appeals court ruled that Breitbart had to pay $6 million in damages, forced Breitbart to resign as the building's general partner, and appointed John Bower as a receiver to sell the property.[127][128] Bandler alleged that Breitbart should not be allowed to sell 2 Park Avenue unless Breitbart recognized Bandler's ownership stake.[126]
+
+Bower hired the Williams Real Estate Company, which recommended that the building be sold immediately so the limited partners could receive capital gains tax relief.[127] The building was sold at auction in December 1986 to a syndicate of Bernard Mendik and EF Hutton for $151 million.[127][128] Despite not providing documentation for his work, Bower was paid $7.7 million for his role in the receivership proceedings, or about $4,000 an hour.[128] This was about 70 times higher than the next-largest payment for a receivership proceeding in New York state.[128] This represented five percent of the total sale price, the maximum allowed under state law. Breitbart appealed the award in February 1988, prompting the weekly newspaper Manhattan Lawyer to publish three articles about the transaction. The state appellate division vacated Bower's fee that June, but Pecora restored it that August without holding a hearing. After another appeal in December 1988, the appellate division reduced the payment to $5 million, citing the "complex nature and extremely high quality of the service rendered"; this was still 40 times higher than the next-largest payment to a receiver in New York.[128]
+
+In the 1990s, the building contained the headquarters of New York Newsday, the New York City edition of Long Island daily newspaper Newsday.[129] The American Place restaurant also opened in the building at that time.[130] Despite the early-1990s economic downturn, 2 Park Avenue and Mendik's other properties remained over 95 percent occupied because of what Crain's New York described as Mendik's "reputation for quality management".[131] In 1996, Mendik announced that he would form a real estate investment trust to control seven of his properties in Midtown Manhattan, including 2 Park Avenue.[132][133] This move would allow Mendik to raise up to $220 million.[133] The next year, Mendik announced his company would merge with Steven Roth's Vornado Realty Trust, giving Vornado control of 2 Park Avenue and Mendik's other properties.[134][135] By the late 1990s, the neighborhood was a hub for publishing companies, and Matthew Bender & Company and Times Mirror Company occupied 2 Park Avenue.[136]
+
+2000s to present
+A branch of cheese restaurant Artisanal opened in the building in 2001,[137] and Hartford Financial Services moved to the building that year after being displaced in the September 11 attacks.[138] Vornado placed the building for sale in May 2003; at the time, it was 99 percent leased.[139] That August, German firm SEB Immobililien-Investment GmbH agreed to buy the building for $157 million. Its tenants at the time included the Tribune Company (succeeded by the Bonnier Corporation), Simplicity Pattern, New York Community Trust, and United Way of New York City.[140] Several tenants also leased space in the mid-2000s, including life-insurance company Penn Mutual[113] and fragrance company Coty Inc.[141] The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated 2 Park Avenue and the nearby 404 Fifth Avenue as official city landmarks on April 18, 2006.[142] L&L Holding and General Electric Pension Trust bought 2 Park Avenue the same year for $450 million[113][143] and refinanced the building in an all-cash transaction.[144] Morgan Stanley Real Estate paid $519 million for a majority stake in the building in early 2007.[113]
+
+Cushman & Wakefield took over leasing at the building in 2010.[145] Among the major office tenants in the early 2010s were fashion firm Kate Spade New York[146] as well as British Airways, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the North Shore-LIJ Health System, and Gilt Groupe.[113] The building's commercial tenants included Europa Café, Crumbs Bake Shop, and Pret a Manger, which faced competition from food trucks on Park Avenue. The building's manager requested in 2011 that the New York City Department of Transportation create a no-idling zone outside 2 Park Avenue; he claimed that food-truck owners had caused thousands of dollars in damage, resulting in complaints from tenants.[147][148] By 2014, the building was fully leased after clothing company Talbots leased some retail space.[149][150] Other tenants in the mid-2010s included textiles firm Delta Galil Industries[151][152] and technology firm The Trade Desk.[153][154]
+
+Reception
+Of all buildings that Ely Jacques Kahn designed, 2 Park Avenue received the most attention from architectural critics.[43] Near the building's completion, Solon brought Michael A. Mikkelson of Architectural Record, to see the building. Mikkelson thought the building began "a new chapter in the history of sky-scraper design".[155] The visit also prompted Mikkelson to publish a 22-page "Portfolio of Current Architecture" in April 1928, featuring 2 Park Avenue exclusively.[33] When the building was completed, architectural critic Lewis Mumford praised the building's facade, massing, and interior, in spite of his general disdain toward skyscrapers.[43] Mumford said the form and facade combined to create "the boldest and clearest note among all our recent achievements in skyscraper architecture".[22][156] Architectural Record described the building's lobby as "probably the most impressive in the country".[44]
+
+The photographer Cervin Robinson took an image of 2 Park Avenue, with the Empire State Building behind it, for his 1975 book Skyscraper Style: Art Deco New York. This led Paul Goldberger of The New York Times to describe the scene as one of several that "deserve to become classics".[157] When the building's lobby was renovated in 1977, Goldberger wrote: "It is all bright, shiny and full of enthusiasm for Art Deco", criticizing only the blue ceiling.[44] Architectural historian Anthony W. Robins described 2 Park Avenue as containing one of the "most striking Art Deco facades" in New York City.[34] According to writers Jewel Stern and John A. Stuart, 2 Park Avenue was "the project that confirmed Kahn's reputation as a modernist".[57]
+
+See also
+References
+Citations
+Sources

30_North_LaSalle.txt

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+30 North LaSalle
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+30 North LaSalle is a 553 ft (169m) tall skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was completed in 1975 and has 44 floors. Thomas E. Stanley designed the building, which is the 81st tallest in Chicago. It is built on the site of the Chicago Stock Exchange Building.
+
+Tenants
+See also
+References
+
+
+This article related to a building or structure in Chicago is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

30_Rockefeller_Plaza.txt

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+30 Rockefeller Plaza
+
+
+
+30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, United States. Completed in 1933, the 66-story, 850 ft (260 m) building was designed in the Art Deco style by Raymond Hood, Rockefeller Center's lead architect. 30 Rockefeller Plaza was known for its main tenant, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), from its opening in 1933 until 1988 and then for General Electric until 2015, when it was renamed for its current owner, Comcast. The building also houses the headquarters and New York studios of television network NBC; the headquarters is sometimes called 30 Rock, a nickname that inspired the NBC sitcom of the same name. The tallest structure in Rockefeller Center, the building is the 28th tallest in New York City and the 65th tallest in the United States, and was the third tallest building in the world when it opened.
+
+30 Rockefeller Plaza's massing consists of three parts: the main 66-story tower to the east, a windowless section at the center, and a 16-story annex to the west. Though the building was designed to conform with the 1916 Zoning Resolution, it rises mostly as a slab, with setbacks mostly for aesthetic value. The facade is made of limestone, with granite at the base, as well as about 6,000 windows separated by aluminum spandrels. In addition to its offices and studios, 30 Rockefeller Plaza contains the Rainbow Room restaurant and an observation deck called Top of the Rock. 30 Rockefeller Plaza also includes numerous artworks and formerly contained the mural Man at the Crossroads by Diego Rivera. The entire Rockefeller Center complex is a New York City designated landmark and a National Historic Landmark, and parts of 30 Rockefeller Plaza's interior are also New York City landmarks.
+
+30 Rockefeller Plaza was developed as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center, and work on its superstructure started in March 1932. The first tenant moved into the building on April 22, 1933, but its official opening was delayed due to controversy over Man at the Crossroads. The Rainbow Room and the observation deck opened in the mid-1930s, and retail space was added to the ground floor in the 1950s. The building remained almost fully occupied through the 20th century and was renamed for GE in 1988. Since the late 1990s, NBC has owned most of the lower floors, while Tishman Speyer has operated the rest of the building. 30 Rockefeller Plaza was extensively renovated in 2014 and was renamed for Comcast in 2015.
+
+Site
+30 Rockefeller Plaza is part of the Rockefeller Center complex in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.[6][7] It was intended as the central structure of Rockefeller Center, both physically and symbolically.[8][9] The land lot is nearly rectangular and covers 107,766 sq ft (10,011.8 m2), bounded by Sixth Avenue (officially Avenue of the Americas[10]) to the west, 50th Street to the north, Rockefeller Plaza to the east, and 49th Street to the south. The site has a frontage of 545 ft (166 m) on 49th and 50th Streets and a frontage of 175.46 ft (53 m) on Sixth Avenue.[6] The main entrance is on Rockefeller Plaza, a private pedestrian street running through the complex, parallel to Fifth and Sixth Avenues.[11][12][13] In front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza's main entrance, below ground level, is the Lower Plaza.[14][15]  The building is assigned its own ZIP Code, 10112; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes as of 2019[update].[16]
+
+Across Sixth Avenue, the building faces 1221 Avenue of the Americas to the southwest, 1251 Avenue of the Americas to the west, and 1271 Avenue of the Americas to the northwest. Radio City Music Hall, 1270 Avenue of the Americas, and 50 Rockefeller Plaza are directly to the north. Across Rockefeller Plaza are the International Building to the northeast, La Maison Francaise and the British Empire Building to the east, and 1 Rockefeller Plaza and 608 Fifth Avenue to the southeast.  In addition, 10 Rockefeller Plaza is to the south.[6] The site was previously part of the campus of Columbia University,[17] which retained ownership of most of the land well after the complex was built.[18]
+
+Holdout buildings
+The northwest and southwest corners of 30 Rockefeller Plaza were built around two holdout structures on Sixth Avenue.[19][20] The owners of the parcel on Sixth Avenue and 49th Street, at the southwest corner of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, had demanded an exorbitant price for their property upon learning of the planned skyscraper.[21] The holdout building had contained Hurley's restaurant, which had opened around the 1890s and subsequently became a popular meeting place for NBC performers and executives. The restaurant was later connected by a direct passageway to 30 Rockefeller Plaza's studios.[22] Rockefeller Center acquired the building in the mid-20th century and ended the restaurant's lease in 1975,[23] but the new lessees continued to run Hurley's until 1999.[22] As of March 2022[update], the holdout building contains Pebble Bar.[24]
+
+The other tenant, who occupied a plot on Sixth Avenue and 50th Street at 30 Rockefeller Plaza's northwest corner, never received a sale offer due to a misunderstanding.[21] The grocer John F. Maxwell would only sell his property at 50th Street if he received $1 million. Because of a miscommunication, the Rockefeller family was told that Maxwell would never sell, and Maxwell himself said that he had never been approached by the Rockefellers.[25][19] Consequently, Maxwell kept his property until his death in 1962, upon which Columbia bought the building;[26] Rockefeller Center purchased the Maxwell family's lease in 1970.[25][19]
+
+Architecture
+30 Rockefeller Plaza was designed by the Associated Architects of Rockefeller Center, composed of the firms of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray; Hood, Godley & Fouilhoux; and Reinhard & Hofmeister. Raymond Hood was the complex's lead architect.[27][28] The Associated Architects designed all of Rockefeller Center's buildings in the Art Deco style.[29] Developed as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center, 30 Rockefeller Plaza opened in 1933 as the RCA Building.[7] 30 Rockefeller Plaza is 872 ft (266 m) tall and was built as a single structure occupying the entire block between Sixth Avenue and Rockefeller Plaza.[8] As of December 2023[update], the building is the 31st tallest in New York City and the 65th tallest in the United States.[30]
+
+The design was influenced by Rockefeller Center manager John Todd's desire for the building to use its air rights to their maximum potential.[31][32] 30 Rockefeller Plaza rises to a flat roof, unlike some of the other skyscrapers built in New York City around the same time. These included the Chrysler Building, 70 Pine Street, and 40 Wall Street, which used spires to reach their maximum heights.[33] Hartley Burr Alexander, a mythology and symbology professor who oversaw Rockefeller Center's art program, led the installation of artwork throughout the complex.[34][35][36] The building's artwork was designed around the concept of "new frontiers", depicting modern society.[37]
+
+Form
+The massing of 30 Rockefeller Plaza is designed in three parts.[9][38][39] The easternmost section contains a 66-story tower[31] with two stories of retail on the west and east.[39] The tower is surrounded by a shorter U-shaped section to the north, west, and south.[33] Some sources give 30 Rockefeller Plaza's height as 70 stories, but this arises from a hyperbolic press release by Merle Crowell, the complex's publicist during construction.[40] At the middle of the site was a windowless nine-story section, which housed NBC's studios.[38][39] The western part of the site steps up again to a 16-story tower.[38][31][39] The western section at 1250 Avenue of the Americas, formerly also known as RCA Building West, is accessed mainly from Sixth Avenue.[41] The facade of the annex rises straight from the sidewalk, with notches at the corners, because the corner lots were private properties at the time of the building's construction in 1935.[42]
+
+The massing was influenced by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which restricted the height that the street-side exterior walls of New York City buildings could rise before they needed to incorporate setbacks that recessed the buildings' exterior walls away from the streets.[43][33][a] The base of the building could only rise to 120 feet (37 m) before it had to taper to a tower covering 25 percent of the site.[44][33] The eastern tower appeared to violate this principle since it measured 103 by 327 feet (31 by 100 m), but the base measured only 200 by 535 feet (61 by 163 m). The base does not occupy its entire plot, which measures 200 by 670 feet (61 by 204 m).[33] The tower section was recessed so far into the block that it could have risen without any setbacks. Hood decided to include setbacks anyway, as they represented "a sense of future, a sense of energy, a sense of purpose", according to architecture expert Alan Balfour.[46] Above the lowest stories, the north and south elevations rise straight up for 33 stories before setting back gradually.[38] There are three setbacks each on the north, south, and east elevations.[47]
+
+Hood also created a guideline that all of the office space in the complex would be no more than 27 ft (8.2 m) from a window,[48][49] which was the maximum distance that sunlight could permeate the windows of a building at New York City's latitude.[50][51] The setbacks on the northern and southern sides of 30 Rockefeller Plaza allow the building to comply with Hood's guideline.[33][39][52] The setbacks correspond to the tops of the elevator banks inside; this arrangement is repeated on the facade of the International Building.[47] Similarly, 30 Rockefeller Plaza also contains notches at its corners.[47][33] The eastern elevation's setbacks were included exclusively for aesthetic purposes.[52] By contrast, the layout and massing of Rockefeller Center's other buildings were intended to maximize rental profit.[53]
+
+Facade
+30 Rockefeller Plaza's limestone facade includes spandrels with quadruple-leaf motifs in a Gothic-inspired style.[54][55] influenced the design of the rest of the complex.[56] The first story is clad with Deer Island granite to a height of 4 ft (1.2 m).[57][58] The remainder of the facade contains Indiana Limestone and aluminum spandrel panels.[58] Some 212,000 cubic feet (6,000 m3) of limestone, 4,100 cubic feet (120 m3) of granite, and 6,000 spandrels were used in the construction. The limestone covered 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2).[59] The limestone blocks are laid slightly irregularly and contain striations for visual effect.[57] In addition, 10.38 million bricks were integrated into the facade.[60]
+
+30 Rockefeller Plaza also had 6,045 windows upon its completion, with 19,700 panes between them, covering 168,340 square feet (15,639 m2) in total. Thirty-six of the windows measured 9 by 16 feet (2.7 by 4.9 m) and were storefront windows. Those on the mezzanine level were composed of 9-by-12-foot (2.7 by 3.7 m) panels flanked by smaller sidelights. Another 165 were casement windows, which had panes measuring 6 by 18 inches (150 by 460 mm); most of these were above the 65th floor. The remaining 5,824 were casement windows measuring 4 by 6 feet (1.2 by 1.8 m).[48] About 5,200 of these windows contained Venetian blinds, which were installed by the Mackin Venetian Blind Company.[61]
+
+Entrances
+At street level, the stonework is relatively sparsely decorated.[62][63] The main entrance of 30 Rockefeller Plaza was designed as a loggia of three arches: one at the center, measuring 37 feet (11 m) high by 14 feet (4.3 m) wide, and two on the sides, measuring 27 feet (8.2 m) high by 13 feet (4.0 m) wide.[64][65][66] Lee Lawrie designed the sculptural group Wisdom, A Voice from the Clouds, for the lintels of the three arches.[36][64][65] Lawrie's carved rendering of Wisdom is above the center arch, flanked by Sound on the left and Light on the right.[66][63][67][68] The Wisdom frieze above the entrance is accompanied by an inscription reading "Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the stability of thy times", from Isaiah 33:6 (KJV).[69][70] The sculptural groups are accompanied by polychrome decorations created by Léon-Victor Solon.[66] Lawrie's three renderings are complemented by two limestone bas-reliefs by Leo Friedlander: one of Production on the north elevation and one of Radio on the south elevation.[63][67][71][72]
+
+1230 Avenue of the Americas, the annex building to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, contains a marquee[73] and two works of art on its exterior.[74] The recessed entrance portal is filled with a 79 by 14 ft (24.1 by 4.3 m) mosaic mural, Intelligence Awakening Mankind by Barry Faulkner.[75][76][77] The portal is topped by four 11.5 by 4 ft (3.5 by 1.2 m) limestone panels by Gaston Lachaise, each of which signifies an aspect of civilization as it related to the original Radio City complex.[78][79][80] The two panels on either side of the entrance are entitled The Conquest of Space and Gifts of Earth to Mankind; these respectively depict aspiration and life, two qualities that Lachaise believed were most important to humanity.[81]  The two panels in the center are known as Genius Seizing the Light of the Sun (also known as Invention Seizing the Light of the Sun[78]) and The Spirit of Progress.[81] The panels are placed at the third story because, at the time of the building's construction, they could be seen from the elevated rail line above Sixth Avenue.[82]
+
+Interior 
+30 Rockefeller Plaza was designed with about 2,100,000 square feet (200,000 m2) of rentable space in total.[33] The eastern tower contains the Rainbow Room restaurant on the 65th floor,[7] while the Rockefeller family office occupied the tower's 54th through 56th floors until 2014.[83] The tower is the headquarters of NBC[84] and houses NBC Studios, NBC News, MSNBC, and network flagship station WNBC.[83] 30 Rockefeller Plaza also contains offices for NBCUniversal Cable[85] and, until 1988, the NBC Radio Network.[86]  Part of NBC's space also extends into the central part of the building.[57][31][87]
+
+The superstructure uses 58,500 short tons (52,200 long tons; 53,100 t) of steel.[33][60] To transport visitors to the top floors, Westinghouse installed eight express elevators in the RCA Building. They moved at an average speed of 1,200 ft/min (370 m/min) and were so expensive that they constituted 13 percent of the building's entire construction cost.[88][89] One elevator reached a top speed of 1,400 ft/min (430 m/min) and was dubbed "the fastest passenger elevator ride on record".[89] These elevators cost about $17,000 a year to maintain by 1942.[90] The mechanical core also contains emergency-exit staircases, though there are fewer staircases on upper floors. For example, building plans indicate that the 12th story has three sets of emergency staircases, while the 60th story has two sets of staircases.[91]
+
+Lobby
+The lobby's main entrance is from Rockefeller Plaza to the east, with revolving and double-leaf bronze-and-glass doors underneath a paneled bronze screen.[92] The doors are topped by a cast-glass wall designed by Lee Lawrie, which measures 15 feet (4.6 m) high by 55 feet (17 m) wide.[66][92] The wall is made of 240 glass blocks.[93][38] Each glass block measures 3 inches (76 mm) deep and 19 by 29 inches (480 by 740 mm) across.[66][92] Opposite the main entrance doors is an information desk made of Champlain gray marble. Four large ivory-marble piers with embedded light fixtures support the ceiling immediately above.[92]
+
+The lobby continues north and south from the information desk. Stairways at either end lead up to the mezzanine, while stairs and escalators lead downstairs to the basement. Extending west from either end are two corridors, which flank five north–south elevator banks.[94] The elevator doors are made of bronze, and there are bronze and glass storefronts on the outer walls of these corridors.[95] The floor is made of brass-and-terrazzo mosaic.[71] The walls of these corridors are paneled in Champlain marble below the height of the storefronts and elevator doors.[92][71] A bronze molding runs above the storefronts and elevators, while the walls are made of plaster above that height. The outer walls of the west–east corridors (adjacent to the mezzanines) contain bronze service doors, while the inner walls and the elevator-bank walls contain murals. The ceilings of the corridors are carried by rows of piers.[92]
+
+West of the elevator banks, two north–south corridors extend to side entrances on 49th and 50th Streets, which each contain two bronze sets of revolving doors.[96] The corridors continue west to the Sixth Avenue entrance.[39] Just west of the elevators, a staircase leads down to the basement and up to the NBC lobby.[39][96] The stair to the basement contains Champlain marble and ivory marble, while the stair to the mezzanine contains Champlain marble and bronze railings and moldings. Additional stairs to the basement and mezzanine are placed at the point where the corridors continue into 1250 Avenue of the Americas; they also contain Champlain marble and bronze railings and moldings.[39]
+
+Lobby art
+Josep Maria Sert was originally hired to paint four murals in the northern lobby corridor: Time; Spirit of Dance; Man's Triumph in Communication; Conquest of Disease; Abolition of Bondage; Fraternity of Men; and Contest-1940, depicting different aspects of the world and mankind.[97][98] Frank Brangwyn painted four murals on the southern corridor, all of which symbolize humans' relationship with spirituality; he complemented these murals with stencils of the themes that were represented.[99][95] Rockefeller Center's managers had asked Brangwyn to omit a depiction of Jesus Christ from one of the panels;[100][101] the artist ultimately depicted Jesus with his back turned.[102] Brangwyn's and Sert's corridor murals measure 17 by 25 feet (5.2 by 7.6 m) each.[103] Architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern described Brangwyn's murals as "insipid", a quality worsened by the fact that the themes were stenciled onto the murals. By contrast, Stern said: "Sert at least allowed the meaning of his paintings to fall into happy obscurity."[104]
+
+After the building had opened, Sert was commissioned to paint the mural American Progress at the center of the lobby,[93][105][106] measuring 50 by 17 feet (15.2 by 5.2 m).[107] The mural was installed in 1937.[108][109][37] It depicts a vast allegorical scene of men constructing modern America and contains figures of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.[105][110][92] The space occupied by American Progress was originally taken up by Diego Rivera's Man at the Crossroads mural,[93][106][111][112] which was controversial because of its communist imagery and was destroyed in 1934.[113][114] Rockefeller officials commissioned a sixth mural from Sert, representing the past, present, and future, which they installed in the lobby in 1941.[49][115] The mural measures 100 by 50 feet (30 by 15 m) and is installed on the ceiling.[92][116]
+
+Concourse and mezzanine
+Below the lobby is the complex's shopping concourse,[12][117] connected to the lobby via escalators.[92] The building has a direct entrance to the New York City Subway's 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center station via the concourse.[118] Until 1950, the building's concourse had also contained Rockefeller Center's post office.[119]
+
+The mezzanine contains balconies overlooking the lobby. The floors of the mezzanine are black terrazzo, while the walls are made of marble and plaster separated by a bronze molding. Offices from the outer walls open onto the mezzanine balconies. There are staircases from the lobby to both the concourse and mezzanine, west of the lobby's elevator banks.[120] When the building opened, it contained a rotunda at the mezzanine level, measuring 67 feet (20 m) across with a photomural surrounding it. The mural was taken apart in the 1950s and the rotunda itself was demolished in the 1970s.[121] A new rotunda was constructed from 2014 to 2015, accessed from the ground floor by a 16-foot-wide (4.9 m) staircase; the rotunda contains two LED displays, each measuring 60 feet (18 m) wide and 5 feet (1.5 m) tall.[121][122] From 1960 to October 1993, the building's mezzanine level housed the New York City weather forecast office of the National Weather Service.[123] The mezzanine level also contained a control room, from which all of Rockefeller Center's mechanical systems could be monitored.[124]
+
+NBC Studios and headquarters
+When the building was constructed, RCA's chief engineer O. B. Hanson was faced with designing an area of the building that was large enough to host 35 studios with as few structural columns as possible. As such, the studios were all placed in the windowless center section of the building, which would have otherwise been used as an unprofitable office space.[31][87] The central part of the building could also use fewer columns, which was suitable for large broadcast studios but not for the bases of skyscrapers.[57] Over 1,500 mi (2,400 km) of utility wires stretched through this part of the building, which was powered by direct current.[87] Two floors were reserved for future TV studios, and five more stories were reserved for audience members and guests.[87] The floor, wall, and ceiling surfaces of the studios were suspended from the superstructure, insulating the studios.[38] In addition, there were double- and triple-height spaces for exhibitions, plays, and other events.[57]
+
+NBC, ABC, and CBS (collectively the Big Three TV Networks) had offices on Sixth Avenue and studios in Midtown during the mid-20th century.[125] The first television shows at the NBC Studios were broadcast from studio 3H in 1935, and more TV studios were added after World War II as television gained popularity.[85] During the RCA Building's early years, NBC housed both the Red Network and the Blue Network (now ABC) there,[126] and WJZ-TV (now WABC-TV) and WJZ Radio (now WABC), as well as the headquarters of the ABC network, were also headquartered there for the first few years until ABC built their own facilities.[127] When the building opened, it also hosted daily tours of the NBC Studios;[128][129] the tours were canceled in 1977 due to declining attendance.[128] NBC was the only one of the Big Three that retained studios in Midtown by the mid-1980s.[125]
+
+Studio 8H, which hosts Saturday Night Live,[130][131] is the largest of the studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, with a capacity of 1,200[132] or 1,400 guests.[133] Studio 8H was once the largest radio studio in the world and was originally home to the NBC Symphony Orchestra[134] before being converted into a television studio in 1950.[135][132] Another major studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza is Studio 6B, which hosted Texaco Star Theater, the first comedy-variety show on television to become popular.[136] The Tonight Show was also broadcast from Studio 6B until 1972, returning there in 2014 under the name The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[137][138] Tonight's companion program, Late Night (branded Late Night with Seth Meyers since 2014[update]) is also taped in the building.[139] The Today Show was also broadcast from 30 Rockefeller Plaza until 1994, when it moved to 10 Rockefeller Plaza.[140]
+
+Rockefeller family offices
+The Rockefeller family's office, Room 5600, occupied the entire 56th floor.[141] The family's Rockefeller Foundation rented the entire floor below, and two other organizations supported by the Rockefellers also moved into the building.[141][142] Daniel Okrent, author of the book Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center, said the Rockefellers' offices resembled an "18th-century English baronial mansion".[82] The space was decorated with art by Paul Gauguin, Piet Mondrian, Paul Signac, and Joan Miró.[143]
+
+By 1937, there were 392 employees of Room 5600. After World War II, Room 5600 comprised the entire 54th through 56th floors.[144] The family offices became a hub for the family's political activity, with ties to both the Democratic and Republican parties at the city, state, and national levels.[145] Visitors to Room 5600 have included Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Nelson Mandela, Richard Gere, and Bono.[83] Even in the late 1980s, when Room 5600 had downsized to 175 people, it still managed $900 million of Rockefeller family wealth.[146] The family moved out during 2014.[83][143]
+
+Rainbow Room
+The 65th floor of the building is an event room and restaurant named the Rainbow Room.[147] The space was designed by Wallace K. Harrison of Associated Architects.[148] Interior designer Elena Bachman Schmidt, a one-time apprentice of Elsie de Wolfe, contributed to the design of the interior decor, such as the furniture, curtains, and elevator doors. Vincente Minnelli was assigned to help Schmidt select the colors of the walls.[149][150] The restaurant opened in 1934,[151][152] and was the highest restaurant in the United States for decades, though it was closed during much of the 1940s.[153] The most recent version of the restaurant opened in 2014 after a restoration by Gabellini Sheppard Associates.[154]
+
+The Rainbow Room occupies the eastern part of 30 Rockefeller Plaza's 65th floor, which covers 13,500 square feet (1,250 m2).[155][156][157] The central part of the floor has elevator banks, restrooms, a gallery, and a private dining room. The western part houses Bar SixtyFive and an outdoor terrace.[156] The dining room itself is a 4,464-square-foot (414.7 m2) space.[156][158] The restaurant has a 32-foot-wide (9.8 m) rotating dance floor.[159][160] The seats of the Rainbow Room are organized in tiers,[159] and there is also a platform for bands and a shallow balcony for entertainers.[156][159] There are stairs and a dumbwaiter behind the platform,[159] as well as several banquet rooms on the 64th floor.[161] Above the dance floor hang several concentric "rings" that recess into the ceiling.[159]
+
+Roofs
+Garden of the Nations
+The roof of the building's central section contained a 0.75-acre (0.30 ha) "Garden of the Nations" (alternatively "Gardens of the Nations"[53]), which opened in April 1935 on the 11th floor.[162][56][163] The garden used 3,000 short tons (2,700 long tons) of soil; 100 short tons (89 long tons) of rock from as far as England; 100,000 bricks; 2,000 trees and shrubs; 4,000 small plants; and 20,000 bulbs for flowers.[164] Originally, the garden included thirteen nation-specific gardens, whose layouts were inspired by gardens in the respective countries they represented. Each of the different gardens were separated by barriers.[162] The "International Garden", a rock garden in the center of the themed gardens,[165] featured a meandering stream and 2,000 plant varieties.[166] The Garden of the Nations also contained a children's garden, a modern-style garden, and a shrub-and-vegetable patch.[167] The garden was staffed by hostesses who wore costumes, and the plantings lit up at night.[168]
+
+Ralph Hancock and Raymond Hood designed the rooftop garden,[169][164][165] one of several in the complex.[170] Upon opening, the Garden of the Nations attracted many visitors because of its collection of exotic flora,[171] and it became the most popular garden in Rockefeller Center.[172] In its heyday, the Center charged admission fees for the Garden of the Nations.[169][173] However, the nation-themed gardens were demolished by 1938,[169][168] and the rock garden was left to dry up, supplanted by flower beds that were not open to the public.[173] In 1936, the central roof temporarily housed a prototype of an apartment, which was used to advertise the Rockefeller Apartments between 54th and 55th Streets.[174][175]
+
+Primary roof
+From 1937 onward, the roof of the eastern tower contained neon letters spelling "RCA".[176] The letters each measured 22 feet (6.7 m) wide by 24 feet (7.3 m) tall;[177] at the time of the building's completion, the letters were the world's highest neon signs.[178] These were replaced by "GE" letters in 1988.[179][180]  The letters were replaced again with the new united Comcast/NBC logo, rendered in longer-lasting LED lighting.[83] The new signs consist of a 10 ft (3.0 m) tall Comcast wordmark and NBC logo on the northern and southern elevations, as well as a 17 ft (5.2 m) NBC logo on the building's western elevation.[181]
+
+In 1960, a 12-foot-wide (3.7 m), 400-pound (180 kg) weather radar dish for the National Weather Service was installed atop the roof when the building became the NWS's headquarters.[182][183] KWO35, the NOAA Weather Radio station serving the majority of the Tri-State area, transmitted from atop the building and remained there until 2014. Due to interference with a U.S. Coast Guard radio channel, the transmitter was eventually relocated atop the MetLife Building.[184][185] The weather radar station was used as Doppler 4000 during WNBC-TV's local newscasts.[186] It was operational until February 1, 2017, when StormTracker 4, an S-band weather radar at Rutgers University's Cook Campus, started operating.[187]
+
+Observation deck
+Top of the Rock, the 70th-story observation deck atop the skyscraper, opened in 1933 and is 850 feet (260 m) above street level.[170][188][189] In addition to the deck, the attraction includes a triple-story observatory on the 67th to 69th floors.[189] Top of the Rock competes with the 86th-floor observation deck of the Empire State Building 200 feet (61 m) higher, as well as a distant view of the Empire State Building.[190] Top of the Rock is accessed from its own entrance on 50th Street, where two elevators (converted from freight elevator shafts) ascend to the 67th floor.[191] The shafts are illuminated, while the elevator cabs contain ceiling panels with historical photographs.[189] There is a double-height indoor observatory on the 67th floor, where escalators lead to the 69th floor. A 8.5-foot-tall (2.6 m) parapet of frameless safety glass runs around the perimeter of the deck; it dates to the 2005 renovation.[191]
+
+The deck originally had dimensions of 190 by 21 feet (57.9 by 6.4 m)[188] and was decorated in the style of an ocean liner, with furnishings such as slatted chairs.[189] The observation deck was closed in 1986 because a renovation of the Rainbow Room had cut off the deck's only access point.[192] The observation deck has been known since 2005 as Top of the Rock, when it reopened after a renovation by Gabellini Sheppard Associates.[191] The original limestone and cast aluminum architectural details were conserved.[193] In 2011, the observation deck had 2.5 million visitors a year and grossed $25 million.[194] On the 69th story is the Beam, a ride themed to the photograph Lunch Atop a Skyscraper; the ride, which opened in 2023, consists of a frame that rotates 12 feet (3.7 m) above the 69th-story terrace.[195][196] As of 2023, the 70th story is planned to include a rotating "skylift" ride, a spherical rooftop beacon, and new floor tiles with a celestial pattern.[197][198]
+
+History
+Development
+Planning
+The construction of Rockefeller Center occurred between 1932 and 1940[b] on land that John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased from Columbia University.[201][202] The Rockefeller Center site was originally supposed to be occupied by a new opera house for the Metropolitan Opera.[203] By 1928, Benjamin Wistar Morris and designer Joseph Urban were hired to come up with blueprints for the house.[204] However, the new building was too expensive for the opera to fund by itself, and it needed an endowment.[28] The project ultimately gained the support of John D. Rockefeller Jr.[28][205] The planned opera house was canceled in December 1929 due to various issues, with the new opera house eventually being built at Lincoln Center, opening in 1966.[206][207][208]
+
+With the lease still in effect, Rockefeller had to quickly devise new plans so that the three-block Columbia site could become profitable. Raymond Hood, Rockefeller Center's lead architect, came up with the idea to negotiate with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and its subsidiaries, National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO), to build a mass media entertainment complex on the site.[209][210] By May 1930, RCA and its affiliates had made an agreement with Rockefeller Center managers. RCA would lease 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2) of studio space; get naming rights to the western part of the development; and develop four theaters, at a cost of $4.25 million per year.[211] A skyscraper at 30 Rockefeller Plaza's current site was first proposed in the March 1930 version of the complex's blueprint,[212] and the current dimensions of the tower were finalized in March 1931.[213][214] The skyscraper would be named for RCA as part of the agreement;[211] the RCA name became official in May 1932.[215]
+
+Construction
+The designs for Radio City Music Hall and the RCA Building were submitted to the New York City Department of Buildings in August 1931, by which time both buildings were to open in 1932.[216] Work on the steel structure of the RCA Building started in March 1932.[199] Several artists were hired to design artwork for the RCA Building.[217] Lee Lawrie was hired to design the RCA Building's eastern entrance in June 1932, at which point the sunken plaza in front of the building was also announced.[64][65] The next month, Barry Faulkner was commissioned to create a large glass mosaic on the western entrance facing Sixth Avenue.[75] Gaston Lachaise received the commission for bas-reliefs on the Sixth Avenue entrance in September 1932.[78] The same month, Hood and the complex's manager John Todd traveled to Europe to interview five artists for the lobby.[104] Frank Brangwyn, Josep Maria Sert, and Diego Rivera were hired the following month,[104][218] despite John Rockefeller Jr.'s hesitance to hire Rivera, a prominent communist.[104][219] Henri Matisse had been reluctant to commission a highly visible lobby mural, and Pablo Picasso had refused to even meet with Hood and Todd.[104][220]
+
+Installation of the exterior stonework began in July 1932 and proceeded at a rate of 2,000 cubic feet (57 m3) per day.[221] Window installation began the same month.[48] The building's structural steel was up to the 64th floor by September 16, 1932.[222][81] The photograph Lunch atop a Skyscraper was taken on September 20, 1932, during the construction of the 69th floor;[223][224] it was part of a publicity stunt promoting the RCA Building.[225] The building was topped out on September 26, 1932, when an American flag was hoisted to the top of the primary 66-story tower on Rockefeller Plaza. The Indiana limestone cladding had been erected to the 15th floor on the Rockefeller Plaza wing, and the facade of the Sixth Avenue wing had been completed.[221] The stone was fabricated at four factories in New York state and then shipped to New York City. Two traveling cranes lifted the stone from the ground to two hoists 70 feet (21 m) high, which then raised the stone to the upper floors.[59] The stonework of the primary tower was completed on December 7, 1932, without fanfare.[59][226] Officials said at the time that they did not host a ceremony for the stonework's completion because the elevators only ran to the 55th floor.[226] It had taken only 102 workdays to install the 212,000 cubic feet (6,000 m3) of stonework.[59]
+
+Rockefeller Plaza was added to the city's official street map in January 1933, and the RCA Building gained the address 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[11] The next month, John D. Rockefeller III honored 27 mechanics for their work on the RCA Building.[227][228] At the time, The New York Times reported that 1,600 workers were busy completing the interior work. According to the main contractors, the laborers, plasterers, and metal lathers involved in the project would need to be compensated the equivalent of 25,000 eight-hour workdays. The building would require 26,900 short tons (24,000 long tons; 24,400 t) of plasterwork, covering about 650,000 square yards (540,000 m2).[229] By April 6, 1933, there were 1,400 mechanics working to complete the RCA Building, which was 90 percent complete; the upper floors were mostly finished, but the base was still incomplete.[230] As late as April 24, more than 1,000 workers were still fitting out the RCA Building.[231][232] As a result of the Depression, building costs were cheaper than projected. The final cost of the first ten buildings, including the RCA Building, came to $102 million (equivalent to $1.8 billion in 2023 dollars[233]).[234]
+
+Opening and early years
+Todd, Robertson, Todd Engineering Corporation, which was constructing Rockefeller Center, relocated to the RCA Building on April 22, 1933, becoming the first tenants.[231][232] The RCA Building was slated to officially open on May 1, 1933.[235] Its opening was delayed until mid-May because of a controversy over Rivera's Man at the Crossroads,[236] which in large part stemmed from the communist motifs of the mural.[237]  On May 10, 1933, Rivera was ordered to stop all work on the mural,[238][239] which was covered in stretched canvas and left incomplete.[238][237][240] Brangwyn's murals were also incomplete at the time of the building's opening.[100] Rivera's mural remained covered until February 1934, when workmen peeled the mural off the wall.[114] Columbia University originally owned most of Rockefeller Center's land as well as the complex's buildings, including the RCA Building. However, Columbia received no rental income; Rockefeller Center's managers collected the rent and owned the land under the western part of the complex, including a section of the RCA Building West.[202]
+
+The RCA offices moved to the RCA Building's 52nd and 53rd floors in June 1933.[241] The Rockefeller family took up space throughout the building to give potential tenants the impression of occupancy.[242][243] Their Rockefeller Foundation, as well as the General Education Board and the Spelman Fund of New York, had leased space,[244][243] and the Rockefeller family's Standard Oil Company moved into the RCA Building in 1934.[245] NBC was one of the first tenants in the new RCA Building and, with 35 studios packed into the base, it was also one of the largest tenants.[246] Westinghouse moved into the 14th through 17th floors of the RCA Building,[242][247] receiving the contract for the building's elevators as a result.[248] American Cyanamid took four floors and part of another.[249][250] Other space was taken by the Greek consulate,[251] the Chinese consulate,[252] the National Health Council,[253] and a branch of the Chase National Bank.[254] A double-height space at the center of the ground story, which had been difficult to rent, opened as the Municipal Art Exhibition in February 1934.[255][256] The space, referred to as the Forum,[257] had contained a large stairway leading up to a second-story balcony with exhibition rooms.[258] Despite the large number of tenants, Rockefeller Center was only 59 percent rented by the end of 1933.[248]
+
+Shortly after the RCA Building's opening, there were plans to use the building above the 64th floor as a public "amusement center". That section of the building had several terraces, which could be used as a dance floor, observation deck and landscaped terrace gardens.[259][260] On the 65th floor, there was also a two-story space for a dining room with a high ceiling.[261] Frank W. Darling quit his job as head of Rye's Playland[262] to direct the programming for the proposed amusement space.[259][260] In July 1933, the managers opened an observation deck atop the RCA Building, which consisted of 190 by 21 ft (57.9 by 6.4 m) terraces on the 67th, 69th, and 70th floors.[188] The 40-cents-per-head observation deck saw 1,300 daily visitors by late 1935.[263] Meanwhile, the floors below the observation deck were planned as a restaurant, solarium, game room, and ballroom, which would later become the Rainbow Room.[188] The Rainbow Room opened on October 3, 1934.[151][152]
+
+A revolving beacon was installed atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 1935, the first such beacon to be installed in Manhattan.[264] That September, the ground-floor retail space was fully leased.[265] The New York Museum of Science and Industry leased the Municipal Art Exhibition space shortly afterward after Nelson Rockefeller became a trustee of the museum.[266][267] Subsequently, Edward Durell Stone removed the partitions on the second floor of the exhibition space,[258] and the museum opened there in February 1936.[268][269] The central wall of the main lobby remained empty until 1937, when Jose Maria Sert's American Progress was installed.[108][109] At the time, the RCA Building was 84 percent leased.[270] By 1938, the NBC studios at the RCA Building received 700,000 annual visitors, while the observation deck had 430,000 annual visitors.[271]
+
+1940s to 1970s
+Two 24-ton cooling machines were installed in the basement of the RCA Building in 1940. The air-conditioning units supplemented the RCA Building's existing units and also served 1230 Sixth Avenue, 10 Rockefeller Plaza, and 1 Rockefeller Plaza.[272] The lobby was then renovated in 1941. As part of the project, an overpass at mezzanine level was removed, the lighting was brightened, and another mural by Jose Maria Sert was installed.[116] An air-raid siren was installed atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 1942 during World War II.[273][274] The Rainbow Room and Grill atop the RCA Building was closed at the end of that December because of staffing shortages.[275][276] In 1943, Rockefeller Center's managers purchased the lots at 1242–1248 Sixth Avenue and 73 West 49th Street, part of RCA Building West; these lots had previously been held under a long-term lease.[277] By the next year, the RCA Building was almost fully rented.[248][278]
+
+During the war, the RCA Building's Room 3603 became the primary location of the U.S. operations of British Intelligence's British Security Co-ordination, organized by William Stephenson. It also served as the office of Allen Dulles, who later headed the Central Intelligence Agency.[279][280] The revolving beacon, which had been darkened during the war, was reactivated in 1945 after the air-raid siren was dismantled,[281] but the Rainbow Room restaurant remained closed until 1950.[153][282] The Museum of Science and Industry moved out of the RCA Building's lower floors in 1950. Rockefeller Center's managers hired Carson and Lundin to design two new levels of retail space with about 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of new floor area.[283] The retail space was twice as profitable as the museum; the remaining street-level space was transformed into a studio for the Today Show.[284] In mid-1953, Columbia bought all of Rockefeller Center's land along Sixth Avenue, including the western part of RCA Building West, for $5.5 million. Rockefeller Center then leased the land back from Columbia.[285][286][287]
+
+The building's largest tenants, RCA and NBC, renewed their leases in 1958 for 24 years.[288] The National Weather Service's radar was placed on the roof in June 1960, adjacent to RCA's and NBC's antennas,[182][289] and the NWS offices relocated to the building that December.[290] The Singer Manufacturing Company became another major tenant, leasing six floors in 1961;[291][292] this required the installation of a dedicated air-conditioning system on the 58th floor for that company.[293] In addition, the Rainbow Room atop the building was refurbished in 1965.[294] An anti-Vietnam War bombing occurred on the 19th floor in 1969, causing substantial damage, though no one was hurt.[295][296] Also in 1969, the RCA sign atop the building was updated with RCA's new logo in neon lights.[178] The RCA Building maintained high occupancy through this time. Even at its lowest point during the 1973–1975 recession, the building was 88 percent occupied and Rockefeller Center's managers were able to lease space at the building above market rate.[248]
+
+In 1973, the RCA sign atop the building was turned off to conserve energy, the first time it had not lit up since World War II.[177] The next January, RCA renewed its lease for 20 years, having previously considered relocating from New York City.[297][298] RCA's chief executive Robert Sarnoff also announced that the company would construct a "management and conference center" atop the central section of the building.[298][299] The conference center would have been designed by Ford & Earl Design Associates and Justin Lamb and would have been powered by solar heat.[174][300] RCA applied for permission to build the conference center in September 1975,[301] but the project was canceled after Sarnoff resigned that December.[302] The RCA Building's central location and consistent upkeep meant that it was 93 percent occupied by 1975, despite a relatively high vacancy rate in New York City office buildings.[303] Several law firms had moved into the building during this time.[304] Singer moved out of the RCA Building in 1978, freeing up a large block of office space,[305] but RCA and NBC renewed their leases on a combined 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m2) two years later.[306]
+
+1980s and 1990s
+Columbia University was not making enough money from Rockefeller Center leases by the 1970s,[307] and the university started looking to sell the land beneath Rockefeller Center, including the RCA Building, in 1983.[308] That year, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) held hearings to determine how much of Rockefeller Center should be protected as a landmark.[309] The Rockefeller family and Columbia University acknowledged that the buildings were already symbolically landmarks, but their spokesman John E. Zuccotti recommended that only the block between 49th and 50th Streets be protected, including the RCA Building and RCA Building West.[c] By contrast, almost everyone else who supported Rockefeller Center's landmark status recommended that the entire complex be landmarked.[311][312][313] The LPC granted landmark status to the exteriors of all of the original complex's buildings, as well as the interiors of the International Building's and 30 Rockefeller Plaza's lobbies, on April 23, 1985.[313][314][315][d] Rockefeller Center's original buildings also became a National Historic Landmark in 1987.[316]
+
+Columbia had agreed to sell the land to the Rockefeller Group, an investment company owned by the Rockefeller family,[317] for $400 million in February 1985.[308][318] The Rockefeller Group formed Rockefeller Center Inc. that July to manage the RCA Building and other properties.[319][317] By late 1985, NBC began planning to relocate, leaving half the RCA Building's space vacant.[320][321] The network needed 1 million square feet (93,000 m2) of space and the RCA Building's facilities required hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations.[320] The same year, General Electric acquired RCA/NBC and began looking to save money.[322] The developers of Harmon Meadow and Television City had both made offers to NBC, but demand for office space in New York City was starting to decrease, which led the building's owners to focus on keeping NBC at the RCA Building.[322][323] NBC agreed to stay at 30 Rockefeller Plaza at the end of 1987 after city and state officials offered $72 million in tax exemptions, $800 million in industrial bonds, and sales-tax deferments on $1.1 billion worth of purchases.[324][325] These incentives would not need to be repaid as long as NBC stayed at the building until 2002, or for 15 years.[324] NBC extended its lease by 35 years so that it would last into 2022 and secured an option to buy the western and central sections of the skyscraper.[325]
+
+Meanwhile, the Rockefeller Group had begun expanding the Rainbow Room. The observation deck closed in 1986 because the expansion cut off the only access between the observation deck and its elevators.[192] The Rainbow Room also reopened in December 1987 after the Rockefeller Group conducted an extensive renovation.[326] The RCA Building was renamed the GE Building in July 1988, and the signage atop the building was changed accordingly, despite concerns that it could be confused with the General Electric Building on 570 Lexington Avenue.[179][180] Mitsubishi Estate, a real estate subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Group, purchased a majority stake in the Rockefeller Group in 1988, including the GE Building and Rockefeller Center's other structures.[327][328] Despite the renaming, 30 Rockefeller Plaza continued to be popularly known as the RCA Building.[178] Subsequently, Rockefeller Center transferred some of the unused air rights above the British Empire Building and La Maison Francaise to the Rockefeller Plaza West skyscraper on Seventh Avenue.[329][330] In exchange, the Rockefeller Group had to preserve the original buildings between 49th and 50th Streets[c] under a more stringent set of regulations than the rest of the complex. While the GE Building's air rights were unaffected, the structure fell under the new regulations.[331]
+
+The Rockefeller Group filed for bankruptcy protection in May 1995 after missing several mortgage payments.[332][333] That November, John Rockefeller Jr.'s son David and a consortium led by Goldman Sachs agreed to buy Rockefeller Center's buildings for $1.1 billion,[334] beating out Sam Zell and other bidders.[335] The transaction included $306 million for the mortgage and $845 million for other expenses.[336] As that sale progressed, GE and Goldman Sachs discussed selling part of the GE Building to its namesake, allowing GE to lower its occupancy costs on the 1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m2) that it occupied.[337][338] In May 1996, GE bought the space for $440 million, as well as an option to renew the lease on the Today Show studios at 10 Rockefeller Plaza.[339] Before either transaction was finalized, GE subleased 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of that space.[340][341] Goldman Sachs made numerous upgrades to the building and allowed brokers to finalize leases more quickly.[248] In addition to GE, other large tenants at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in the late 1990s included law firm Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine and Chadbourne & Parke.[342] Cipriani S.A. took over the Rainbow Room in 1998.[343]
+
+2000s to present
+Tishman Speyer, led by David Rockefeller's close friend Jerry Speyer and the Lester Crown family of Chicago, bought the original 14 buildings and land in December 2000 for $1.85 billion, including the GE Building.[336][327] The next year, Tishman Speyer began planning a renovation of the rooftop observation deck, which would be rebranded Top of the Rock.[191] Kostow Greenwood Architects also started designing a renovation for NBC Studios.[344] The observation deck plans were announced publicly in November 2003.[345] Two existing elevator shafts were lengthened so that the observation deck could be accessed without going through the Rainbow Room to get to the "shuttle" elevators. In addition, a ground-floor entrance was created on 50th Street and a three-level storefront was converted into an observation deck entrance.[191] The deck reopened in November 2005 after a renovation by Gabellini Sheppard Associates.[346][193]
+
+During the late 2000s, the building retained an 85 percent occupancy rate.[248] The WNBC-TV newsroom was renovated during 2008,[347] after NBC had announced earlier the same year that it would start a 24-hour news channel.[348] In addition, Tishman Speyer hired EverGreene Architectural Arts to restore the lobby, and a two-year restoration commenced in 2009.[37] The Rainbow Room closed that year after Rockefeller Center Inc. ended Cipriani's lease,[349] and the LPC designated the Rainbow Room as an interior landmark in 2012.[350] Comcast, which had bought a 51 percent ownership stake in NBCUniversal in 2009,[351] bought the remaining ownership stake from GE in 2013.[352] The sale included NBC's portion of 30 Rockefeller Plaza and the building's naming rights;[352] by then, GE occupied only two stories in the building.[353] The Rainbow Room reopened in October 2014 under new management,[354] and the rotunda above the lobby was restored starting in 2014.[121]
+
+In June 2014, the LPC granted Comcast permission to modify 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[181][355] Comcast planned to rename the building and replace the signage on the roof.[181][178] Additionally, a new marquee was added to the Sixth Avenue entrance, advertising it as the home of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[181][73] The GE signage was dismantled starting in September 2014,[353] and 30 Rockefeller Plaza was officially renamed the Comcast Building on July 1, 2015.[356] Toy store FAO Schwarz opened a store at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in November 2018.[357][358] In April 2022, the LPC approved Tishman Speyer's proposal to install additional visitor attractions at Top of the Rock.[197][198] One of the attractions, the Beam, opened in December 2023.[195][196]
+
+Impact 
+As Rockefeller Center was being developed, Variety magazine wrote: "The main building of the Rockefeller Center group is a notable structure and forms a fitting climax to half a decade of super-skyscraper construction, which, with this one exception, was abruptly brought to an end" by the 1929 crash.[33] A Hearst's International magazine article described the RCA Building as "soaring to an incredible petrous peak", with the sunken plaza "shimmering in brilliant floodlight" at its base.[359] After 30 Rockefeller Plaza was completed, the Federal Writers' Project observed in 1939: "Its huge, broad,  flat north and south facades, its almost unbroken mass, and its thinness are the features that impelled observers to nickname it the 'Slab'."[39][67] According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the RCA Building's massing "marked the emergence of a new form of the skyscraper", namely the slab-like form.[49]
+
+Architectural critic Paul Goldberger said, "Nothing is more attuned to romantic fantasies of New York than the RCA Building's black granite lobby, the Rainbow Room's ornamental framing of a 70-story view...".[360] Goldberger wrote that the RCA Building's form was "made sumptuous by its mounting setbacks", contrasting with the "smaller and bulkier" International Building and other structures in the complex.[361] In 2009, a Crain's New York reporter wrote: "NBC, which owns its space, lends the building a certain panache. So do the art, Christmas tree, gardens and immaculate condition of the center."[248]
+
+As the central building of Rockefeller Center, 30 Rockefeller Plaza is widely known.[49] The building was also commonly nicknamed 30 Rock,[248][362] which inspired the title of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013).[363][364] Additionally, numerous movies and TV series that feature Rockefeller Center in their establishing shots have used imagery of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[365] Such films have included Nothing Sacred in 1937, How to Marry a Millionaire in 1953, and Manhattan in 1979.[366] Two films have also discussed the destruction of Rivera's Man at the Crossroads in the lobby: The Cradle Will Rock in 1999 and Frida in 2002.[367] Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, an attraction at the Universal Studios Florida amusement park, is also based on 30 Rockefeller Plaza's design.[368]
+
+Several later buildings were inspired by 30 Rockefeller Plaza and its design features, including 525 William Penn Place in Pittsburgh (also designed by Harrison & Abramovitz),[369] the Wells Fargo Center in Minneapolis,[370][371] and the NBC Tower in Chicago.[372][373] In particular, the critics Paul Goldberger and Rick Kogan wrote that the NBC Tower's buttresses, setbacks, and vertical stripes were similar to those at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[373][374] Goldberger also said that the architect John Portman may have used the RCA Building as an inspiration for San Francisco's Embarcadero Center and Atlanta's Peachtree Center but that, in both cases, Portman's towers "look more like sliding planes than the sumptuous, carved-out mountain that the RCA Building's form evokes".[371]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

30th_Street_Station.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+30th Street Station
+
+
+
+30th Street Station, officially William H. Gray III 30th Street Station, is a major intermodal transit station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is metropolitan Philadelphia's main railroad station and a major stop on Amtrak's Northeast and Keystone corridors.
+
+The station is also a major commuter rail station served by all SEPTA Regional Rail lines and is the western terminus for NJ Transit's Atlantic City Line. The station is also served by several SEPTA-managed city and suburban buses and by NJ Transit, Amtrak Thruway, and various intercity operators.
+
+The station, which served over four million inter-city rail passengers in 2018, is Amtrak's third-busiest, after Penn Station in Manhattan and Union Station in Washington, D.C.,[9] and the 11th-busiest train station in North America.
+
+In 2020, the station was named in honor of William H. Gray III, a former U.S. Congressman who represented Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district from 1979 until 1991.
+
+Description
+The station is located at 2955 Market Street in the 30th Street Station District of the University City section of Philadelphia, near both the Schuylkill River and Center City.[1]  The building opened in 1933, and has been named to the National Register of Historic Places.
+
+30th Street Station is Amtrak's third-busiest station in the nation, and by far the busiest of the 24 stations in Pennsylvania, serving over four million Amtrak rail passengers and over 12 million SEPTA and NJ TRANSIT rail commuters annually. On any average weekday, 30th Street Station provides train service to over 100,000 passengers.[10]
+
+Amtrak's code for the station is PHL.[1] The station's IATA Airport Code is ZFV, which is used primarily by a codeshare agreement allowing United Airlines to sell Amtrak service between the station and Newark Liberty International Airport.
+
+History
+20th century
+The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), which was headquartered in Philadelphia, acquired tunnel rights from the Schuylkill River to 15th Street from the city of Philadelphia in return for land that the city needed to construct the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. This allowed the company to build both Suburban Station and 30th Street Station,[11] which replaced Broad Street station, which was deemed too small.
+
+Broad Street Station was a stub-end terminal in Center City Philadelphia, where through trains had to back in and out, and the company wanted a location which would accommodate trains between New York City and Washington, D.C.  Broad Street station also handled a large commuter operation, which the new underground Suburban Station was built to handle.
+
+Due in part to the Great Depression and World War II, the Broad Street station remained open until 1952.[12]
+
+Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, the Chicago-based firm that succeeded D.H. Burnham & Company,[11] designed the structure, originally known as Pennsylvania Station–30th Street in accord with the naming style of other Pennsylvania stations. Its design was influenced by the Northeast Corridor electrification that allowed trains to pass beneath the station without exposing passengers to soot as steam engines of earlier times had. The station had a number of innovative features, including a pneumatic tube system, an electronic intercom, and a reinforced roof with space for small aircraft to land,[13] and contained a mortuary, a chapel and more than 3,000 square feet of hospital space.[11]
+
+Construction began in 1927 and the station opened in 1933, starting with two platform tracks.[7]  The vast waiting room is faced with travertine and the coffered ceiling is painted gold, red and cream. The building's exterior has columned porte-cocheres on the west and east facade, and shows a balance between classical and modern architectural styles.[11]
+
+Until 1958, 30th Street Station was one of two major intercity stations in Philadelphia; the other was the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's station on Chestnut Street. However, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ended all service north of Baltimore in 1958, making 30th Street became the major intercity terminal in the Delaware Valley metropolitan region.
+
+In the 1970s, Amtrak installed a Solari board by Solari di Udine in the main waiting room to display train departure information.
+
+On November 30, 2018, officials announced that the board — by then, the railroad's last remaining Solari device  — would be replaced with a digital board.[14][15]
+
+A minor public outcry followed, and within days, Rep. Brendan Boyle urged Amtrak CEO Richard H. Anderson to reconsider.[15][16][17] In January 2019, Amtrak sent the board to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, reserving the right to reclaim it if it could be worked into the station's planned renovation.[18]
+
+On February 28, 2019, the new digital board began operation.[19] The Museum placed the Solari board on static display in July 2019;[20] after the renovatation it will return as a design element.[21]
+
+21st century
+In 2005, Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trust asked Amtrak to change the name of 30th Street Station to "Ben Franklin Station" in honor of Benjamin Franklin[22] and as part of the celebration of Franklin's 300th birthday in January 2006. The cost of replacing signs at the station was estimated at $3 million.
+
+In January 2005, John F. Street, then the mayor of Philadelphia, announced his support for the name change, but others had mixed reactions to the proposal. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, a former mayor of Philadelphia, was lukewarm, while Amtrak officials worried that a "Ben" station could be confused with its other three "Penn" stations.[23] On January 25, 2006, Pew abandoned the campaign, giving no reason.[23]
+
+In August 2014, Congress passed legislation to rename the station William H. Gray III 30th Street Station in honor of William H. Gray III, a former U.S. Congressman from the Philadelphia area.[24] At the time, the change was to occur "in the next few months".[25]
+
+In 2019, signs were installed outside the station with the new name and plans were announced for a statue of Gray and a memorial plaque.[26] The name change officially took effect on February 6, 2020.[27]
+
+In partnership with Plenary Group, Amtrak plans to complete a $400 million renovation of the station with funds from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.[28]
+
+The building is owned by Amtrak and houses many Amtrak corporate offices, although Amtrak is officially headquartered near Union Station in Washington, D.C. The 562,000 ft2 (52,000 m2) facility features a cavernous main passenger concourse with ornate Art Deco decor.
+
+Prominently displayed is the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial, which honors Pennsylvania Railroad employees killed in World War II. It consists of a bronze statue of the archangel Michael lifting the body of a dead soldier out of the flames of war, and was sculpted by Walker Hancock in 1950. On the four sides of the base of that sculpture are the 1,307 names of those employees in alphabetical order.[29]
+
+The building was restored in 1991 by Dan Peter Kopple & Associates.[11] When the station was renovated, updated retail amenities were added. They include several shops, a large food court, car rental facilities, Saxbys Coffee, Dunkin' Donuts, and others.
+
+The Amtrak 30th Street Parking Garage was designed by BLT Architects and completed in 2004. This nine-level, double helix garage provides 2,100 parking spaces and glass-enclosed stair tower and elevator to offer views of Philadelphia.[30]  The following year (2005) the Arch Street Pedestrian Bridge was completed and designed with contribution from BLT Architects. The Arch Street Pedestrian Bridge provides direct access for pedestrians from 30th Street Station to the parking garage and Cira Centre; this prevents pedestrians from interacting with heavy traffic from PA 3 and I-76.[31]
+
+Street access
+Many important highways and streets pass next to or near the station. Vehicles and taxicabs can reach the station from various major routes, including Market Street (PA 3), Interstate 76 (Schuylkill Expressway), and Interstate 676 (Vine Street Expressway).[13] The John F. Kennedy Boulevard Bridge is just east of the station.
+
+Rail access
+Trains from SEPTA, Amtrak, and NJ Transit serve the station. The three east-west Upper Level platforms serve SEPTA Regional Rail; all 13 Regional Rail lines stop at the station. It is one of three stations that are part of the Center City Commuter Connection. The north-south Lower Level platforms serve Amtrak trains, as well as NJ Transit's Atlantic City Line.[32]
+
+SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line (also known as the "El") and all of SEPTA's subway–surface lines (routes 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36) stop at the 30th Street subway station, less than half a block, or 0.1 miles (0.16 km), from the southwest entrance to 30th Street Station.  A pedestrian tunnel once directly connected the underground subway station with all five lower level passenger platforms of 30th Street Station.[33] This was closed in the 1980s, reportedly due to safety concerns. SEPTA and Amtrak floated reopening the tunnel in the early 2000s, but the September 11 attacks derailed those plans.[34]
+
+A number of SEPTA bus routes stop at or near the station, including Routes 9, 30, 31, 44, 49, 62, 124, 125, and LUCY (Loop through University City).[35]
+
+Cira Centre
+Cira Centre, a 28-story glass-and-steel office tower opened in October 2005, is across Arch Street to the north and is connected by a skyway at the station's mezzanine level next to the upper-level SEPTA Regional Rail platforms. The tower is owned by Philadelphia-based Brandywine Realty Trust, was designed by architect César Pelli and BLT Architects,[30][31] and sits on land leased from Amtrak.[citation needed]
+
+Station facilities
+Metropolitan Lounge
+The station has an Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge, which is accessible to Amtrak Guest Rewards Select Plus and Select Executive members, Acela Express first-class passengers, sleeping car passengers on overnight trains, and private railcar owners and lessees when the car is being hauled by Amtrak.
+
+Rental cars and car sharing
+Budget Rent a Car, National, Avis, Alamo, and Hertz Rent A Car rent cars at counters in 30th Street Station.
+
+Zipcar vehicles are parked outside 30th Street Station, mostly in reserved parking spaces on the south side of the station or, during construction, in the controlled-access parking lot outside Cira Centre.
+
+In popular culture
+30th Street Station is featured in several films including Glass (2019), The Visit (2015), The Happening (2008), Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), Unbreakable (2000), Witness (1985), Trading Places (1983), Blow Out (1981), Marnie (1964), The Burglar (1957), and Pride of the Marines (1945).[36][37]
+
+In television, the station is featured in the recurring opening credits of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 2, episode 7). It also appears in the 2010 video game Heavy Rain.
+
+References
+External links

32_Avenue_of_the_Americas.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+32 Avenue of the Americas
+
+
+
+
+
+32 Avenue of the Americas (also known as the AT&T Long Lines Building, AT&T Building, or 32 Sixth Avenue) is a 27-story, 549-foot-tall (167 m) telecommunications building in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Completed in 1932, it was one of several Art Deco-style telecommunications buildings designed by Ralph Thomas Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker in the early 20th century. 32 Avenue of the Americas spans the entire block bounded by Walker Street, Lispenard Street, Church Street, and Avenue of the Americas (also known as Sixth Avenue).
+
+32 Avenue of the Americas was the last skyscraper designed by Walker in Lower Manhattan as well as one of the largest tele­communications buildings from that architect. Its construction was undertaken in three stages. The first, known as the Walker–Lispenard Building or 24 Walker Street, was designed in 1911–1914 by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz and McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin. In the late 1910s, 24 Walker Street was expanded by seven stories. The current skyscraper is the result of the final building campaign, which took place between 1929 and 1932. Upon completion, 32 Avenue of the Americas was the largest building in the world that specifically handled long-distance calling. The building remains in use as a data/communications center, but is no longer owned by AT&T.
+
+32 Avenue of the Americas's design features a complex massing and numerous setbacks. The brick facade is composed of numerous hues and is topped by parapets at the roof. The other ornamental elements give 32 Avenue of the Americas the impression of being both progressive and technologically up-to-date, reflecting its interior use. Inside, the main lobby contains numerous murals that reflect the building's use as a communications hub. The exterior and lobby were designated as official New York City landmarks in 1991.
+
+Architecture
+32 Avenue of the Americas is 27 stories and 549 feet (167 m) tall; this height includes two 120-foot-tall (37 m) spires added to the original 429-foot (131 m) height.[1] It is located in the Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. It occupies a trapezoidal city block bounded by Sixth Avenue (officially Avenue of the Americas) to the west, Walker Street to the south, Church Street to the east, and Lispenard Street to the north.  The Walker and Lispenard Street sides are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the Church Street side. The Sixth Avenue side runs diagonally, intersecting both Lispenard and Walker Streets.[2]
+
+The building was designed by Ralph Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker in the Art Deco style.[3][4] 32 Avenue of the Americas was one of several Art Deco buildings in the New York City area that Walker designed, after the Barclay–Vesey Building (1927), New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building (1929), 60 Hudson Street (1930), and 1 Wall Street and 101 Willoughby Street (1931).[5][6] It was also the last major skyscraper Walker designed in Lower Manhattan.[4] Within the New York City area, McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin designed numerous other buildings for AT&T or its affiliates during the same time span,[4] and the firm had also previously built structures for AT&T elsewhere in New York state.[7] 32 Avenue of the Americas was one of several technologically advanced headquarters erected in the mid-20th century for communications and utility companies in the U.S.[4] Its design program was mainly composed of woven motifs, because AT&T had described long-distance switchboard operators as "Weavers of Speech".[8]
+
+Form
+32 Avenue of the Americas contains numerous setbacks on its exterior.[4][9] Though setbacks in New York City skyscrapers were mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution in order to allow light and air to reach the streets below, they later became a defining feature of the Art Deco style.[10] The setbacks have been characterized as looking like a "brick mountain" or a "steel skeleton draped with a finely crafted brick curtain".[11] According to architectural historian Anthony W. Robins, 32 Avenue of the Americas is more geometrically organized than 60 Hudson Street and the Barclay–Vesey Building, as it was the last of the group to be completed.[9]
+
+32 Avenue of the Americas includes portions of two structures: the original Lispenard Building, completed in 1914, and the AT&T Long Distance Building, an expansion completed in 1932. The bulky 24-story massing of the Lispenard Building's northern and southern elevations were incorporated into the expanded structure, exceeding the sloping "envelope" mandated by the 1916 zoning law. Above the original building rose the 27-story "spine", aligned west/east.[8]
+
+The western elevation, along Sixth Avenue, consisted of a "screen" with 15-story wings on either side of a central portion rising 16 stories.[8] Behind the 15-story sections rise two 21-story wings, followed by the original structure and the "spine".[12] The other three elevations were designed around the paired window layouts of the original building's north and south elevations.[8] The northeastern corner of the building contains setbacks at the 15th, 21st, and 22nd stories. The northwestern corner contains a diagonal chamfer.[12]
+
+Facade
+A brick facade was used for 32 Avenue of the Americas and for Walker's other communications buildings, since he preferred the material for its texture and its flexibility in color combinations.[8] The Sixth Avenue elevation is symmetrical, with a two-story main entrance in the center. The entrance portal is designed like a proscenium arch, with a bronze entrance grille above a set of bronze doors. Adjacent to the entrance portal is a sealed doorway[12] leading to the Canal Street station of the New York City Subway, served by the A, ​C, and ​E trains; an open staircase to that station is on Sixth Avenue directly to the south.[13] The entrance portal is flanked by two flagpoles at the third floor.[12] Another recessed entrance exists on Church Street to the east; this entrance is smaller, containing a bronze frame and marble panels above a set of bronze doors.[12] A garage door is located on the northern facade, with a roll-down metal gate, and there are also numerous auxiliary doors.[12]
+
+The remainder of the facade is emphasized by piers with a V-shaped texture, as well as spandrels with ornamental patterns.[11] The walls are designed with undulating patterns that generally run at an angle to the adjacent streets.[11][14] The bottom of the facade contains a water table made of pink granite. The original building mainly consists of a red-and-brown brick facade. On the original facade, each vertical bay includes a pair of six-over-six sash windows made of wood, or a pair of ventilation louvers.[11] The newer portions of the facade are made of bricks tinted in different shades of red, orange, brown, and gray; these primarily have a rough texture with thick mortar joints between each brick. On the newer sections, each bay contains single or paired six-over-six sash windows made of steel.[12]
+
+Features
+32 Avenue of the Americas contains 1.17 million square feet (109,000 m2) of office space.[15] The heights of each floor were based around the original building's floor heights.[8] The top three floors were built atop a 90-foot-long (27 m), 450-foot-high (140 m) steel truss, which rested on the roofs of the two new wings, above the height of the original building. The loads on the truss were mitigated by the usage of lightweight concrete.[11]
+
+Lobby
+The building's ground-level lobby is composed of a corridor from Sixth Avenue to Church Street.[14][16] Both ends of the lobby are approached by entrance vestibules with two bronze revolving doors flanked by two bronze hinged doors. The Sixth Avenue side contains an alcove in its vestibule, which leads to an auditorium.[16] Three elevator-lobby corridors branch off from the main corridor at a 90-degree angle: the two corridors on the north side of the lobby each have a bank of elevators, while the corridor on the south side leads to a bank of four elevators.[17] The Church Street side of the lobby is supported by a series of piers along the center of the corridor, and contains two perpendicular bends.[16] An elevator bank with two elevators is located on the southern wall of the lobby near the Church Street entrance.[17]
+
+A white terrazzo floor with gray stripes extends through much of the lobby. The walls contain pink marble at their bottoms, above which are vertical ceramic tiles separated by red-tile pilasters.[16] The ceiling has a surface of mauve stucco.[18] The lobby also contains features such as bronze ventilation louvers and indirect-lighting fixtures.[16] Minor alterations have been made in the lobby over the years. On the Church Street side, the elevator bank used to contain two additional openings; throughout the lobby, signs and lighting have also been changed.[18] The lobby also contains an allegorical mosaic designed by Hildreth Meière, who also designed the interior of 1 Wall Street.[1][19][14] On the southern wall of the Sixth Avenue section is a tiled map of the world, measuring 16 by 23 feet (4.9 by 7.0 m).[16] The map contains the caption "Telephone Wires and Radio Unite to Make Neighbors of Nations".[14][20]
+
+The ceiling mosaic contains allegorical representations of Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa, connected by stylized telephone lines radiating from two female messengers in the center of the ceiling.[14][18] Asia is depicted as an empress with an elephant and tiger beside her, with a pagoda in the background. The representation of Europe wears a crown and holds a spear and orb while leaning on an Ionic-style capital; there is a Roman aqueduct, St. Peter's Basilica, and Notre-Dame de Paris in the background. The representation of Australia is shown holding a sheaf of wheat, beside a sheep and a kangaroo. An Egyptian queen, depicting Africa, is shown holding a fan, with two lions and the Egyptian pyramids behind her.[18] The messengers in the center are flanked by an eagle and a condor, representing North and South America.[14][18] As a cost-cutting measure during the Depression, the ceiling mosaics were executed in a silhouette mosaic style, in which the outlines and details are made of traditional mosaic tile, and the interior areas are filled in with colored plaster. Meière had originally planned to decorate the ceiling with images of female telephone operators, but AT&T rejected those plans.[14] One of the female messengers in the center of the ceiling is wearing a stiletto heel, which may be a reference to Meière's original design.[21]
+
+Telecommunications
+At the building's peak operation, every Bell System trunk line in the Northeastern United States converged within the building,[9][22] connecting 360 cities via three thousand direct lines.[11][23] 32 Avenue of the Americas also handled overseas telephone calls to South America, Egypt, Europe, East Asia, Australia, numerous Atlantic and Pacific islands, and ships in the ocean.[24] In addition, it accommodated calls that were made through two radio circuits; teletype services; telephoto services to seven other large cities in the U.S.; and radio transmissions. 32 Avenue of the Americas also handled private wire service/telegraph lines for the press and the finance industry.[11][23][25]
+
+The operations at 32 Avenue of the Americas were described as a "small city" operating 24/7, with 32 elevators to accommodate the building's 5,500 employees. There was 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) of rentable space when the building opened, though the toll and long lines offices occupied about 85% of that area. The first floor contained classes and recreation for employees, as well as a 500-seat theater. A kitchen, three cafeterias, and dormitories were located on the 7th through 9th floors. There were executive offices on the 26th floor as well as legal, human relations, and media offices on the 27th floor.[11][23]
+
+History
+Context
+The block containing 32 Avenue of the Americas was part of the Lispenard family farm in the late 18th century, and the streets surrounding the site were surveyed and paved in 1810. Afterward, the neighborhood was occupied by masonry houses, which were occupied by wealthy merchants.[26]
+
+The New York Telephone Company purchased nine lots in the area in 1909 for a new company building. The lots purchased by the New York Telephone Company were located at 18-24 Lispenard Street and 18-26 Walker Street.[27] The New York Telephone Company was one of the many subsidiaries of the Bell Telephone Company, though Bell's holdings were taken over by Bell subsidiary AT&T in 1899. Through the first years of the 20th century, AT&T continued to grow,[26][28] completing a nearby headquarters at 195 Broadway in 1916.[29][30] New York Telephone's headquarters, also nearby at the Barclay–Vesey Building, were completed in 1926.[31]
+
+Construction and expansion
+Plans for the Walker-Lispenard Building at 24 Walker Street were announced in 1911.[32] The first portion of the building was designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz along with Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker's predecessor McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin with a projected construction cost of $1.4 million.[27][32] According to building plans, the first phase was arranged in a reversed "J" shape, with six bays along the 89-foot-long (27 m) Lispenard Street facade, and eight bays on the 125-foot-long (38 m) Walker Street facade. The 17-story building's facade consisted of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column: namely a four-story base, 12-story shaft, and one-story capital. The facade was mostly made of brick, but the ground story was faced with limestone, and terracotta cornices separated each of the three sections.[27] New York Telephone planned to eventually expand the building to 25 stories, and the new building was designed specifically to support the weight of the future expansion. In addition, there were to be 15 elevators, as well as 200 switchboard operator positions and the United States' largest switchboard.[32]
+
+24 Walker Street was completed in January 1914 and was among the world's largest structures used solely for telephone operations.[27] Western Union took up the top five floors—having moved from the Western Union Telegraph Building, which was being demolished to make way for 195 Broadway—while AT&T and New York Telephone moved into the lower 12 floors.[33] In March 1914, McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin submitted an application to the New York City Department of Buildings for a seven-story addition, which would increase the total height to 24 stories.[27][34] The addition, completed by 1919, contained a similar facade design to the original building, with cornices above the 23rd and 24th floors.[27] Following the annex's completion, New York Telephone moved two of its Manhattan telephone exchanges into the 18th through 23rd floors. The company also had the United States' largest long-distance telephone exchange, containing 2,200 intercity lines and positions for 1,470 switchboard operators, as well as a switchboard for transatlantic radio and telephone communications.[27][35] Even so, the company had used up all the space in the annex by the late 1920s.[27]
+
+Completion
+The surrounding area underwent multiple changes in the late 1920s and early 1930s that resulted in AT&T's acquisition of the entire block.[27] The first change occurred in 1926, when the extension of Sixth Avenue southward from Greenwich Village was announced as a means to provide a more direct route for traffic to and from the Holland Tunnel.[36] This occurred simultaneously with the construction of the Eighth Avenue subway under Church Street and Sixth Avenue. Starting in 1929, the entirety of Church Street was widened from 40 to 90 feet (12 to 27 m); the project necessitated the acquisition of properties on the western side of the street.[37] These projects resulted in the demolition of the six properties on the eastern side of the block containing 24 Walker Street, as well as the westernmost third of the block, which was in the path of Sixth Avenue.[27] The Sixth Avenue extension opened in 1930,[38] and both street-widening projects and the subway were completed in 1932.[39][40]
+
+In August 1929, New York Telephone paid the city $300,000 for two lots along the eastern sidewalk of the Sixth Avenue extension.[41] Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker—renamed from McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin[42]—submitted plans for adding two 27-story annexes and a penthouse to 24 Walker Street in September 1929. The extensions would have a similar design to the existing structure and would take up the remainder of the block between Sixth Avenue and Walker, Lispenard, and Church Streets, except for a chamfer at the building's northwestern corner. The floor area would be more than doubled, from 400,000 to 812,000 square feet (37,200 to 75,400 m2).[43] The expansion was estimated to cost $6–7 million[27][44] (equivalent to $106–124 million in 2023).[45] This was part of a $600 million expansion plan that New York Telephone planned to undertake between 1930 and 1934.[46]
+
+Work started first on the western annex.[47] The structures on that side were destroyed starting in April 1930 and the steel frame was being built by that October. The structures to the east were destroyed from February 1931, with erection of the steel structure starting that June. The facade of the original building was also modified. Workers started moving into the expanded AT&T Long Distance building in early 1932. The annexes' construction necessitated the relocation and addition of utility pipes, ventilation systems, plumbing systems, and power and telephone lines, while maintaining long-distance service throughout.[7] After the completion of 24 Walker Street's annexes, its address was changed to 32 Sixth Avenue,[48][a] and it became the world's largest long-distance communications hub.[9][51] Several of the construction workers who helped work on the expansion were later given awards for craftsmanship.[52]
+
+Later years
+For much of the 20th century, the AT&T Long Distance Building remained largely unchanged, except for upgrades to equipment, and AT&T was the sole occupant of the building.[11] The exteriors and ground-floor lobbies of 32 Avenue of the Americas and two other telecommunications buildings were designated city landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) in 1991.[53][54][b] An AT&T spokesperson said at the time, "We are pleased that the city has named it a landmark."[53] The following year, when AT&T sold its headquarters at 550 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan to Sony,[c] AT&T moved its head offices to 32 Avenue of the Americas.[25]
+
+AT&T was considering selling off 32 Avenue of the Americas by 1999, and estimated that such a sale would gross $125–150 million, though it planned to lease back 30 to 40 percent of the space.[56] The privately held Rudin Management Company bought the structure from AT&T in 1999.[22][57] AT&T kept 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2), including its boardroom on the 25th floor, but the rest of the space was leased to other communications companies.[22]
+
+Upon buying 32 Avenue of the Americas, the Rudins planned to renovate the building into a "New York Global Connectivity Center".[22] By the September 11, 2001, attacks, the building was 75% occupied.[58] Between 2001 and 2002, 32 Avenue of the Americas underwent an extensive renovation by the architecture firm of Fox & Fowle, which included the installation of new mechanical and communications infrastructure. Numerous features of the building's original design were restored, including the lobby. A quarter of the building's windows were replaced with louvers which emulated the pattern of the original sash windows. Two 120-foot-tall (37 m) communications masts were installed, increasing the building's height from 429 feet (131 m) to 549 feet (167 m).[22][59] The LPC approved the telecommunications masts, stating that changes would be inevitable due to technological advances, although the commission said these changes would need to respect the building's existing architecture.[22]
+
+Following the renovations, 32 Avenue of the Americas was leased to corporate clients, and by 2006, it was almost fully occupied.[58] The tenants included AT&T, Cogent Communications, iHeartMedia, Qwest, Cambridge University Press, Verizon, T-Mobile, TV Globo International, GloboNews, 360i, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Tribeca Film Institute, Tribeca Film Festival, Stealth Communications, and New York University.[60][61][62] The 24th floor of the building also houses a carrier-neutral, co-location and interconnection facility for communication providers known as The Hub. The facility is a convergent point for buyers and sellers of bandwidth; for over 50 terrestrial carriers, content providers, ISPs, and enterprise tenants.[63][64] The ground floor houses the iHeartRadio Theater (originally the P. C. Richard & Son Theater), a 250-seat theater.[65][66] In September 2022, the LPC approved a renovation of 32 Avenue of the Americas' lobby.[67]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

330_West_42nd_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+330 West 42nd Street
+
+
+
+330 West 42nd Street, also known as the McGraw-Hill Building and formerly the GHI Building, is a skyscraper in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Raymond Hood and J. André Fouilhoux in a mixture of the International Style, Art Deco, and Art Moderne styles, the building was constructed from 1930 to 1931 and originally served as the headquarters of McGraw-Hill Companies. The 485-foot-tall (148 m) building contains 33 stories. 
+
+The building's massing, or shape, consists of numerous setbacks on the 41st and 42nd Street sides, which were included to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution. The facade is made of blue-green terracotta ceramic tile panels, alternating with green metal-framed windows, with a strongly horizontal orientation. The facade was intended to blend in with the sky, regardless of the atmospheric conditions. The entrance and the original lobby were decorated with light blue and dark green panels. Most of the upper stories were similar in floor plan, except for their widths, which varied due to the setbacks on the facade. At the time of its completion, 330 West 42nd Street was controversial for the use of horizontal emphasis on its facade, which its contemporaries lacked. In subsequent decades, architectural critics recognized the building as an early example of the International Style.
+
+McGraw-Hill Companies bought the land in early 1930 to replace smaller headquarters; the company originally took three-quarters of the space, renting out the other stories. As 42nd Street declined, McGraw-Hill moved in 1972 to 1221 Avenue of the Americas. The building subsequently served as the headquarters of Group Health Insurance (GHI). Since then, ownership of 330 West 42nd Street has changed several times. In 2021, the building's owner, Resolution Real Estate, completely renovated the building, including the lobby, to designs by Moed de Armas and Shannon. 330 West 42nd Street was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a National Historic Landmark.
+
+Site
+330 West 42nd Street is on the south side of 42nd Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.[4][5] The land lot has an area of 27,975 square feet (2,599.0 m2) and a frontage of 130 feet (40 m) on 42nd Street, extending 197.5 feet (60.2 m) deep.[4] It is on the same city block as The Orion to the west and part of the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the east; the building is also across from Holy Cross Church in the north and the remainder of the bus terminal to the south.[4] The New York City Subway's 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal station and Eleven Times Square are on Eighth Avenue, less than one block east.[6]
+
+In the late 1920s, the surrounding area had low-rise residences.[7] The building's site was occupied by five tenements of four to five stories on 42nd Street and six tenements of four stories on 41st Street.[8][9] On the same city block, John A. Larkin acquired several lots totaling 47,500 square feet (4,410 m2) in 1926.[10][11] On the site, Larkin proposed the Larkin Tower, or Larkin Building, a 110-story, 1,208-foot-tall (368 m) office skyscraper clad mainly in stone and steel, which would have been the world's tallest building.[12][13] The floor area of the Larkin Tower's upper stories would have been so small as to be economically infeasible, and critics also disapproved of what was then an extreme height, leading to its cancellation in 1930.[12] Part of the site then became the present 330 West 42nd Street.[9][12] Many of the surrounding tenements had been converted into office buildings by the 1930s.[14]
+
+Architecture
+330 West 42nd Street was designed by Raymond Hood, Frederick Godley, and J. André Fouilhoux, of the firm Hood, Godley, and Fouilhoux,[15] in a mixture of the International Style, Art Deco, and Art Moderne styles. It was completed in 1931 as the headquarters of publisher McGraw-Hill Companies.[5][15][16][17] The skyscraper measures 485 feet (148 m) tall, with 33 stories.[16][a] The design of 330 West 42nd Street was evocative of those of New York City's earlier factory buildings.[17][21][22] As Architectural Forum magazine said, "The requirements peculiar to a publishing business have formed the basis for the entire structure—in plan, section and elevation."[17][23] In an issue of the McGraw-Hill News in 1931, Hood wrote, "Economy and good working conditions were the three factors uppermost in mind" during the building's planning.[21][24]
+
+Form
+330 West 42nd Street is designed as a 35-story building with setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution.[21][25] The massing of the building contains setbacks at the 11th and 16th floors on both 41st and 42nd Streets, as well as at the 7th floor on 41st Street.[26] Each of these setbacks is only one bay deep.[27] On the 32nd and 34th floors, the building contains additional setbacks.[26]
+
+Because the setbacks are only placed on the northern and southern elevations of the facade, they are only visible from the west and east.[28][29][30] The northern and southern elevations appear to be a slab when viewed head-on.[28][29][31] Both elevations are seven bays wide on all stories.[32] Under the 1916 zoning code, setbacks were not required on the facades that abutted other land lots.[29] The lack of setbacks on the western and eastern elevations made the building stand out as an industrial structure, even in the low-rise Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.[33] Architectural writer Eric P. Nash likened the massing to that of an ocean liner.[20]
+
+Facade
+The building was largely designed with a plain facade, except for the original ground level and the upper stories.[26][34] Unlike Art Deco structures of the past, 330 West 42nd Street relied on color as a primary means of ornament.[35][36][37] At the time of the building's construction, Hood had predicted that the future skyline of New York City would "consist of gaily colored buildings", though this did not come true until postmodern architecture became popular later in the 20th century.[20]
+
+Base
+At ground level on 42nd Street, the building contains what were originally a pair of three-bay-wide glass storefronts, which were initially used as McGraw-Hill's bookstore and a bank. These curve inward to become the walls of the central entrance doorway with five doors, recessed within the facade. The curved walls between the storefront and the recessed entrance contain gold- and silver-colored metal bands, alternating with dark-green and light-blue panels.[26][34][38] The company newspaper McGraw-Hill News characterized the bands as "lacquered like the body of a motor car".[38] Above the ground level is a set of light-blue panels with silver-colored metal bands.[26][34] This entrance originally had Art Deco-style letters with the words mcgraw-hill.[39] Within the doorway were steel doors topped by a glass transom.[40]
+
+Shaft
+The exterior walls of the building are blue-green terracotta ceramic panels alternating with sash windows.[25] Hood chose to use steel and terracotta rather than stone because, in his view, stone and brick tended to darken relatively quickly after a structure's completion.[41][42] The terracotta was manufactured by the Federal Seaboard Terra Cotta Corporation.[35][43] The terracotta panels between each story are laid in six glazed courses or layers, which gradually become lighter on higher stories.[26][43] These panels were designed to give the appearance of shimmering, giving the facade a slightly different tint during different times of day.[44][45][46] The terracotta panels were built to the minimum thickness required by city building codes.[47] At the time of 330 West 42nd Street's construction, terracotta was not commonly used in International Style structures, which frequently contained glass, steel, and concrete instead.[20]
+
+In designing the building, Hood considered several different colors for the terracotta panels, including "Chinese red", orange, yellow, and gray. Ultimately, blue-green was selected for its "atmospheric quality", which was suitable regardless of the color of the sky on any given day.[35][43] Hood referred to the color as blue, while McGraw-Hill referred to the color as green.[31] McGraw-Hill executive James H. McGraw Jr., who had selected the color himself, was elsewhere for much of the building's construction in 1931, but was supposedly "appalled" at the color of the building when he returned.[20][42] The building was nicknamed the "Green Building", the "Green Kremlin",[41] the "green giant", and the "green monster" due to its color.[29] Eric Nash likened the color to the Ishtar Gate of Babylon.[20] The blue-green color contrasted with the red and white of the Daily News Building and the black and gold of the American Radiator Building, both of which were also designed by Hood.[31]
+
+There are more than four thousand windows,[48] each of which contains a frame painted apple green.[35][45] The windows are grouped into sets of three or four, separated horizontally by dark metal spandrel panels, and were built to the maximum height allowed under city construction codes of the time.[27][33] Due to restrictions on the amount of glass a facade was allowed to have, the windows were divided horizontally by metal bars.[47] The vertical mullions between windows, as well as the tops of each window sash, were painted in vermillion.[31][39][45] These painted bands were intended to give the impression that each group of windows was a single window opening.[31]
+
+The windows and terracotta panels were juxtaposed to emphasize the horizontal dimensions, a characteristic of the International Style. This was a great contrast to Art Deco facades, which were more vertically oriented.[27][30][44] The only deviation from the facade's horizontal emphasis is on the eastern facade, which contains a pair of blue-green vertical strips at its center.[27][30] After the structure's completion in 1931, Hood and McGraw-Hill compared the facade to an automobile, a common Art Deco symbol.[42][49][38] In particular, Hood thought the facade had a "shimmery, satin finish" similar to that of an automobile.[38]
+
+Top stories
+The 32nd and 33rd floors consist of projecting sets of piers, between which are pairs of windows. These two stories originally contained the McGraw-Hill executive offices and were designed to emphasize the importance of McGraw-Hill's corporate leadership.[25] A vermillion strip ran underneath the projecting course that surrounded the penthouse.[33][41][45] The western and eastern facades are clad with horizontal "ribs" at the 34th and 35th stories.[50][51] Architectural historian Anthony W. Robins likened the ribbed crown to the "German Expressionism of Erich Mendelsohn".[30]
+
+A set of 11-foot-high (3.4 m) Art Deco-style letters with the words mcgraw-hill is mounted in front of the 34th-story windows.[20][50][51] These letters, custom-made of terracotta blocks, stood against the blue and green terracotta panels of the facade, concealing the mechanical equipment atop 330 West 42nd Street.[19][52] They were painted white with orange stripes, but that color was removed when McGraw-Hill sold the building.[52] At some point in the late 20th century, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved a motion to change the letters to "GHI", representing former owner Group Health Insurance, although it was changed back in the 1990s.[53]
+
+Features
+The McGraw-Hill Building contains 575,000 square feet (53,400 m2) of interior space.[54] As designed, McGraw-Hill used about three-quarters of the total internal space.[17] McGraw-Hill required about 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) for office space, while another 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) were rented out as office space at a rate of $0.90 per square foot ($9.7/m2).[21]
+
+Lobby
+The original lobby covered about 2,650 square feet (246 m2) and led from the 42nd Street entrance to two elevator banks.[40][47] The lobby's design was a continuation of the exterior, a common trend for Art Deco designs.[55][56] It originally consisted of a passageway from the 42nd Street entrance, whose walls were decorated with similar dark-green and light-blue bands as the entranceway.[47][57][58] There were doorways that led to the bookstore on the left (east) wall and to the bank on the right (west) wall.[40][47][57] The elevator lobby contained solid green enamel walls.[38][45][59] The elevator doors were made of metal and decorated with bronze stripes, while floor-indicator markers hung above the doorways.[45][59] Elevator staff wore green uniforms to correspond with the green baked-enamel interiors of each elevator cab.[60][56]
+
+The original lobby was demolished in 2021.[61] The modern lobby contains an atrium measuring 35 feet (11 m) high.[62] There was a reception area to the left and a large seating area to the right. Gerard Nocera, a managing partner for the asset manager that controlled the building, said at the time: "It's going to be a lobby tenants will gravitate toward and will want to hang out in."[63]
+
+Upper floors
+Industrial uses were placed on the second through tenth floors, which were larger and relatively poorly lit, while offices were placed on the smaller, better-lit upper floors.[20][64][65] The industrial stories were largely designed for functional purposes,[36][57] with elevator banks at the center of each floor.[57] The ceilings of these industrial stories were generally between 12 and 18.5 feet (3.7 and 5.6 m) tall, and the floor slabs were intended to support heavy loads.[21] The printing plant was placed below the sixth-floor setback, while book production was housed in the loft space above the setback.[65] The bindery was on the fifth floor, the press room on the sixth floor, and the composing room on the seventh floor.[66] These stories were converted to standard office space by 1933.[67]
+
+The upper stories were designed in a relatively simple style characterized as "Raymond Hood Colonial".[47] The ninth through 15th floors had been exclusively intended for rental use,[66] while McGraw-Hill generally occupied the 16th to 33rd floors.[68] On the office floors, the natural light illuminated each story to a depth of 40 to 60 feet (12 to 18 m).[27] A few partitions were erected on these stories, creating an open plan with various open spaces for McGraw-Hill's subsidiaries. Except for the 32nd and 33rd stories, there were generally no private offices, as an employee who desired such privacy could work from home instead.[69] The penthouse at the 32nd and 33rd stories originally contained the corporate suites of McGraw-Hill Publishers.[25][50] The McGraw-Hill corporate offices were relatively conservative in design, being designed in the Georgian and Colonial Revival styles.[70] These stories also contained a cafeteria for McGraw-Hill executives and a 250-seat auditorium.[71]
+
+Following a 2021 renovation, the upper floors are still arranged in an open plan. The ceilings had been modified so the structural steel beams were exposed. In addition, the windows were replaced with units that could open and close, and some of the suites have terraces. Furthermore, there are several tenant lounges, conference areas, event spaces, and a fitness center.[62] The setbacks have nine landscaped terraces that collectively cover 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2).[72] As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems were also completely replaced, and air filters were installed.[62]
+
+History
+Development
+The McGraw-Hill Publishing Company was formed in 1917 when James H. McGraw and John A. Hill merged their respective companies.[73][74] It was then headquartered at the Hill Publishing Building at 475 Tenth Avenue, at the corner with 36th Street.[73] With numerous acquisitions of other companies over the following decades, the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company found its existing space insufficient by the late 1920s.[74] The twelve-story building at Tenth Avenue was expanded by an additional story, and some freight elevators in that building were converted to passenger use. Even so, by 1929, employees of that building were being asked to walk up or down some flights rather than take the elevators. The same year, a committee was appointed to oversee the development of a new building.[8]
+
+The new-building committee considered numerous sites in the area bounded clockwise from the north by 47th Street, Second Avenue, 34th Street, and Ninth Avenue. The group identified Larkin's 42nd Street lot, as well as another lot at Eighth Avenue and 41st Street, half a block east, as feasible sites.[11] In May 1930, McGraw-Hill Companies bought the 47,500-square-foot Larkin site at 326–346 West 42nd Street and 327–345 West 41st Street.[9] The Larkin site had been selected specifically for its convenience and relatively low price.[75][76] McGraw-Hill intended for its skyscraper to accommodate both commercial and industrial uses, and much of Midtown Manhattan was not zoned for such a purpose.[11][77] Furthermore, the site was near the major rail hubs at Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station; post offices; and the Engineering Societies' Building and Engineers' Club.[11]
+
+Construction began on December 29, 1930, when the first rivet was driven by the publishing company's vice president, James H. McGraw Jr. Starrett Brothers, the main contractor, hired about 800 construction workers for the project.[78] Steelwork started immediately afterward.[79] The company secured a $3.8 million loan to finance the building's construction a week after work started.[68][80] Work progressed quickly and was nearly completed by June 1931; that month, twenty workers received awards for "superior craftsmanship".[81][82]
+
+McGraw-Hill use
+McGraw-Hill's publishing division moved into the building by October 25, 1931.[37] Six weeks later, the McGraw-Hill Book Company relocated from its longtime headquarters at 370 Seventh Avenue to the new building at 330 West 42nd Street.[83][84] Construction had taken fourteen months from planning to completion.[42] The building had initially been expected to cost $2.7 million but ran $642,000 over budget.[85] As one of the tallest buildings in Hell's Kitchen at the time, the McGraw-Hill Building stood out from the rest of the neighborhood.[17][76] The company had hoped that the building would be one of several on 42nd Street after a planned rezoning of the street that never happened.[86][87]
+
+Frank Gale of McGraw-Hill wrote in January 1932, three months after the building's completion, that only six of the 33 usable office stories had not been occupied by then.[88] With the onset of the Great Depression, the industrial equipment on the lower floors became obsolete and was sold in January 1931.[67] In addition to McGraw-Hill's headquarters, space was rented to tenants such as the J. C. Valentine Company;[89] the Topics Publishing Company;[90] Charles Eneu Johnson, a printer-ink supplier;[91] Media Records, an advertising-statistics company; the International Development Corporation; the Edge Moor Iron Company;[92][93] United Cigar Stores;[94][95] the Home Owners' Loan Corporation;[96] and the Adolphe Hurst Company, an importing concern.[97]  By 1935, the building was almost fully occupied.[98][99] Subsequent tenants included pulp publisher Martin Goodman, who founded Timely Comics (Marvel Comics’ common name during the Golden Age) at the building in 1939,[100] as well as soap firm Givaudan.[101] McGraw-Hill suffered from financial issues of its own, occupying only 34 percent of the floor area by 1939.[67]
+
+During World War II, the McGraw-Hill Building's owners devised emergency blackout procedures in case of an air raid warning because of the building's large number of windows relative to other structures in the area.[102] The western part of McGraw-Hill's lot, which had not been developed for the McGraw-Hill Building, was proposed as the site of an interstate bus terminal in 1940 due to the building's proximity to the Lincoln Tunnel entrance to New Jersey.[103][104] The terminal was approved in early 1941,[105][106] but plans for the terminal were delayed by the war,[107][108] and the terminal was ultimately built one block south in 1950.[109] The adjacent lot was ultimately developed as a post office.[110][111] In the mid-1950s, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey started training "spotters" to look at traffic on the Lincoln Tunnel approaches from the 35th floor of the McGraw-Hill Building.[112][113] The spotters used two-way radios to direct traffic,[114] as well as a CCTV camera mounted on the top of the building.[115]
+
+The McGraw-Hill Companies moved some of its publications to 1301 Avenue of the Americas in 1964 due to a lack of space at 330 West 42nd Street. At that time, the company occupied 94 percent of the space at 330 West 42nd Street and was planning to expand the structure.[116] The company also took space at 620 Eighth Avenue.[117] McGraw-Hill then announced its intention to develop additional stories atop the Port Authority Bus Terminal annex, being built immediately to the east, but the plan did not come to fruition. The company was unable to expand to the west because the post office was there.[118] Ultimately, McGraw-Hill announced in 1967 that it would construct a new headquarters at 1221 Avenue of the Americas, one of the "XYZ Buildings" at Rockefeller Center.[119][120] McGraw-Hill sold 330 West 42nd Street to C. Russell Feldmann in 1970.[121] The sale price was subsequently reported at $15 million. Although Feldmann wanted to convert the building into office space, his financial troubles led McGraw-Hill to retake the property in February 1973 to satisfy an unpaid mortgage of $11.1 million, netting McGraw-Hill a profit of $4 million.[85][122]
+
+Late 20th century
+McGraw-Hill moved to 1221 Avenue of the Americas in 1972.[66] Its old headquarters at 330 West 42nd Street was placed for sale at under $15 million, less than ten percent of the $175 million construction price of its new building.[22] Despite the relatively low price, 330 West 42nd Street stood vacant for three years, during which only a maintenance crew of ten workers was staffed in the building.[22] The vacancy was attributed to developers' reluctance to take space on West 42nd Street, which was considered "tawdry", and the decline in the general neighborhood.[22] During this time, McGraw-Hill lost $650,000 per year on maintenance and taxes for the vacant building.[22][123]
+
+The building was purchased in late 1974 by medical insurance company Group Health Inc. (GHI) for $5.5 million, becoming the GHI Building. At the time, GHI was headquartered at 230 West 41st Street, one block west, but urgently needed another 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2).[54][123] Through the end of the 1970s, the building was only one-third occupied, with most of that space being taken by GHI.[124] The rundown character of the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood meant that rent at 330 West 42nd Street was relatively cheap, and thus, the office space was taken by organizations like the 42nd Street Development Corporation.[125] Following lobbying from that organization,[125] the LPC designated 330 West 42nd Street as a city landmark on September 11, 1979,[126][127] and the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 28, 1980.[2]
+
+330 West 42nd Street was taken over by Newmark & Company in February 1980, although GHI remained in the building.[128] The new owners commenced a $2 million rehabilitation of the building; to reduce vacancies, Newmark president Jeffrey Gural rented space to any tenants who could reliably pay.[129] The lobby was renovated by architects Warner Burns Toan & Lunde and interior designers Valerian Rybar and Jean-Francois Daigre.[129][130][131] Mechanical systems were also updated throughout the building.[131] A site-specific artwork, an angular metal sculpture by Owen Morrel known as Boomerang, was mounted 300 feet (91 m) up the southeast corner in 1981.[132] By the end of that year, 330 West 42nd Street was fully rented again, due in part to the redevelopment of the surrounding stretch of 42nd Street. Gural had become more selective with tenants, only accepting large leases and telling The New York Times in 1981 that he could bring the building to full occupancy "three times over in ten minutes."[129] These tenants included a trading floor of Paine Webber[133] as well as the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.[134] The base of the building became a popular performance venue for bands.[135]
+
+330 West 42nd Street was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.[136][3] GHI moved out of 330 West 42nd Street in 1994, taking space at its own building at 441 Ninth Avenue.[137] The same year, Deco Towers Associates, a foreign investment group, acquired 330 West 42nd Street as its sole property.[66][138] The sale had become complicated by the fact that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation had taken over the building's mortgage holder, the American Savings Bank, which had gone bankrupt.[139] A long-term restoration of the building began in 1998[66][140] and continued over the next two decades.[140] Shortly after the project began, Deco Towers dismantled Boomerang, having found severe deterioration in that sculpture during inspections over the previous five years. The company had offered to give the work to Morrel or restore it if funding was provided.[141] The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) moved to a 13,000-square-foot (1,200 m2) space at 330 West 42nd Street in 1998, having been forced to relocate from 2 Columbus Circle. The DCLA relocated to the city-owned Surrogate's Courthouse in 2006.[142]
+
+21st century
+330 West 42nd Street received some facade renovations during the mid-2010s.[138] The restoration of the facade won an award in 2019 from the New York Landmarks Conservancy.[19] At the time, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was a major tenant,[143][144] although its lease was scheduled to expire in October 2020.[138] Deco Towers announced in 2018 that it planned to convert the 16th through 34th floors into residential condominiums, following the expiry of SEIU's lease.[138] The plan to convert the upper stories into apartments was subsequently abandoned.[145] By early 2021, the building had been vacated in preparation for its renovation.[146] That February, the LPC approved a plan by Moed de Armas and Shannon Architects (MdeAS) to renovate part of the building. The plans called for renovating the facade and signs on the ground floor, as well as a new tenant doorway at West 42nd Street.[19] MdeAS also proposed gutting the streamlined lobby as part of a series of changes to reconfigure the lower floors, formerly occupied by SEIU, for office use.[146]
+
+After a tweet about the proposed design of the replacement lobby circulated, numerous preservationists petitioned the LPC to grant landmark status to the lobby's interior.[145][146] A plan to remove the mcgraw-hill sign atop the crown, replacing it with one spelling out the building's address, was rejected by the LPC after opposition from preservationists.[19] The following month, a spokesperson for the building's owner claimed that the lobby had mostly been demolished but that pieces were being stored.[61] According to Gerard Nocera of Resolution Real Estate (the asset manager for Deco Towers), the LPC had rejected three requests to preserve the lobby during the preceding decades.[63] The LPC had declined to preserve the lobby because it had been substantially altered during the 1980s.[63][147] The $120 million renovation had included adding amenity spaces, refurbishing the office floors into an open plan, reconfiguring the lobby, and installing operable windows and air filters.[62] In addition, Deco Towers replaced "nonhistorical windows", added doors for loading docks and outdoor terraces, and replaced the elevators.[148]
+
+In September 2021, the New York Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit from preservationists who sought to protect the lobby, in part because the lobby had been substantially modified.[147] The owners were allowed to dispose of the lobby's decorations,[149][150] which had been placed in storage.[148] The renovation was completed the same month, and the building's owner, Resolution Real Estate, started leasing office space.[62] By late 2022, Deco Towers was considering converting the 12th to 32nd stories into apartments and converting the top two floors into residential amenity spaces because of declining demand for office space during the COVID-19 pandemic.[151][148] Under this new plan, designed by Gloria Glass of SLCE Architects, the upper floors would largely contain studio apartments and one-bedroom units, as well as several two-bedroom units.[151] This plan also included creating separate entrances on 42nd Street for office and residential tenants.[148] Resolution Real Estate indicated in early 2023 that they would add 224 apartments,[152][153] and preservationists simultaneously advocated for the restoration of the original lobby.[154] Signature Bank, which had placed a $140 million loan on the building, was looking to sell the loan around that time.[155][156]
+
+Reception
+Upon the McGraw Hill Building's completion, much controversy arose over its use of the International Style, which was then relatively new compared to Art Moderne and Art Deco.[52][76] George Shepard Chappell, writing in The New Yorker under the pseudonym "T-Square", lambasted the McGraw Hill Building's use of horizontal lines, saying: "The fact remains that a tall building, considered as a mass, goes up, not sidewise."[33][76][157] Chappell found the building's mass and color to be unappealing, though he did approve of the building's limited use of ornamentation.[157][158] Alfred T. North commented on the building's controversy, saying, "Lacking all of the earmarks of historical architecture, this building is running the gauntlet of criticism."[33][159][160] Ultimately, North was unable to determine the style in which 330 West 42nd Street was designed.[159][160]
+
+Others spoke more positively of 330 West 42nd Street. Upon Hood's death in 1934, shortly after the building's completion, the New York Daily News called the building "among the finest modern achievements in architecture", along with Hood's American Radiator Building, Daily News Building, and Beaux-Arts Apartments.[161] The building was the only skyscraper in the city displayed in Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson's influential International Style exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1932[22][20][162] and the only other U.S. skyscraper at that exhibition, besides the PSFS Building.[163] Hitchcock and Johnson objected only to the crown, which they described as "an illogical and unhappy break in the general system of regularity."[39][19][159] In subsequent years, McGraw-Hill came to characterize 330 West 42nd Street as an International Style building.[164]
+
+With the greater acceptance of the International Style, the McGraw-Hill Building became known as an early example of that style,[164] although other writers described it as having a blend of Art Deco and Art Moderne elements as well.[164][165][166] Lewis Mumford wrote in 1953 that 330 West 42nd Street's horizontal facade emphasis was a "logical end" to the early-20th-century development of the skyscraper, alongside the Daily News Building's vertical emphasis, the Empire State Building's height, and the New York Hospital's "spacious setting".[164][167] Meanwhile, Vincent Scully called it "proto-jukebox modern".[22] When McGraw-Hill moved to 1221 Avenue of the Americas, Architecture Plus magazine wrote, "How could a corporate client, which commissioned such an outstanding structure in those difficult days of the Great Depression, find itself moving into one that is, in architectural terms, a nonentity?"[168] During the building's 1970s vacancy, Paul Goldberger called the lobby "one of the best rooms of the period in New York."[22][169] When GHI bought the building, an opinion writer for The New York Times celebrated the fact that the "distinctive green giant" would be preserved, even though it was not yet an official landmark.[170] The architect Rem Koolhaas said of the McGraw-Hill Building, "Once again Hood has combined two incompatibles in a single whole."[20]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources

333_North_Michigan.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+333 North Michigan
+
+
+
+333 North Michigan is a skyscraper in the art deco style located in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Architecturally, it is noted for its dramatic upper-level setbacks that were inspired by the 1923 skyscraper zoning laws. Geographically, it is known as one of the four 1920s flanks of the Michigan Avenue Bridge (along with the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower and the London Guarantee Building) that are contributing properties to the Michigan–Wacker Historic District, which is a U.S. Registered Historic District.[2][3]
+
+Additionally, it is known as the geographic beneficiary of the jog in Michigan Avenue, which makes it visible along the Magnificent Mile as the building that seems to be in the middle of the road at the foot of this stretch of road (pictured at left).[2][4] The building was designed by Holabird & Roche/Holabird & Root and completed in 1928.[2] It is 396 feet (120.7 m) tall, and has 34 storeys.
+
+It was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 7, 1997.[2] It is located on the short quarter mile stretch of Michigan Avenue between the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District and the Magnificent Mile. The building is managed and leased by MB Real Estate.
+
+Designed by John Wellborn Root Jr., the building's long and narrow footprint and towering structure are a tribute to Root's father John Wellborn Root's earlier Chicago Monadnock Building; Louis Sullivan's tall-building canon; and Eliel Saarinen's second-prize entry in the Tribune Tower design contest.[5][6][7] The building was such a success that Holabird and Root took commercial residence there. The building's long and slender design optimized use of natural lighting. The building's interior represents Prohibition era modernism, especially its Art Deco Tavern club.[6]
+
+The building is embellished by a polished marble base, ornamental bands, and reliefs depicting frontiersmen and Native Americans at Fort Dearborn, which partially occupied the site.[7]
+
+Gallery
+Notes

369th_Regiment_Armory.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+369th Regiment Armory
+
+
+
+The 369th Regiment Armory is a historic National Guard Armory building located at 2366 Fifth Avenue, between West 142nd and 143rd Streets, in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. It was built for the 369th Regiment, also known as the "Harlem Hellfighters", founded in 1913 as the first National Guard unit in New York State composed solely of African-Americans. It later became home to the 369th Sustainment Brigade.
+
+The 369th Regiment Armory includes two structures. The administration building, built in the Art Deco style between 1930 and 1933, was designed by John S. Van Wart and Sidney Wein. The attached medieval-inspired drill shed, built between 1921 and 1924, was designed by Tachau and Vought and measures 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2). Both sections are constructed of brick. The armory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994,[1] and was designated as a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1985.[2]
+
+History
+Context
+After the American Civil War ended, the New York state government passed a law, which mandated that armories be erected for volunteer regiments by each of the individual counties.[2] This resulted in the Armory Board of the City of New York being created in April 1884.[3] The board erected many of Manhattan's armories:[3][4] prior to the board's establishment, only one armory had been built in Manhattan, the Seventh Regiment Armory on the Upper East Side.[2][5][6][7] As such, most volunteer regiments drilled in any available space, such as public markets or rented building lofts.[2]
+
+By the late 19th and early 20th century, the former Dutch colonial settlement of Harlem was being developed into a primarily African-American neighborhood, having become accessible via the newly built New York City Subway.[8][9] In the 1910s, a hundred members of a community center in Harlem stated their intention to join the military.[8][10] The 15th Regiment, whose parent unit was constituted in the New York Army National Guard in 1913, was officially organized three years later, in preparation for being deployed to France during World War I. The 15th was the first National Guard regiment constituted based on race, as it was composed primarily of African Americans, but also included servicemembers from Puerto Rico, the West Indies, Canada, and several countries in Europe and Africa.[11][8][12]  The regiment reached its full strength of 2,000 men by 1917, and trained in New York and South Carolina because they did not yet have their own armory.[8][13] The 15th Regiment was reorganized as the 369th in 1918.[12] The 369th Regiment had returned from France by February 1919; a parade for the regiment was held on Fifth Avenue.[14][15]
+
+Construction
+The 369th Regiment (also known by their nickname, the "Harlem Hell Fighters") was initially housed at Astor Row on West 130th Street.[15][16] However, as a result of the unit's reorganization, the Armory Board was now obligated to create an armory for the 369th Regiment.[15] The city's acting mayor promised an armory structure to the 369th Regiment in 1919.[17] Funding for the 369th Regiment Armory was approved by the city in July 1921.[18] The initial plans called for building only the drill shed; an administration building was required for the armory to be fully functional.[19]
+
+The city located a site on Fifth Avenue between 142nd and 143rd Streets and demolished the tenements there.[15] Work on the armory's drill shed was begun with a groundbreaking ceremony in November 1921.[20] This was followed by a request for proposals to design the drill shed, for which five firms submitted bids.[21] Tachau and Vought, who had previously designed the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, won the commission and designed the structure in the Romanesque style.[15][16] Post & McCord were selected as the contractors. The cost of the drill shed was estimated at $700,000, and the administration building, another $500,000.[22] The cornerstone was laid in November 1923, when construction was already progressing.[15][23] and the drill shed was finished the following November at a cost of $800,000.[24]
+
+The rest of the block was purchased by the city in 1929, in preparation for the administration building's construction.[19] In 1930, the Armory Board submitted plans for the $1 million administration building to the New York City Board of Estimate. The new building would include a shooting range, auditorium, mess hall, and rooftop tennis courts.[25] Twelve firms submitted designs for the drill shed,[26] and the commission was ultimately given to the lowest bidder, John S. Van Wart and Sidney Wein.[16][19][27] Work started in 1931 after the C & W Construction Company were named as the contractors.[26] The administration building was completed in 1933.[19] However, the New York Daily News reported in January 1934 that the 369th Regiment had refused to accept title to the administration building, citing various work defects such as a leaky roof. As a result, the Armory Board opened an investigation into the construction of the 369th Administration Building.[28]
+
+Use
+In 1934, during the Great Depression, the 369th Regiment Armory and Brooklyn's 14th Regiment Armory were used as temporary homeless shelters.[29] Two years later, the armory exhibited artwork from 40,000 people that had been hired through the Works Progress Administration.[30] The 369th Regiment Armory also hosted sporting events, such as track and field competitions[31] and tennis matches.[32] Other events hosted at the armory included a speech by Black Muslim leader Elijah Muhammad in 1964,[33] and a soccer demonstration from Brazilian soccer player Pelé in 1978.[34]
+
+The 369th Armory was again used as a temporary shelter during early 1981 due to extreme cold weather.[35] By the 1980s, existing homeless shelters in New York City had become overcrowded, so the city started opening new shelters in armories.[36] In 1982, the state turned over the 369th Regiment Armory to the city so that the latter could open a 200-bed men's homeless shelter.[37] However, the 369th Sustainment Brigade still operated out of the armory.[38] In the 1990s, the 369th Regiment Armory received part of a $390,000 funding allocation that had been made available as part of the city's Tax Syndication Sharing Program. The funds were intended for the armory's restoration.[39] The structure was protected as a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1985,[2] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.[1]
+
+As part of the New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the 369th Regiment Armory was planned to be used for boxing and rhythmic gymnastics if the city were to win the Olympic bid.[40] The armory, which still remained decrepit, would have been restored.[41] These plans were canceled when the bid was rejected in 2005.[42] The Police Athletic League of New York City used part of the 369th Regiment Armory's drill shed as a community center starting in 2006.[43] The Harlem Children's Zone also operated programs in the armory, taking about half of the space.[44] In September 2012, a community program painted a mural on the armory's walls that was devoted to the 369th Regiment's history.[45] Soon afterward, in October 2012, the armory partially flooded during Hurricane Sandy.[46]
+
+The 369th Regiment Armory temporarily closed for renovations in 2014. At the time, it was expected to be renovated into a museum showing 369th Regiment memorabilia.[47][46] The 369th Brigade moved back to the space in November 2018.[48] However, the armory remained closed to civilians due to a lead cleanup project, which prevented civilians from reentering the facility until the cleanup was complete.[43][49] Despite fears that children at the armory may have been susceptible to lead poisoning for over a decade, state officials said that the cleanup was limited to the basement, which was off-limits to kids.[44]
+
+Description
+The 369th Regiment Armory is located between West 142nd and 143rd Streets at 2360 Fifth Avenue, along the western sidewalk of the avenue.[2][50] It is the northernmost building on Fifth Avenue.[51] The armory is composed of two structures in contrasting architectural styles: the medieval-style drill shed and the Art Deco-style administration building.[2][50] The armory occupies nearly its entire lot, which measures 199 feet (61 m) from north to south and 510 feet (160 m) from west to east.[50] It is associated with the 369th Regiment, the first African-American regiment in the New York Army National Guard.[11][52] The surrounding areas are composed of industrial buildings, while the Harlem River Drive runs on the opposite side of Fifth Avenue across from the armory.[50]
+
+The AIA Guide to New York City described the armory as "a superb example of the bricklayer's art" and that the brickwork "exhibit[s] an Art Deco/Moderne style rather than an attempt to reconstruct a medieval fortress".[53]
+
+Administration building
+The 3+1⁄2-story, rectangular administration building features a terracotta parapet embellished with chevron designs and stylized eagles.[54][55] The basement is raised by half a story and contains a water table made of red sandstone.[50][54] Throughout the building, the first-story windows contain iron grilles with decorations depicting maces and stars.[50]
+
+The main facade, to the east, contains numerous recessed and projecting sections, alternating with each other.[50][54] This facade contains its main entrance pavilion in the center, and two asymmetric side pavilions to the north and south.[54][56] Above the entrance pavilion is a sandstone surround, which contains the carved letters "369th Infantry N.Y.C." and is flanked by eagle-wing motifs that contain lanterns.[54] The raised basement also contains entrances surrounded with sandstone trim.[56] Adjacent to the eastern facade is a circular driveway with an adjacent small parking lot. A small lawn is located between the driveway and Fifth Avenue.[50] A statue to the 369th Regiment stands across Fifth Avenue from the administration building.[57] The northern and southern facades are located next to the sidewalks of 143rd and 142nd Streets, respectively.[50]
+
+Inside, the corridors contain terrazzo tile floors as well as cornices with chevron motifs. A company meeting room is located at the administration building's southeast corner and includes parquet floors, a fireplace with a carved mantel, walls with walnut-wood paneling, and plaster walls and ceilings.[56]
+
+As originally proposed, the administration building was supposed to be five stories high and measuring 200 by 200 feet (61 by 61 m), surrounding a courtyard with dimensions of 75 by 100 feet (23 by 30 m). The ground floor was to contain various living quarters, an officers' mess, a 600-person entertainment room, and a reception room. Above that, each of the regiments' companies would have their own floor, and a top-floor suite for the regiment's colonel.[27]
+
+Drill shed
+The drill shed is 2+1⁄2 stories, with a clerestory level on the top story, and measures 300 feet (91 m) from west to east. Like the administration building, it contains a terracotta parapet, with a gable roof behind it. The northern and southern facades are articulated with vertical brick buttresses, which divide each facade into 15 vertical bays.[19][56] On each facade, there is a central pavilion that measures three bays wide, as well as side pavilions that each measure six bays wide. The side entrances are framed with medieval-styled sandstone.[56]
+
+The interior features three tiers of balconies on all four sides with a seating capacity of 6,000–7,000.[55] When it opened, the New York Age described it as having dimensions of 200 by 300 feet (61 by 91 m), with a gallery capacity of 5,000.[24]
+
+See also
+References
+Citations
+
+Sources
+
+External links

370_Riverside_Drive.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+370 Riverside Drive
+
+370 Riverside Drive is a building on Riverside Drive and the north side of West 109th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. A number of notable people have lived here, including Hannah Arendt and her husband Heinrich Blücher, Grace Zia Chu (culinary figure), Clarence J. Lebel (inventor of fluorescent bulb), and Evelyn John Strachey (British politician), among others.
+
+History
+The building at 370 Riverside Drive was erected in 1922 and 1923 for approximately $800,000. The architects were Simon Schwartz and Arthur Gross.[2] It is located on a hill overlooking the Hudson River, and the Riverside Park. As a pre-war building its floor plans included a number of Classic Six apartments with high ceilings, a roof deck with views of the river, the park and George Washington Bridge. It is close to Columbia University campus.
+The 16 story building was completed in 1922 and converted to a cooperative in 1973.[3]
+
+The building changed ownership a number of times.[citation needed] On September 4, 1944 Samuel Knepper acquired 370 RSD from Pasquale Ferri. The price was not disclosed, but the building had a mortgage of $530,000 and was assessed at $650,000. On November 1, 1944, an investor bought 370 Riverside Drive still assessed at $650,000. On January 27, 1949, it was reported that the US Attorney's office had brought involuntary bankruptcy proceedings against Samuel Bronxmeyer, who was the owner of 370 Riverside Drive. He was charged with milking bankers and other parties by use of his many properties, including the building where he lived. By August 11, 1949, Henry Payson purchased 370 Riverside Drive from H. B. Management Corporation for cash above a $489,000 mortgage. The property was assessed at $605,000. H. B.Management acquired the parcel through foreclosure proceedings on August 3 against Samuel Bronxmeyer. On January 9, the Jason Realty Company bought the rent-controlled 75-apartment 370 Riverside Drive from the estate of Joseph Ross for an undisclosed amount of cash over a $600,000 mortgage. The building sits on an irregular 160 by 71 foot plot with an assessment of $625,000.
+
+The building was incorporated as a cooperative apartment building in 1973.
+
+The building is particularly notable, being mentioned in The New York Times 68 times.[4]
+
+Gallery
+Notable residents
+References
+40°48′15″N 73°58′06″W / 40.8043°N 73.9684°W / 40.8043; -73.9684

40_Wall_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+40 Wall Street
+
+
+
+40 Wall Street (also the Trump Building; formerly the Bank of Manhattan Trust Building and Manhattan Company Building) is a 927-foot-tall (283 m) neo-Gothic skyscraper on Wall Street between Nassau and William streets in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Erected in 1929–1930 as the headquarters of the Manhattan Company, the building was designed by H. Craig Severance with Yasuo Matsui and Shreve & Lamb. The building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP); it is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, an NRHP district.
+
+The building is on an L-shaped site. While the lower section has a facade of limestone, the upper stories incorporate a buff-colored brick facade and contain numerous setbacks. The facade also includes spandrels between the windows on each story, which are recessed behind the vertical piers on the facade. At the top of the building is a pyramid with a spire at its pinnacle. Inside, the lower floors contained the Manhattan Company's double-height banking room, a board room, a trading floor, and two basements with vaults. The remaining stories were rented to tenants; there were private clubs on several floors, as well as an observation deck on the 69th and 70th floors.
+
+Plans for 40 Wall Street were revealed in April 1929, with the Manhattan Company as the primary tenant, and the structure was opened on May 26, 1930. 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building competed for the distinction of world's tallest building at the time of both buildings' construction; the Chrysler Building ultimately won that title. 40 Wall Street initially had low tenancy rates due to the Great Depression and was not fully occupied until 1944. Ownership of the building and the land underneath it, as well as the leasehold on the building, has changed several times throughout its history. Since 1982, the building has been owned by two German companies. The leasehold was held by interests on behalf of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the mid-1980s. A company controlled by developer and later U.S. president Donald Trump bought the lease in 1995.
+
+Site
+40 Wall Street is in the Financial District of Manhattan, in the middle of the block bounded by Pine Street to the north, William Street to the east, Wall Street to the south, and Nassau Street to the west. The site is L-shaped, with a longer facade on Pine Street than on Wall Street.[6][7][8] The lot measures 209 feet (64 m) on Pine Street and 150 ft (46 m) on Wall Street.[9] Originally, the site measured 194 ft (59 m) on Pine Street and 150 feet on Wall Street.[10] The lot has a total area of 34,360 square feet (3,192 m2).[8]
+
+40 Wall Street is surrounded by several buildings, including Federal Hall and 30 Wall Street to the west; 44 Wall Street and 48 Wall Street to the east; 55 Wall Street to the southeast; 28 Liberty Street to the north; and 23 Wall Street and 15 Broad Street to the south.[7] The site slopes down southward so that the Pine Street entrance is on the second floor while the Wall Street entrance is on the first floor.[7][11]
+
+Prior to the current building's completion, the site was occupied by numerous smaller office buildings. The southern part of the site was occupied by the eight-story Gallatin Bank Building at 34–36 Wall Street, designed by Cady, Berg & See and completed in 1887; the nine-story Marshall Field Building at 38 Wall Street; the Manhattan Company's original headquarters at 40 Wall Street; and a 13-story building to the east. The northern portion contained a 13-story building at 25 Pine Street, a 12-story building at 27–29 Pine Street, and the 13-story Redmond Building at 31–33 Pine Street.[12]
+
+Architecture
+The building was designed by lead architect H. Craig Severance, associate architect Yasuo Matsui, and consulting architects Shreve & Lamb.[9][13][14] Moran & Proctor were consulting engineers for the foundation,[9][15] the Starrett Corporation was the builder,[16][17] and Purdy and Henderson were the structural engineers.[13] The interior was designed by Morrell Smith with Walker & Gillette.[18] Many engineers and contractors were involved in various other aspects of the building's construction.[17]
+
+The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has described 40 Wall Street's facade as having "modernized French Gothic" features.[19] The building's massing largely conforms to the Art Deco style, though there are also abstract shapes and elements of classical architecture.[18][19][20] According to art history professor Daniel M. Abramson, the classically-styled details at the base were intended to provide "context and support", while the Gothic-style roof was intended to emphasize the building's height.[21] 40 Wall Street is 70 stories tall, with two additional basement stories.[2][3][b] The building's pinnacle reaches 927 feet (283 m), which made it the world's tallest building for one month upon its completion.[23][24]
+
+Form
+40 Wall Street, like many other early-20th-century skyscrapers in New York City, is designed as a freestanding tower, rising separately from all adjacent buildings. 40 Wall Street is one of several skyscrapers in the city that have pyramidal roofs, along with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, 14 Wall Street, Woolworth Building, Consolidated Edison Building, and Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse.[19] The building is articulated into three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital.[19][11] The floors at the six-story base cover the entire L-shaped lot, while the 7th through 35th stories (making up the middle section) are shaped in a "U", with two wings of different lengths facing west.[25][26] The 7th through 35th stories occupy nearly the entire lot.[7][26] Above the 35th story, the building rises as a smaller, square tower through the 62nd story.[26][27]
+
+40 Wall Street has several setbacks to conform with New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution.[19] On the Wall Street side, the central portion of the facade is recessed through the 26th floor, while symmetrical pavilions project slightly on either side, with setbacks above the 17th, 19th, and 21st floors. The entire Wall Street facade has setbacks above the 26th, 33rd, and 35th floors. The Pine Street facade is asymmetrical, with the western pavilion being much longer; this facade has a setback above the 12th, 17th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 28th, and 29th floors. The projecting pavilions on both sides are connected at the eighth floor by a dormer.[28]
+
+The building's west-facing wings are of different lengths; the northern wing is significantly longer and has cooling systems atop it, but both wings have minor setbacks above the 26th and 33rd floors, and rise only to the 35th floor. The eastern facade does not have any setbacks below the 35th story.[28]
+
+Facade
+40 Wall Street's exterior curtain wall is composed of two layers of brick; the inner layer provides fireproofing, while the outer layer is the exterior cladding.[29] In general, the facade is composed of buff-colored brick, as well as decorative elements made of terracotta and buff brick. The vertical bays, which contain the building's windows, are separated by piers.[25][26] The piers are flat, a characteristic of the Art Deco style.[20] Spandrel panels, which separate the rows of windows on each floor, are generally recessed behind the piers; the spandrels are generally darker on upper stories.[25][26] The building's window openings, initially composed of one-over-one sash windows, were later replaced by numerous types of window-pane arrangements or by louvers.[26]
+
+Base
+The first through sixth stories contain a limestone-and-granite facade. On the first story, the podium on the facade's Wall Street elevation is made of granite. The second- to fifth-floor facades on both sides consist of a colonnade with pilasters made of limestone.[7][19] The colonnades were intended to resemble those found in Greek temples. During the design of the building, Matsui adjusted the colonnades to match the dimensions of the nearby Subtreasury building (now Federal Hall).[11]
+
+On the Wall Street side, the first floor originally had a central entryway with three bronze-and-glass doors, flanked by numerous entrances to the elevator lobby and the lower banking room.[26] Double-height bronze and glass windows spanned the second and third floors, while cast-iron windows were on the fourth through sixth floors.[28] Above the central entrance was Elie Nadelman's Oceanus sculpture (also called Aquarius);[30][26] the sculpture was a 10-foot-long (3.0 m) bronze depiction of Oceanus, a Greek Titan pictured on a 19th-century stock certificate issued by the Manhattan Company.[31] The Oceanus sculpture was removed prior to 1973.[32] Between 1961 and 1963, Carson, Lundin & Shaw added granite cladding and reconfigured the doorways on the first floor, and replaced the second- through sixth-floor windows.[33] By 1995, the entrance had been reconfigured with seven bronze rectangular doors and three revolving doors, recessed behind the main facade.[28] Letters reading "The Trump Building" are placed above the first floor,[34] while the fourth floor has a pair of flagpoles.[28]
+
+The Pine Street elevation is arranged similarly to the Wall Street elevation and was likewise redesigned from 1961 to 1963.[28] The Pine Street elevation rises above a low stylobate, in contrast to the Wall Street elevation, which rises above a podium.[11] A 6-foot-diameter (1.8 m) clock was on the Pine Street facade from 1967 to 1993. This portion of the facade consists of either 10[11] or 11 bays.[28] At ground level, there is an entrance to the main elevator lobby, a service entrance, and storefronts slightly above grade. As with the Wall Street side, the fourth floor features a pair of flagpoles.[28]
+
+Upper stories
+The 8th through 35th stories comprise the midsection of the building. There are eight flagpoles on the ninth floor of the Wall Street side, four on each pavilion. On the 19th floor of the Pine Street side, there are louvers in place of window openings.[28] On the 36th through 62nd stories, there are brick spandrels between the windows on each story.[25][28] The spandrels on the 52nd through 57th floors are made of terracotta; on the 58th through 60th floors, terracotta with buttresses; and on the 61st and 62nd floors, darker bricks with pediments and rhombus patterns.[25]
+
+The building's pyramidal roof is made of lead-coated copper, which over time has oxidized and turned green.[35][36] The roof has French Renaissance-style detail, a design element intended to make the building appear much older than it actually was at the time of its construction.[35] The decorations on the roof include diaperwork patterns, where the brickwork is laid in a repeating diagonal grid pattern; terraces, which are supported by buttresses; and small dormer windows.[37] There is a cornice surrounding the roof.[25] On top is a spire with a flagpole and a glass lantern.[28][37]
+
+Features
+The building's frame is made of steel.[7] The superstructure contains eight main columns, each of which weighs 22 short tons (20 long tons; 20 t) and can carry loads of up to 4.6 million lb (2.1 million kg).[38] As originally arranged, 40 Wall Street hosted the Manhattan Company's banking facilities on the first through sixth floors; offices on its middle floors; and machinery, an observation deck, and recreation areas on the top floors. There were also 43 elevators inside the building when it opened;[19] as of 2020[update], there are 36 elevators.[2] When 40 Wall Street was completed, it could accommodate 10,000 employees.[39]
+
+Lower stories
+Like other early-20th-century skyscrapers in the Financial District, the lobby of 40 Wall Street originally was designed with classical elements such as moldings, pilasters, columns, and heavy doorframes.[40] The ground story was highly decentralized with seven entrances from Wall Street, leading to various vestibules. The westernmost entrance led to a private foyer with its own elevator, while the easternmost entrance connected with the elevator banks on the eastern side of the building. Two ground-level banking rooms extended northward to Pine Street: one at the center and one on the west.[41] There was also space for brokerage-house messengers.[42][43] A wide, marble staircase from the ground level led up to the main banking room on the second floor.[42] The modern design of the lobby dates to a 1990s renovation by Der Scutt.[3][35] Following Scutt's renovation, the lobby was redecorated with bronze and marble surfaces.[35][44] The lobby also has escalators to the second floor.[25]
+
+The main banking room, a double-height space measuring 150 by 185 feet (46 by 56 m), was on the second floor.[45][43] The room could be accessed from ground level[46] or directly from Pine Street.[25][46] The Pine Street entrance had a foyer with two pairs of octagonal, black marble Ionic columns,[25] while the Wall Street side of the room was supported by veined octagonal columns.[42] The room itself consists of a main hall below five groin vaults, flanked by arcades that lead into smaller vaulted spaces.[25] In the main hall were desks for tellers.[42][43] To the north and south were two platforms for the officers of the Manhattan Company's subsidiaries, where officers and customers could meet privately in wood-paneled spaces.[47] The walls were once decorated with three murals by Ezra Winter, depicting various scenes from the history of the Financial District;[48][49] Winter's murals have since been removed.[25] The second floor was occupied by a Duane Reade convenience store from 2011[50] to 2023.[51]
+
+A pair of stairs on the banking room's south wall flanks the escalators and leads up to what was originally the officers' quarters, a rectangular room with five white marble columns.[25] This space had three doorways that led to private offices of Manhattan Company executives; the doorways to those offices were framed by round carvings symbolizing various sectors of the economy.[52]
+
+Stairs from the ground level led to the two basement stories, where the Manhattan Company's vaults were located.[52] Under the lobby was a main vault that stored the company's own securities and funds. A safe-deposit vault for members of the public, with an 85-short-ton (76-long-ton; 77 t) door, was below the Manhattan Company's vault.[43]
+
+Upper stories
+On the fourth floor was the boardroom of the Manhattan Company, designed in the Georgian style as an imitation of Independence Hall's Signers' Room.[52][43][53] It contained several elements of the Doric order, such as columns, pilasters, and a frieze.[52][53] Wooden doors and fireplaces with segmental arches were on the eastern wall, while false windows were on the western wall.[52] The space also included a fireplace, Chippendale furniture, and a blue rug.[53] According to the Manhattan Company's magazine, the boardroom's design "recaptured the artistic spirit of the days of ... [the company's] founding".[54]
+
+The offices of the Manhattan Company's officers overlooked the Wall Street entrance.[55] The offices were furnished with patterned carpets, soft chairs, and single desks, which were meant to evoke a feeling of luxury. According to Architecture and Building magazine, the executive offices' furnishings were intended as a "pleasingly striking contrast to the modern severity of the usual treatment of financial district structures".[56] The sixth floor housed a trading floor for the International Manhattan Company, Inc.[43] All of the offices on the upper stories were served by a pneumatic tube mail system; according to Matsui, the system was built to accommodate financial tenants "whose functions require rapid transfer of stocks and papers".[57] The pneumatic-tube system delivered mail to and from terminals on the building's mezzanine, precluding the need for messengers to use the elevators or overcrowd the lobby.[57]
+
+The 26th and 27th stories housed the Luncheon Club of Wall Street, a members-only private club,[58] built upon the suggestion of William A. Starrett, the building's general contractor.[59] The Luncheon Club occupied a Colonial-style space designed by Matsui and Robert L. Powell, and included an entrance hall and a main dining room covered in wood, as well as private dining rooms with wallpaper.[58] The 55th floor was entirely occupied by the Manhattan Company's officers' club, which included a dining room.[43][45] The officers' club was designed in a Colonial style with Windsor chairs, a fireplace, and a ceiling with fake wood beams.[60] Another members-only dining club, the Rookery Club, was located on the 58th story.[58][61] The Bank of Manhattan Building had an observation deck on the 69th and 70th floors, 836 feet (255 m) above the street; it could fit up to 100 people.[62] The observation deck was closed to the public sometime after World War II.[13]
+
+History
+The Manhattan Company was established by Aaron Burr in 1799, ostensibly to provide clean water to Lower Manhattan. The company's true focus was banking, and it served as a competitor to Alexander Hamilton's Bank of New York, which previously held a monopoly over banking in New York City.[63][64][65] The Manhattan Company was headquartered at a row house at 40 Wall Street,[43][45] which was the company's "office of discount and deposit".[63] The bank remained on the site until the present skyscraper was constructed.[66] By the early 20th century, the company was growing quickly, having acquired numerous other banks.[63][64][67]
+
+Development
+Planning
+The idea for the current skyscraper was devised by banker George L. Ohrstrom,[68][69][70] who began acquiring land for the building in 1928[63] under the auspices of 36 Wall Street Corporation.[71] Stakeholders in the corporation included Ohrstrom and the builders, Starrett Brothers (later Starrett Corporation).[72][73] In September 1928, 36 Wall Street Corporation acquired 34–36 Wall Street under a 93-year lease from the Iselin family. At the time, the syndicate hoped to build a 20-story building.[74][75] By that December, Ohrstrom had purchased four buildings, with frontage along 27–33 Pine Street and 34–38 Wall Street, and controlled a total area of 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2).[76][77] The plans had been updated, and the syndicate at that point envisioned a 45-story building.[77] In January 1929, the corporation planned a bond issue to fund the building's construction.[78] That March, Ohrstrom announced that H. Craig Severance would design a 47-story structure at 36 Wall Street.[63][79] The corporation bought 25 Pine Street the same month.[80]
+
+Shortly after Severance's original plans were announced, the skyscraper was modified to have 60 floors, which was shorter than the 792-foot (241 m) Woolworth Building and the then under construction 808-foot (246 m) Chrysler Building.[81] Plans for a 64-story skyscraper were announced after the Manhattan Company agreed to relocate to the new building in early April 1929.[82][83] By April 8, Ohrstrom and Severance had planned to make the new skyscraper the world's tallest building.[84] Two days later, it was announced that Severance had increased the tower's height to 840 feet (260 m) with 62 floors, exceeding the heights of the Woolworth and Chrysler buildings.[85][86][87] It was also announced that the Manhattan Company would be 36 Wall Street's main tenant and that the new building would be known as the Bank of Manhattan Building or the Manhattan Company Building.[86] The height of the building was made possible by the 33,600-square-foot (3,120 m2) lot, which was one of the largest in the densely-developed Financial District.[9][88]
+
+The builders intended to spend large sums to reduce the construction period to one year, which would allow rental tenants to move into the building sooner.[63] By mid-April 1929, tenants of the existing buildings on the lot had moved elsewhere.[89] The Manhattan Company and Chrysler buildings started competing for the distinction of "world's tallest building".[3][90] The "Race into the Sky", as popular media called it at the time, was representative of the country's optimism in the 1920s, fueled by the building boom in major cities.[91] The Manhattan Company Building was revised to 927 feet (283 m) in April 1929, which would make it the world's tallest.[92] Severance then publicly claimed the title of the world's tallest building,[93][c] but the Starrett Corporation denied any allegations that the plans had been changed to beat the Chrysler Building.[93]
+
+Start of construction
+Construction of the Manhattan Company Building began in May 1929.[94][95] By that time, the syndicate developing the building was known as the 40 Wall Street Corporation, and the building was also known as 40 Wall Street. That same month, the Manhattan Company leased its lots at 40–42 Wall Street and 35–39 Pine Street to the 40 Wall Street Corporation for 93 years. Ownership would be divided among the Manhattan Company, the Iselin family, and the 40 Wall Street Corporation, with the Manhattan Company holding a plurality stake.[96] Simultaneously, the U.S. government invited bids on the adjoining building at 28–30 Wall Street, then occupied by a federal assay office.[63] In June 1929, the government announced that the 40 Wall Street Corporation had placed the highest bid for the lot, bringing the syndicate's total land holding to 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2).[97][98][99] The assay office plot was reserved for future expansion, instead of being incorporated into the plans for the new skyscraper.[99][100] The Manhattan Company moved to a temporary headquarters during construction.[10][45]
+
+Excavations for 40 Wall Street were complicated by numerous factors. There was little available space to store materials; the surrounding lots were all densely built up; the bedrock was 64 feet (20 m) below street level, beneath boulders and quicksand; and the previous buildings on the lot had foundations up to 5 feet (1.5 m) thick.[15][101][102] Furthermore, the builders had a 12-month deadline, requiring them to plan the entire project backward from the planned completion date.[103] Starrett Brothers had drawn up a detailed construction schedule for 40 Wall Street, outlining the timeline for each major construction contract. The schedule indicated that structural-steel installation would commence in June 1929 and that all work was to be completed by May 1, 1930.[17] The project employed 24 timekeepers and auditors, who checked employees' attendance, as well as seven job runners, who delivered architectural drawings and ensured that materials were delivered.[104]
+
+To save money and time, the foundation of 40 Wall Street was constructed at the same time that buildings on the site were being cleared.[15][103][105] The old Manhattan Company building was the last to be cleared.[15][101][102] Caisson construction could not be used to excavate the site since the existing foundation consisted of heavy masonry blocks. To ensure that the foundation could adequately support the structure, temporary lighter footings were installed during the demolition of the old buildings and construction of the first 20 stories, and permanent heavy footings were installed afterward.[15][102] Workers excavated the site to the underlying layer of bedrock, which extended as much as 60 feet (18 m) deep. They then installed several dozen hollow cylinders, each measuring 1 foot (0.30 m) wide. In addition, workers installed several hundred steel pilings, which were clustered into piers, infilled with concrete, and topped by steel caps that could accommodate structural loads of up to 950 short tons (850 long tons; 860 t).[105] The weight of the existing 12-story building on the site was used to drill the new building's foundations into the ground.[95] Afterward, a concrete floor was poured into the excavation, which was then enclosed with a concrete cofferdam.[105]
+
+Superstructure and completion
+In July 1929, the builders held a ceremony where William A. Starrett, head of the Starrett Corporation, drove the first rivet into the building's frame.[38] Starrett received a $5 million loan that same month to finance the building.[106][107] Work on 40 Wall Street progressed quickly, and the contractors completed four stories each week.[108] The site was active 24 hours a day, with 2,300 workers working in three shifts; interior furnishing progressed as the steel frame rose.[15] Workers used passenger elevators to transport materials, obviating the need for temporary construction cranes.[103] Matsui described the steel frame as a "web system of rigidity", with joints and diagonal beams providing both lateral bracing and wind bracing.[109] The steel frame for 40 Wall Street was manufactured in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; transported to Jersey City, New Jersey, using 800 railcars; shipped across the Hudson River via barge; and transported from the dock to the construction site via truck. Derricks then lifted the steel beams into place, where groups of four workers riveted them onto the frame. As the tower rose, the derricks were themselves lifted two stories at a time.[29]
+
+Workers then installed the tower's facade by hanging pieces of curtain wall from the completed steel frame.[29] Interior work proceeded simultaneously with the facade installation.[36] The steel superstructure reached the 40th story by September 1929, when interior plasterwork began.[110] The building topped out on November 13, 1929.[111][112] By that time, the steel frame had reached 900 feet (270 m) above street level, the facade had been completed to the 54th story, and much of the internal furnishing had been completed.[111][113] By December, rental agents Brown, Wheelock, Harris, Vought & Company were leasing out the space at the Chrysler and Manhattan Company buildings, which aggregated 2 million sq ft (190,000 m2).[114]
+
+The 40 Wall Street Corporation gave a $12.5 million mortgage for the building's completion in December 1929,[115] and the corporation planned a bond issue of an equivalent value by January 1930.[116][117] The building's roof was covered with scaffolding by March 1930, although Manhattan Company officials denied that they were trying to increase the building's height.[118] The work was completed one week ahead of schedule, on May 1, 1930.[1][119] Several workers received craftsmanship awards in a ceremony at the end of April 1930.[120][121] The building officially opened on May 26.[43][45][122] In total, $24 million had been spent on construction.[73] Four workers died while constructing 40 Wall Street; a similar mortality rate to other contemporary projects of similar scale.[104] Paul Starrett, of the Starrett Corporation, said: "Of all the construction work which I have handled, the Bank of Manhattan was the most complicated and the most difficult, and I regard it as the most successful."[123][124]
+
+Early years
+Competition for "world's tallest building" title
+Prior to 40 Wall Street's completion, architect William Van Alen obtained permission to install a 125-foot (38 m) long spire on the Chrysler Building[125][126] and had it constructed secretly.[92] The Chrysler Building's spire was completed on October 23, 1929, bringing that building to 1,046 feet (319 m),[127][128] thereby greatly exceeding 40 Wall Street's height.[129] Disturbed by Chrysler's victory, Shreve & Lamb wrote a newspaper article claiming that their building was the tallest, since it contained the world's highest usable floor. They stated that the observation deck at 40 Wall Street was nearly 100 feet (30 m) above the top floor in the Chrysler Building.[126] 40 Wall Street's observation deck was 836 feet (255 m) high, while the Chrysler Building's observatory was 783 feet (239 m) high.[130] As a result of the Chrysler Building's spire, 40 Wall Street was the tallest building in Lower Manhattan but not the tallest in New York City.[24]
+
+John J. Raskob, developer of the Empire State Building (which was also designed by Shreve & Lamb), also wanted to construct the world's tallest building.[131] The "Race into the Sky" was defined by at least five other proposals, although only the Empire State Building would survive the Wall Street Crash of 1929.[132][d] Plans for the Empire State Building were changed multiple times; the final plan, published in December 1929, called for the building to be 1,250 feet (380 m) tall.[134] The Empire State Building was completed in May 1931,[135] becoming the world's tallest building both by roof height and spire height.[134][136]
+
+Because of late changes to the plans of both 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, as well as the fact that the buildings were erected nearly simultaneously, it is uncertain whether 40 Wall Street was ever taller than the Chrysler Building. John Tauranac, who wrote a book about the Empire State Building's history, later stated that if 40 Wall Street had "ever had been the tallest building, they would have had bragging rights, and if they did, I certainly never heard them".[137] If only completed structures are counted, 40 Wall Street was the world's tallest building for one month,[24][1] from the first week of May 1930[1] until the opening of the Chrysler Building on May 27, 1930.[92][138][a]
+
+Early tenants and foreclosure
+The new building housed four Manhattan Company subsidiaries: the Bank of Manhattan Trust Company, the International Acceptance Bank, the International Manhattan Company, and the Bank of Manhattan Safe Deposit Company.[43] The Manhattan Company used the two basement levels for storage vaults; the 1st through 6th stories for bank operations; and the 55th floor for its officers' club.[14][45][139] Among the first tenants were Merrill Lynch & Co.[140] and a private lunch club called the Wall Street Club.[141] 40 Wall Street opened following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and so suffered from a lack of tenants.[18] Many of the original tenants had withdrawn their commitments to rent space in the building and, in some cases, had gone bankrupt.[19][142][143] As a result, only half of the space in 40 Wall Street was leased during the 1930s.[24][142] Office space rented for $3 per square foot ($32/m2), less than half of the $8 per square foot ($86/m2) that the building's owners had sought.[142][144] For the first five years of the building's existence, 40 Wall Street Corporation was able to pay the $323,200 interest on the second mortgage-bond issue.[142]
+
+By early 1939, 40 Wall Street Corporation had fallen behind on rent payments, ground leases, and property taxes.[145] That May, the Marine Midland Trust Company started foreclosure proceedings against the corporation after it defaulted on "payments of interest, taxes and other charges".[146] In response, several bondholders formed a committee to protect their stakes;[147][148] the committee expressed opposition to the proposed reorganization.[149] In July 1939, the corporation filed a plan to reorganize all assets that were not covered by the mortgage loans.[150][151] Marine Midland became the trustee of 40 Wall Street's first-mortgage fee and its bonds on the lease in February 1940, supplanting the corporation.[19][152] Marine Midland, acting on behalf of the bondholders, acquired the building that September in a transaction worth almost $11.5 million.[153][154] The New York Times later described the building as being "a monument to lost hope" during that era: at the time, the building's $1,000 debentures were being sold at $108.75 apiece.[142] The structure as a whole was worth $1.25 million, which was less than the cost of the 43 elevators inside the building.[142][155]
+
+C. F. Noyes was hired as the building's leasing agent at the end of 1940.[156][157] One of the larger tenants during the 1940s was the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, which in 1941 leased four floors.[158][159] Other tenants included real-estate agents, lawyers, brokers, and bankers,[19][160] as well as a short-film theater in 1941.[161][162] More tenants came during World War II, starting with the United States Department of the Navy.[19][142] By 1943, the building was 80 percent leased, and that rate increased to 90 percent a year later.[142] After the United States Department of War leased four floors in July 1944, the building reached full occupancy for the first time in its history.[163][164] Many large tenants such as Prudential Financial, Westinghouse, and Western Union signed long-term leases.[19] After several tenants left during the late 1940s, the building was completely rented again in 1951.[165][166] At the time, 40 Wall Street's office space was renting for $4.22 per square foot ($45.4/m2), a relatively high price for a building constructed before air conditioning became popular.[166]
+
+1946 plane crash
+On the evening of May 20, 1946, a United States Army Air Forces Beechcraft C-45F Expediter airplane crashed into 40 Wall Street's northern facade. The twin-engine plane was heading for Newark Airport on a flight originating at Lake Charles Army Air Field in Louisiana. It struck the 58th floor of the building at about 8:10 pm, creating a 20-by-10-foot (6.1 m × 3.0 m) hole in the masonry. The crash killed all five aboard the plane, including a WAC officer, though no one in the building or on the ground was hurt. The fuselage and the wing of the splintered plane fell onto the 12th-story setback, while parts of the aircraft and pieces of brick and mortar from the building fell into the street below. Fog and low visibility were identified as the main causes of the crash, since LaGuardia Field had reported a heavy fog that reduced the ceiling to 500 feet (150 m), obscuring the view of the ground for the pilot at the building's 58th story.[167][168][169]
+
+The month after the crash, the owners of 40 Wall Street filed a building application with the Department of Buildings to fix the hole in the facade.[144] This crash was the second in New York City in less than a year; an Army B-25 bomber struck the 78th floor of the Empire State Building in July 1945, also caused by fog and poor visibility.[167][170] The incident prompted the Army, in June 1946, to ban planes from landing in New York City during heavy fog.[171][172] The 1946 accident was the last time an airplane accidentally crashed into a building in New York City in the 20th century.[173]
+
+1950s to 1970s
+Chase relocation and Webb & Knapp acquisition
+In August 1950, the building's owners submitted plans for an alteration of the building at a cost of $300,000.[174] Over the following years, the building was retrofitted with air conditioning.[175] The directors of the Manhattan Company and Chase National Bank voted in January 1955 to merge their respective companies,[176] and Chase Manhattan Bank was created as a result of the merger.[177][178] The new company was headquartered at Chase National's previous building at 20 Pine Street,[26][179] immediately north of 40 Wall Street;[6] soon afterward, Chase constructed a building at the neighboring 28 Liberty Street to serve as its headquarters.[180] Meanwhile, several offices as well as a bank branch remained in 40 Wall Street.[26]
+
+By 1956, the building's financial situation had improved considerably, and 40 Wall Street Corporation's $1,000 debentures were selling for $1,550.[142] That year, real estate developer William Zeckendorf had his company Webb and Knapp buy the leaseholds for the land from 40 Wall Street Inc., Chase, and the estate of the Iselin family.[26][142] Webb and Knapp also bought 32 percent of 40 Wall Street Corporation's stock,[26][181] eventually increasing their stake to two-thirds of the corporation's shares.[26][182] The firm attempted to sell 40 Wall Street in October 1957 for $15 million,[183] but a New York Supreme Court justice enjoined the sale in November 1957 after several minority shareholders claimed the sale was illegal.[184][185]
+
+The corporation's stockholders voted in June 1959 to sell the building for not less than $17 million.[186][187] To reduce disagreements, a State Supreme Court justice ordered that an auction be held for the building.[188] That October, stockholders held an auction for 40 Wall Street.[189][190] Zeckendorf submitted the highest bid, at $18.15 million, although there was only one other bidder.[188][191][192] At the time, 40 Wall Street was believed to be the most valuable real-estate property ever to be auctioned in New York City.[192] Webb & Knapp had spent $32 million to acquire the building;[26] excluding the auction, the remainder of the cost was used to pay Chase and the Iselin estate.[144]
+
+City & Central and Loeb, Rhoades operation
+Webb and Knapp sold the property to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in April 1960 for $20 million. Metropolitan Life leased the building back to Webb and Knapp for 99 years, under a leasehold that cost $1.2 million a year.[193] Chase Manhattan was relocating to its new headquarters at 28 Liberty Street,[194][195] and the Manufacturers Hanover Corporation was planning to relocate to the second through fifth floors, which Chase Manhattan was vacating.[194][196] That September, Webb and Knapp sold the leasehold to British investors City & Central Investments (later City Centre Properties) for $15 million.[195][197][198] The sale was finalized in November 1960,[199][200] and City & Central acquired title that following month.[201] The new operator renovated the interior and exterior.[26][178] Manufacturers Hanover moved to the building in 1962, relocating $24 billion in deposits to 40 Wall Street from its old headquarters at 70 Broadway.[202]
+
+City Centre sold the leasehold to Loeb, Rhoades & Co., 40 Wall Street's largest tenant, in June 1966.[203][204] Other major tenants at the time included Bache & Co., which had rented 180,000 square feet (17,000 m2) by 1966.[175] Manufacturers Hanover relocated many of its offices to 600 Fifth Avenue and 55 Water Street.[205] After Loeb, Rhoades & Co. merged with Shearson in 1980, the 251,000 square feet (23,300 m2) of office space occupied by Loeb, Rhoades & Co. was vacated; the space was quickly leased to Morgan Guaranty and Toronto-Dominion Bank. At the time, 40 Wall Street had 875 square feet (81.3 m2) that was not yet rented, and office space in the Financial District was typically rented for $16 to $20 per square foot ($170 to $220/m2).[206]
+
+1980s and early 1990s
+In 1982, the property was purchased by a German investment group headed by Walter Hinneberg.[26][207] Hinneberg and two of his siblings transferred their 80 percent ownership stake to an entity named 40 Wall Street Holdings Corporation in 1992. The other two owners conveyed their combined 20 percent stake to an entity named New Scandic Wall Ltd.[207][208]
+
+Marcos family leasehold
+At the end of 1982, Loeb, Rhoades & Co. sold the leasehold to a holding company; the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda would be revealed as the real buyers in 1985.[26][34][209] According to a broker who was involved in the sale, the Marcos family's agents, brothers Joseph J. and Ralph E. Bernstein, were initially believed to be buying the building for the wealthy Gaon family of Switzerland, as Joseph Bernstein's wife was a member of that family.[210][211][212][e] The operators planned to gild 40 Wall Street's roof.[214] In coded cables between the Marcos family and their alleged "front" in Manhattan, Gliceria Tantoco, the 40 Wall Street building was referred to using the secret code-word "Bridgetown".[215] By February 1986, 40 Wall Street's leasehold, and three other buildings reportedly owned by the Marcoses, were placed for sale.[216] Around that time, the Bernsteins were contemplating paying $250 million for 40 Wall Street and two of the other buildings.[217][218]
+
+After Marcos was forced out of office, the administration of his successor Corazon Aquino froze Marcos's assets within U.S. banking channels in March 1986,[219] and the building's future became uncertain.[220] Citicorp, which had placed a mortgage on the building, indicated in December 1986 that it would foreclose on the property.[221] After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled to block the sale of the Marcos properties that November, the Aquino administration filed a lawsuit against the Marcos estate to obtain title to the buildings.[222][223] Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi was subsequently accused of helping the Marcoses hide their stakes in the buildings,[224] although he was acquitted of all racketeering charges in relation with the properties.[225]
+
+Capital improvements to the building, including upgrades to its unreliable elevators, were suspended while legal proceedings were ongoing.[226][227] The Aquino administration attempted in early 1989 to sell the four Marcos properties to Morris Bailey for $398 million.[228][229] Federal district court judge Pierre N. Leval ordered a foreclosure sale of the Marcos properties in August 1989;[230][231] the Bailey group hoped that Citigroup would name them as the preferred bidders.[228] At the court-ordered auction, the Bernsteins submitted the winning bid of $108.6 million after another bidder, Jack Resnick & Sons, refused to raise its bid of $108.55 million.[230][231] The second mortgage with Citicorp comprised $60 million of this total.[232] The Bernstein brothers paid the $1.5 million down payment,[233][234] but they could not pay the remainder of the purchase price before the October 10, 1989 deadline.[234][235] At the time, the Bernsteins were also involved in a bankruptcy proceeding in Curaçao; a special master there had refused to repeal a bankruptcy action that would have allowed the Bernsteins to pay the remainder of 40 Wall Street's purchase price.[235] This prompted a second auction of the building's leasehold.[235][236]
+
+Resnick operation and further issues
+At a second auction in November 1989, Burton Resnick of Jack Resnick & Sons paid $77,000,100 for the leasehold, beating Citicorp's bid by $100.[233][236][237] By then, demand for real estate in Lower Manhattan had declined in the aftermath of Black Monday in 1987.[236] Resnick's lawyer, Howard J. Rubenstein, said his client planned to spend $30 million to $40 million renovating 40 Wall Street, although real-estate experts said the building needed closer to $50 million in renovations.[236] Resnick decided in 1990 to spend $50 million on upgrades.[238] The renovation would have included fire, electrical, and mechanical system replacement; renovation of the lobby; restoration of the facade and windows; and replacement of the elevators.[239] The Resnicks were only able to upgrade the windows;[178] they defaulted on their mortgage in 1991, and Citicorp took over the leasehold.[240] Citicorp canceled financing for the renovation that year,[227][240][241] citing concerns that tenants, including Manufacturers Hanover, which had moved from the lower stories of the building in 1982, might move out.[26][238]
+
+By the early 1990s, 40 Wall Street was 80 percent vacant.[220][242] The building's maintenance had declined to the point that tenants reported that they frequently waited 20 minutes for an elevator,[243] and many interior spaces had been stripped to the steel frame.[242] Homeless people were squatting in vacant floors because the building had limited security.[242][243] The building was also seen as outdated, since it had no freight elevator, the upper stories were too small, and the office floors had large numbers of structural columns.[244] In 1992, Citicorp prepared to sell 40 Wall Street again;[243][245] the asking price was reportedly as low as $10 million.[242][244] The building's valuation had declined from $123 million in 1990 to $75 million in 1993.[244] If 40 Wall Street's lease were not sold and renovated before the end of 1992, the owners were entitled to exercise a clause to evict the leaseholder.[242]
+
+American International Group attempted to acquire Citicorp's stake in the building for $6.5 million, but the negotiations failed in November 1992, in what Crain's New York magazine described as a "collapse of downtown real estate".[246] Citicorp auctioned off the building in May 1993;[220][240] the bank wrote down the building's value to zero.[247] Hong Kong firm Glorious Sun considered buying the building but ultimately decided against it.[248] Another group from Hong Kong, the consortium Kinson Properties, agreed to lease the property,[220][240] paying $8 million.[249] Kinson planned to renovate the building for $60 million, including the lobby for $4 million and electrical and mechanical systems for $5–7 million.[220] By the time Kinson sold the leasehold in 1995, little had been done to improve the property.[227]
+
+Trump lease
+In July 1995, real estate developer Donald Trump signed a letter of intent to buy Kinson's lease and spend $100 million on renovations.[249][250] The leasehold was transferred that December.[251]
+
+There have been conflicting accounts about the price of the leasehold. The New York Times reported that Trump purchased the leasehold for $8 million,[251] while Barron's cited the leasehold as having cost between $3 million and $5 million.[252] In November 1995, Trump stated that he was buying the leasehold from Kinson for $100,000.[227] During a 2005 episode of The Apprentice, Trump claimed he only paid $1 million for the leasehold but that the property was actually worth $400 million. Trump's legal advisor, George H. Ross, restated this claim in a 2005 book.[253] On a 2007 episode of CNBC's The Billionaire Inside, Trump again claimed that he paid $1 million for the leasehold but stated the building's value as $600 million. In 2012, it was reported that Trump paid $10 million for the leasehold.[254]
+
+Estimates of the building's worth also varied. City tax assessors had valued the building at $90 million by 2000[255] and reported that the building was worth the same amount in 2004.[256] While Trump estimated the building's worth at $1 billion in 2012,[254] an external appraisal the same year valued the building at $220 million.[257] Trump maintained in 2013 that the building was worth $530 million.[257] Trump's lenders estimated that the building was worth $540 million in 2015 (though the Trump Organization gave a higher figure of $735 million),[258] and Bloomberg News estimated the next year that 40 Wall Street was worth $550 million.[34]
+
+1990s and 2000s
+Trump spent $35 million refurbishing 40 Wall Street.[256][259][260] Der Scutt Architects renovated the lobby,[3] and the Trump Organization replaced several hundred windows, refurbished 30 elevator cabs, and added lights to illuminate the roof.[44] He planned to convert the upper half of 40 Wall Street to residential space, leaving the bottom half as commercial space.[251] The plan was contingent on the passage of a state law in late 1995, which granted tax exemptions to developers who renovated office buildings in New York into residential and commercial space.[261] Trump had planned to rent out some space as studio apartments and one- to three-bedroom apartments,[262] but real-estate experts, quoted in the New York Daily News, said the lowest 25 floors were so large that it would not be profitable to convert them to apartments.[227] By 1997, Trump was negotiating with hotel chains to occupy the lower stories of 40 Wall Street.[263] Among these chains was Marriott International, which proposed operating a Ritz-Carlton hotel on either ten[264] or twelve stories.[265] At the time, the building was about 25 percent occupied.[259]
+
+Trump canceled his plans to convert the upper floors to residential space, citing high costs.[266] By 1998, almost all of the space in the building had been leased.[260][267] Several large tenants, such as American Express, CNA Financial Corporation, Bear Stearns, Nomura Holdings, Country-Wide Insurance Company, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and Union Bank of California, had moved into 40 Wall Street after its renovation.[267] The same year, Trump obtained a $125 million mortgage loan for the building from several European banks.[260][268] Trump tried to sell the building in 2004, expecting offers in excess of $400 million,[267] which did not materialize.[269] The New York Times wrote in 2005 that the building had $145 million of debt.[256] At the time, the building was earning $32 million in rental income a year, and 40 Wall Street was still about 90 percent occupied; many tenants' leases were not scheduled to expire for several years.[267]
+
+2010s to present
+In early July 2011, Duane Reade opened its flagship drugstore branch inside the former banking space.[270] 40 Wall Street Ltd. handed its ownership stake in the building to 40 Wall Street Holdings in 2014.[207] According to Federal Election Commission applications filed during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, Trump had an outstanding mortgage of over $50 million on the property.[271] At the time, Trump leased the building for $1.65 million a year,[34] and the Trump Organization paid $1 million annually in expenses and fees.[258] According to Bloomberg News, several of the building's 21st-century tenants had been accused of fraudulent activity or had been associated with people accused of such activities.[34] Rental income from 40 Wall Street's commercial spaces increased from $30.5 million in 2014 to $43.2 million in 2018.[272] Forbes estimated in 2020 that Trump owed Ladder Capital $138 million for 40 Wall Street as part of a loan that was scheduled to mature in 2025.[273]
+
+New York prosecutors scrutinized several of the Trump Organization's properties by 2021, finding that, between 2011 and 2015, far higher values were presented to potential lenders than were reported to tax officials. The most extreme case involved 40 Wall Street, which in 2012 was cited as being worth $527 million to lenders but only $16.7 million to tax officials.[274] By February 2023, the building had been placed on a lender watchlist because of its rising vacancy rate, which had reached 18 percent in the third quarter of 2022, and its maintenance costs, which had risen 11 percent since the mortgage was issued in 2015.[275][276] Fitch Ratings downgraded the credit rating for the building's loans in August 2023 because new tenants were slow to move into the building while old tenants relocated elsewhere.[277] The building's Duane Reade location closed later that year due to increased shoplifting.[51] The loan on the property was transferred to a special servicer that November because there was a possibility that the state government's ongoing civil investigation of the Trump Organization could result in the organization's dissolution.[278] Following a January 2024 ruling in which the Trump Organization was found liable for civil fraud, New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office was prepared to seize the building if he could not pay a judgment of approximately $355 million.[279]
+
+Reception and landmark designations
+In February 1930, the Down Town League proclaimed 40 Wall Street the best building completed in Lower Manhattan during the preceding year.[280][281] Fortune magazine praised Ohrstrom in 1930, noting that "[h]is piece de resistance thus far has been the shrewd and able financing of the Manhattan Company Building".[73][282] Two years later, W. Parker Chase wrote that "no building ever constructed more thoroughly typifies the American spirit of hustle than does this extraordinary structure".[16][19][283] When the neighboring 28 Liberty Street was being built in 1960, Architectural Forum wrote of 40 Wall Street: "Viewed from the street, the detailing of the top of this middle-aged tower becomes insignificant, but it can be said that the draftsmen in the Severance office, who spent many painstaking hours perfecting the ornamental peak more than three decades ago, have been justified at last."[284]
+
+Some critics have regarded the skyscraper negatively. Architecture critic Robert A. M. Stern wrote in his 1987 book New York 1930 that 40 Wall Street's proximity to other skyscrapers, including 70 Pine Street, 20 Exchange Place, 1 Wall Street, and the Downtown Athletic Club, "had reduced the previous generation of skyscrapers to the status of foothills in a new mountain range".[285] Eric Nash wrote in his book Manhattan Skyscrapers that 40 Wall Street's impact was blunted by its location in the middle of the block, "surrealistically situated next to the mighty Greek Revival Federal Hall National Memorial".[35] A critic for Newsday wrote in 2003: "It appears on few postcards, and no tourists queue to peer from its celestial ramparts. The AIA Guide to New York City does not even mention the singular ambition, pursued with almost reckless abandon, that forged its construction: to be the world's tallest building."[286]
+
+On December 12, 1995, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 40 Wall Street as a city landmark, noting that the Bank of Manhattan Building was historically significant for being the headquarters of the Manhattan Company and for being part of New York City's 1929–1930 skyscraper race.[5] Five years later, on June 16, 2000, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places,[4] largely for the same reason as the city designation.[64] In 2007, the building was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District,[287] a NRHP district.[288]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

450_Sutter_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+450 Sutter Street
+
+450 Sutter Street, also called the Four Fifty Sutter Building, is a twenty-six-floor, 105-meter (344-foot) skyscraper in San Francisco, California, completed in 1929. The tower is known for its "Neo-Mayan" Art Deco design by architect Timothy L. Pflueger.[4] The building's vertically faceted exterior later influenced Pietro Belluschi in his similarly faceted exterior of 555 California, the former Bank of America Center completed in 1969.[5]
+
+The building's tenants are largely dental and medical professional offices.[citation needed]
+
+History
+In the 1960s, endocrinologist and sexologist Harry Benjamin, known for his pioneering clinical work with transgender people, opened a summer practice in the building, with many of his patients coming from the nearby Tenderloin neighbourhood.[6][7]
+
+In popular culture
+In the director's commentary of influential 3D adventure game Grim Fandango, game designer Tim Schafer credits the building as a major aesthetic influence. Schafer said he became familiar with 450 Sutter because his dentist's office was located on one of the upper floors, and that he had modeled the Department of Death, one of the game's most important locations, on the building.[8][9]
+
+The building is also modeled in the 2003 Maxis video game SimCity 4 as the fictional "Vu Financial" commercial office tower.[10]
+
+Gallery
+See also
+References
+External links

45_Christopher_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+45 Christopher Street
+
+45 Christopher Street is a residential building facing south onto Christopher Park in the Greenwich Village Historic District on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City.
+
+It was built by the developer brothers Bing & Bing with the architectural firm of Boak & Paris.[1] Russell M. Boak and Hyman F. Paris left the architectural firm of Emery Roth to start their own practice in 1927.[2]
+
+The building was granted an occupancy license on July 17, 1931.[3]
+
+Development
+The construction of 45 Christopher Street was part of a simultaneous development of five buildings in the area. Bing & Bing also worked with Boak and Paris on 302 West 12th Street.[4] They chose architect Emery Roth for both 299 West 12th Street[5] and 59 West 12th Street.[6] In addition, they chose to work with architect Robert T. Lyons on 2 Horatio Street.[7]
+
+Rivalry with Central Park West
+Leo Bing announced on April 1, 1929, that his firm had quietly acquired 75 small lots and old buildings largely around Abingdon Square, Sheridan Square and Jackson Square Park. And the lots would be combined to allow for a set of larger-scale, 17-story apartment buildings.[8]
+
+He said his goal was to "recreate the entire district as a modern counterpart of the high-class residential section it once was" saying it would "rival Central Park West and the fashionable east side within a few years." He cited the goal of neighborhood reinvention as the reason for the simultaneous building, saying his hope was that "complete transformation of the section may be achieved as quickly as possible.”[8]
+
+Despite the start of the Great Depression just months after Leo Bing's announcement, by September 1931, Bing & Bing reported that the "five new buildings on Christopher, Horatio and West Twelfth Streets are proving among the most popular of all the Bing & Bing apartment properties. Callers have been numerous…and a high percentage of the space has been leased.”[9]
+
+Notable residents and events
+References
+External links

500_Fifth_Avenue.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+500 Fifth Avenue
+
+
+
+500 Fifth Avenue is a 60-story, 697-foot-tall (212 m) office building on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon in the Art Deco style and constructed from 1929 to 1931.
+
+500 Fifth Avenue was designed with a facade of bronze, limestone, and terracotta at the base; it is clad with brick above the fourth floor. While the lowest four floors contain a decorative exterior, little ornamentation is used above the base. The primary entrance is on Fifth Avenue, and storefronts are located at ground level. Upon its opening, the building contained design features including fast elevators, well-lit office units, and a floor plan that maximized the well-lit office space. The 1916 Zoning Resolution resulted in a structure that incorporated setbacks, resulting in the lower floors being larger than the upper floors.
+
+500 Fifth Avenue was built for businessman Walter J. Salmon Sr. In the 1920s, prior to the building's development, the underlying land had become extremely valuable. Similarly to the much larger Empire State Building nine blocks south, which was constructed simultaneously, 500 Fifth Avenue's construction was highly coordinated. 500 Fifth Avenue opened in March 1931, but the structure garnered relatively little attention after the Empire State Building opened shortly afterward. The building was designated an official city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2010.
+
+Site
+500 Fifth Avenue occupies the northwestern corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is adjacent to the Manufacturers Trust Company Building to the north and the Salmon Tower Building to the west, while Bryant Park and the New York Public Library Main Branch are across 42nd Street to the south.[3] 500 Fifth Avenue occupies a land lot with frontage of 100 feet (30 m) along Fifth Avenue to the east and 283 feet (86 m) along 42nd Street to the south.[4][5][6] It has a total lot area of 20,920 square feet (1,944 m2).[4] The building is assigned its own ZIP Code, 10110; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes as of 2019[update].[7]
+
+Mansions and other residences were constructed on Fifth Avenue in the late 19th century, and office and commercial buildings were being developed on the avenue by the beginning of the 20th century.[8] By 1923, the Rider's Guide to New York City referred to the blocks of East 42nd Street between Park and Fifth Avenues as "Little Wall Street".[9] The Real Estate Record & Guide called the area "the most valuable building site on Manhattan Island north of Wall Street".[10]
+
+Architecture
+Shreve, Lamb & Harmon designed the building in the Art Deco style.[11][12] It was built simultaneously with the Empire State Building nine blocks south, which Shreve, Lamb & Harmon also designed.[13][14] William F. Lamb, a lead associate at the firm, called 500 Fifth Avenue "a thoroughly frank expression of the requirements of an up-to-date office building."[15] Because the design lacks historicist details, writer Eric Nash described the building as "perhaps the closest realization" of Eliel Saarinen's design for Chicago's Tribune Tower.[13]
+
+Form
+Because of limitations on building shape imposed by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, the building contains setbacks that make the lower floors larger than the upper floors.[16] Varying designs were used on Fifth Avenue and on 42nd Street due to the different zoning requirements on each side.[17][18] 500 Fifth includes numerous setbacks on each side, which are complex and asymmetrical. The first setback on 42nd Street is at a higher story than the first setback on Fifth Avenue.[5][16] Namely, the Fifth Avenue side's setbacks are at the 18th, 22nd, and 25th stories, while the 42nd Street side's setbacks are at the 23rd, 28th, and 34th stories.[18][19] The AIA Guide to New York City characterized the form as "a phallic pivot".[11]
+
+At the time of 500 Fifth Avenue's completion in 1931, the heights of skyscrapers in New York City were limited by the perceived economic feasibility of the upper floors.[20] For the lot that 500 Fifth Avenue occupied, this maximum height was considered to be 59 stories including a penthouse, or roughly 697 feet (212 m).[5][6] Despite being similar in design to the Empire State Building, 500 Fifth Avenue never became as prominent due to its asymmetrical massing, its lack of spire, and its smaller proportions.[13][14] The only original ornamentation on 500 Fifth Avenue's roof were large red digits reading "500", but these have since been removed.[13]
+
+Facade
+The building's primary entrance is on Fifth Avenue about 70 feet (21 m) north of 42nd Street. Storefronts are located at ground level on the eastern and southern elevations.[5] As a result of the creation of a special Fifth Avenue zoning district in 1929, new buildings on the avenue within Midtown had to include stores on their first two floors.[21] The main entrance is flanked by triple-story pylons.[5][13] Above the entrance is an allegorical limestone relief depicting the building's construction, which was carved by Edward Amateis.[5][15] This relief depicts a gilded woman next to a model of the building, with a staff in her hand.[5][13] Ornamentation depicting a pair of carved eagles is placed on the 42nd Street facade.[22]
+
+Lamb cited several factors in the "modern architectural treatment" of 500 Fifth, including the ornamentation and material usage. Bronze, limestone, and terracotta were used on the base's facade. The second through fourth floors contained decorated limestone piers as well as light-green spandrels ornamented with chevrons and folds.[15][22] There were also shallow reliefs with depictions of fountains and foliation.[13]
+
+Above the fourth floor, the exterior was made mainly of brick. The facade above the fourth floor consisted of recessed brick spandrels with black terracotta panels, which provided "vertical accents" to the building.[15][22] The idea for the terracotta-and-brick spandrels was probably taken from the Daily News Building, where a similar spandrel design was used.[23] Little ornamentation is used above the base, except for terracotta panels with chevrons.[22] The northern elevation of the facade is a largely uninterrupted brick wall with three vertical strips of black terracotta.[24] In total, the building uses over 3.3 million bricks.[25]
+
+Features
+500 Fifth's design features included "fast and efficient" elevators, well-lit office units, and a floor plan that maximized the well-lit office space.[5] Like the Empire State Building, 500 Fifth was designed from the top down; the floor plans within the upper stories were planned first, followed by the floor plans of the lower stories and the building's base.[16] The main entrance leads to an outer lobby, the design of which was extensively modified after 550 Fifth Avenue's completion.[24] The modern design of the outer lobby consists of pink-gray marble. A pair of griffins hold up a clock in the lobby and is the only historicist decoration in the space.[13] The inner lobby is clad with gold and gray veined marble.[24]
+
+The lowest two floors were designed with storefronts, set back from the full-height plate-glass windows on either side. There was also a 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2) banking space on the second floor, with space for a private elevator and staircase from Fifth Avenue, as well as a subbasement for a banking vault and storage area.[26]
+
+Offices above the sixth floor were designed so that each unit was a maximum of 30 feet (9.1 m) away from a window or other source of natural light. The area of each floor could be between 2,150 to 18,000 square feet (200 to 1,672 m2). Office sizes ranged from the smallest units being 9 feet (2.7 m) wide to the largest units covering the entire floor; on average, there were 21 units on each floor within the base, and 9 units on each floor within the tower section.[5] According to the New York City Department of City Planning, 500 Fifth Avenue has a gross floor area of 659,122 square feet (61,234.4 m2).[4] Though the floor area is relatively small compared to other buildings of similar height, 500 Fifth Avenue nonetheless has had a high occupancy rate throughout its history.[14]
+
+History
+Land acquisition
+From the 1890s to the 1910s, entrepreneur Walter J. Salmon purchased or leased several buildings along the northern side of West 42nd Street. His first acquisitions were 19 and 21 West 42nd in 1899 and 1901, respectively.[27] In 1903, he signed a 20-year lease for the lot at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, which was occupied by the Hotel Bristol, an eight-story structure built in 1875. The terms of the lease enabled Salmon to convert the hotel to commercial and office use.[8][27] In 1905, he leased the brownstone rowhouses at 11–17 West 42nd Street and the six-story building at 27–29 West 42nd Street, and the following year, he acquired the properties at 23–25 West 42nd. When Salmon leased the remaining buildings between 3–9 West 42nd Street in 1915, he controlled 858 feet (262 m) along the northern side of the street between Fifth Avenue and 29 West 42nd.[27] His parcels totaled 50,900 square feet (4,730 m2),[27] which was considered to be the "minimum size necessary for profitable redevelopment".[12]
+
+Salmon's company, the Midpoint Realty Company, made an agreement with the site's owners, Gerry Estates Inc., for the corner lot's redevelopment in January 1922. Salmon signed a long-term lease for both the Bristol Building and the buildings at 3–9 West 42nd Street.[10][28] In 1927, Salmon leased a four-story residence at 508 Fifth Avenue for his corner-lot development.[29] The adjacent lots at 11–27 West 42nd would become the Salmon Tower Building,[12] which was completed in 1928.[30] However, the development of the corner site was delayed because of a legal dispute between Salmon and wool merchant Morton Meinhard, who was to provide half of the money for the site's development but did not have any say in the 1922 lease.[31] The New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division ruled in June 1929 that Meinhard was entitled to a half-stake in the site.[32]
+
+Planning and construction
+In July 1929, Salmon announced his plans for the corner lot, a 58-story building at 500 Fifth Avenue, measuring 100 feet (30 m) along Fifth Avenue and 208 feet (63 m) along 42nd Street.[33][34] The skyscraper was estimated to cost $2.35 million (equivalent to $32,838,000 in 2023) and be completed in late 1930.[35] The Real Estate Record wrote that "the time appeared ripe for an improvement on this corner".[36] The lot was considered the second-most-valuable undeveloped lot in Manhattan, behind 1 Wall Street.[37] To finance construction, the developer issued $7 million worth of sinking fund bonds, equivalent to $97,816,000 in 2023.[38]
+
+Shreve, Lamb & Harmon were selected to design the new building.[12] Because the zoning ordinances allowed higher buildings along 42nd Street than Fifth Avenue, Salmon merged the zoning lots of 500 and 508 Fifth Avenue, enabling him to construct a taller building than was usually permitted.[29][39] This also required a separate design for the Fifth Avenue side of the building.[17][18] Some 450,000 to 500,000 square feet (42,000 to 46,000 m2) of rentable office space would be provided, as well as space for banking on the second and third floors, and retail on the first floor. The plans called for numerous architectural features including setbacks and "light courts".[29][40] The New York City Department of Buildings received plans for 500 Fifth Avenue in October 1929.[29][41][42] The following month, the Bristol Building's tenants were evicted,[43] and that December the Bristol Building was demolished.[44] The site was cleared in January 1930[45] and excavation of the foundation began the next month.[29]
+
+Similar to the Empire State Building nine blocks south, which was being constructed simultaneously by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, each structural component at 500 Fifth Avenue was planned in advance.[24] According to architect Richmond Shreve, a lead associate at the firm, the former's construction "required feats of organization in some respects never before attempted."[46] 500 Fifth Avenue was erected by general contractor Charles T. Wills Inc. and steel contractor McClintic-Marshall Co. Assembly of the steel frame commenced in March 1930 and, with a system of derricks being used to expedite construction, the frame was topped out by that July.[47] The building thus became the tallest skyscraper on Fifth Avenue for less than a month, as the Empire State Building subsequently surpassed it.[48] Installation of the brickwork commenced in April 1930, concurrently with the steel frame's construction,[25] and was completed by that September.[49] By the end of the year, the building was essentially complete.[50] The construction process employed up to 2,200 workers, and ultimately cost $4 million (equivalent to $64,522,000 in 2023).[29]
+
+Use
+500 Fifth Avenue officially opened on March 3, 1931.[51][52] John Tauranac, in his book The Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark, wrote that upon 500 Fifth's completion, "The Building Record and Guide was calling Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue 'the best known corner in the world'."[53] In its early years, 500 Fifth Avenue was largely overlooked in the real estate community, as more attention was placed upon the Empire State Building, the world's tallest building at the time.[24] Furthermore, office rental activity was affected by the Wall Street Crash of 1929.[22] Conversely, at the beginning of 1931, Fifth Avenue was experiencing high demand for storefront space, with only 12 of 224 stores being unoccupied. 500 Fifth Avenue, along with 608 Fifth Avenue and the Empire State Building, were expected to add a combined 11 stores.[54][55] Despite other developers' speculation that Salmon would construct a three-story residence at the roof,[25] Salmon said the corner was "just a little to prominent for real home life".[56]
+
+Salmon had said in December 1930 that, although he foresaw it might take a long time to fill the space at 500 Fifth Avenue, "the enterprise was undertaken with the greatest faith in the future of midtown expansion and development."[50] The 15th, 16th, and 20th floors were completely rented by May 1931.[57] Rental activity continued and, by the end of the year, lessees included Electrolux,[58][59] Western Universities Club,[60] and several railroad companies.[22][61] Other tenants in the mid-1930s included the Austrian and Japanese consulates;[22] the Austrian consulate closed in 1938, when the country was taken over by Nazi Germany,[62] and the Japanese consulate moved the following year to the International Building at Rockefeller Center.[63][64] 500 Fifth Avenue was the original transmitter site for CBS Radio's New York City FM station (W67NY, later called WCBS-FM) in 1941.[65]
+
+The Mutual Insurance Company leased the adjacent lots at 508–514 Fifth Avenue from the Manufacturers Hanover Corporation (then known as the Manufacturers Trust Company) in 1944. Because Salmon's existing lease of 508 Fifth Avenue ran through 1965, Manufacturers Trust subleased the lot at 508 Fifth Avenue from Salmon.[66] The terms of the sublease specified that the portion of any structure at 508 Fifth Avenue could not be more than 63 feet (19 m) tall, or obstruct the adjacent skyscraper in any other way.[22][66][a] The Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 508–514 Fifth Avenue was completed in 1954,[69] and ultimately contained four stories and a penthouse. The Manufacturers Trust penthouse was set back from the lot line at 508 Fifth Avenue because it rose above the maximum height permitted in the sublease agreement.[70]
+
+The land under 500 Fifth Avenue was owned separately from the building itself and, in 1955, the land was sold to Metropolitan Life Insurance, now known as MetLife.[19][71] The New York Reading Laboratory, a reading room in the basement, operated during that decade.[72][73] In 1980, a Yugoslavian bank on the 30th floor was bombed, with Croatian nationalists claiming responsibility, though no one was hurt and the structure suffered minimal damage.[74] The facade was restored in the 1990s, and the building was owned by a Mexican investment group by 2004.[75] Through the 21st century, 500 Fifth Avenue continued to be used as an office building.[19] The LPC designated the building's facade as a landmark on December 14,  2010.[76]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

55_Central_Park_West.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+55 Central Park West
+
+
+
+55 Central Park West is a 19-floor housing cooperative on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Built in 1929, it was designed by the architectural firm Schwartz & Gross.[2] The building is a contributing property within the Central Park West Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
+
+The building holds significance in American popular culture because the plot of the 1984 film Ghostbusters revolves heavily around it.  Although the building does not have an official name, it is often colloquially referred to as The Ghostbusters Building, The Shandor Building, The Shandor Apartments or Spook Central, the fictional names it is given in the film.
+
+History
+Plans for the building, between 65th and 66th Streets, were filed by architectural firm Schwartz & Gross at the behest of Victor Earle and John C. Calhoun, for whom they were working. Earle, and his brother Guyon, had been actively developing the Upper West Side of New York City since the 1910s.[3]
+
+The structure is considered to be mostly "second tier"[4] by the socialite New Yorkers who occupy most of the buildings along Central Park West. It was opened as a rental property in 1930. Its neighbor to the south is the earlier Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Upon its opening Real Estate magazine praised it as resembling "Jungfrau, that most beloved snowcapped Alpine peak."[4]
+
+Musician Rudy Vallee and industrial designer Raymond Loewy were two of the building's earliest residents.[4] Ginger Rogers was one of its residents during her Broadway days in the early 1930s.[5] Hat designer Lilly Dache with husband Jean Despres of Coty Perfume were residents following their 1931 marriage until 1935. Other residents of the building have included Donna Karan,[6] Calvin Klein, Ring Lardner, Jr., and Marsha Mason.[7] The duplex penthouse on the 19th and 20th floors was owned by composer Jerry Herman in the 1970s, before he sold it for $1 million to Klein (who later sold it, and then bought it again in the 1990s). David Geffen later purchased it for $6 million, before selling it for $8.6 million to music executive Steve Gottlieb, who in turn listed it the week his record label TVT Records filed for bankruptcy.[7][8] He sold the apartment to Marc Lasry (co-founder and CEO of the Avenue Capital Group) for $33 million in 2014.[7][8][9]
+
+Architecture
+The building was the first fully Art Deco structure on the street.[3]
+
+Facade
+The exterior of the building is somewhat non-traditional. As the brick facade rises from the ground it changes shade from deep purple to yellow-white. Color was widely used during the 1920s as a tool in architecture for overall effects. The rental brochure stated: "new modernistic design of exterior with beautiful shaded color scheme". The New Yorker's architecture critic, George S. Chappell, praised the building's use of color, said, "the total effect is exhilarating."[3]
+
+Interior
+When the building opened in 1930 it had apartments ranging from three to nine rooms, the largest of which had four bedrooms. The apartments featured a dropped living room, developed by the Earle brothers, which set the interior apart from most others constructed around the same period. An original rental brochure shows the dropped living room nearly entirely open to the entrance gallery; traditionally the gallery was held as a different room.[3]
+
+Significance
+The building is a contributing property to the Central Park West Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 9, 1982.[1][10] It is also a contributing property to the New York City's Upper West Side / Central Park West local historic district.  Benjamin Schwarz, writing for The Atlantic, said of the buildings along Central Park West, "no endeavor on earth is more arduous than getting into one of these buildings," and specifically cited the "details of Donna Karan's deal for her digs at 55 Central Park West."[6]
+
+The building holds significance in American popular culture as it was prominently featured in the 1984 comedy Ghostbusters. In the film, "550 Central Park West" – known also as The Shandor Building, The Shandor Apartments or "Spook Central" – was the residence of the Ghostbusters' first client, cellist Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver). They later learn it had been designed and constructed by insane architect and surgeon Ivo Shandor, who founded and led a secret society in 1920, The Cult of Gozer, dedicated to the worship of Gozer the Gozerian.[11] Since Ghostbusters first hit theaters, 55 Central Park West has been known as the "Ghostbusters Building". The building's appearance in the film differs from its actual appearance.[4][11] Eight additional floors and a large rooftop temple were added to exterior shots of it via matte painting by Production designer/Art director John DeCuir. The Gozerian Temple consisted of its massive, ornate shrine, altars, obelisks and the iconic gargoyle statues depicting the Terror Dogs, Zuul the Gatekeeper and Vinz Clortho the Keymaster.[12]
+
+The building also appears in the 2003 Christmas film Elf, as the home of Buddy’s human family.
+
+References
+External links

570_Lexington_Avenue.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+General Electric Building
+
+
+
+
+
+The General Electric Building, also known as 570 Lexington Avenue, is a skyscraper at the southwestern corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building, designed by Cross & Cross and completed in 1931, was known as the RCA Victor Building during its construction. The General Electric Building is sometimes known by its address to avoid confusion with 30 Rockefeller Plaza, which was once known as the GE Building.
+
+570 Lexington Avenue contains a 50-floor, 640-foot-tall (200 m) stylized Gothic octagonal brick tower, with elaborate Art Deco decorations of lightning bolts showing the power of electricity. The tower is set back from the round-cornered base with elaborate masonry and architectural figural sculpture. The building was designed to blend with the low Byzantine dome of the adjacent St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church on Park Avenue, with the same brick coloring and architectural terracotta decoration. The crown of the building, an example of Gothic tracery, is intended to represent electricity and radio waves. On the corner above the building's main entrance is a clock with the cursive GE logo and a pair of disembodied silver arms holding bolts of electricity.
+
+Plans for the building were announced in 1929, and it was completed two years later. The project was originally commissioned for RCA, then a subsidiary of General Electric (GE). RCA moved to 30 Rockefeller Plaza midway through construction, and 570 Lexington Avenue was conveyed to GE as part of an agreement in which RCA and GE split their properties. GE had its headquarters at 570 Lexington Avenue between 1933 and 1974, and retained ownership until 1993, when the building was donated to Columbia University. The building was extensively renovated by Ernest de Castro of the WCA Design Group in the 1990s. It was designated a New York City landmark in 1985 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
+
+Site
+The General Electric Building occupies the southwestern corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It sits on the northeastern portion of a city block bounded by Park Avenue to the west, 50th Street to the south, Lexington Avenue to the east, and 51st Street to the north.[3][4][5] St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church is directly to the west on the same city block, and another office building is to the south.[4][5] The General Electric Building is also near the Waldorf Astoria New York to the south, 569 Lexington Avenue and the Beverly Hotel to the east, and 345 Park Avenue to the north.[5] Entrances to the New York City Subway's Lexington Avenue/51st Street station, served by the 6, <6>​​, E, and ​M trains, are adjacent to the north side of the building.[6]
+
+The lots making up the General Electric Building's site were purchased by Frederick and Maximilian Schaefer starting in 1867, and were developed as the Schaefer Brewery in 1878.[3][7] The Park Avenue railroad tracks, running in an open cut less than a block west of the site, were placed underground as part of the construction of Grand Central Terminal in the early 20th century.[8] The opening of Grand Central Terminal in 1913 spurred development in the area bounded by Lexington Avenue, Madison Avenue, 51st Street, and 42nd Street.[9] St. Bartholomew's Church bought the Schaefer site in 1914.[3][7] The church's main building was erected on the block's northwestern corner in 1919, and St. Patrick's Cathedral developed Cathedral High School on the southeastern corner in 1924.[7][10] After St. Bartholomew's built its chapter house and garden on the block's southwestern corner, the Schaefer site was the only one on the block that was not developed.[7]
+
+Architecture
+The General Electric Building was designed by John Walter Cross of Cross & Cross in the Art Deco style with Gothic Revival ornamentation.[2][11] This contrasted with the firm's earlier designs, which tended to be in the Gothic Revival, Georgian Revival, or Renaissance Revival styles.[11] The Bartholomew Building Corporation originally developed 570 Lexington Avenue for RCA,[12] though the building was renamed for General Electric (GE) midway through construction when RCA decided to instead occupy 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[13] The steel was erected by McClintic-Marshall Construction Company, and the concrete floor arches were contracted to Brennan & Sloan.[14]
+
+The building was designed to harmonize with neighboring structures, particularly St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, as well as the since-demolished building of Cathedral High School to the south.[15][16][17] There are 46 office floors in total, as well as four mechanical floors,[18] although the 48th and 49th floors also once contained executive dining rooms.[19] Sources disagree slightly on the building's precise height. Emporis gives a height of 640 feet (195 m),[20] while the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's Skyscraper Center cites the building as being 643 feet (196 m).[21]
+
+Form
+The building's lowest stories contain elaborate masonry and architectural figural sculpture, with a round corner facing Lexington Avenue and 51st Street. Above a series of gradual setbacks, the building rises into an octagonal brick tower similar to Cross & Cross's earlier design for 20 Exchange Place.[22] It is a stylized Gothic tower, with elaborate Art Deco decorations of lightning bolts showing the power of electricity. According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, the base and tower form "one of the most expressive skyscrapers of its era".[2]
+
+The lowest twelve stories fill the entire lot area.[22][23][24] Between the 13th and 25th stories, the building contains shallow setbacks on each elevation,[18] which are used to emphasize the building's vertical lines.[11] The Lexington Avenue and 51st Street elevations contain setbacks on the 13th, 16th, 19th, and 22nd floors, and the Lexington Avenue elevation also has a setback at the 25th floor.[18] The centers of the Lexington Avenue and 51st Street elevations contain projecting pyramidal dormers that rise one to three additional stories above the previous setback.[25][26] The building's tower rises 25 stories above these setbacks.[24] The corners of the tower are chamfered to form an eight-sided floor plan, except on the building's northeast corner below the 35th floor, which is not chamfered.[26][27][17]
+
+Facade
+The facade was designed to blend with the low Byzantine dome of St. Bartholomew's Church and shares the same brick color, with terracotta decorations chosen to coordinate.[2][13][28] Brick in orange, tawny, and buff colors was used throughout the facade. The bricks, laid out randomly in American bond, create from a distance the impression of a rich bronze color.[22][23]
+
+The window sills, corbels, spandrels, and other elements on the facade are made of terracotta in similar shades.[22][23] The terracotta details include reliefs that depict lightning.[24] The lowest section of the ground-story facade is made of reddish granite, and some of the upper-story trimmings are made of reddish marble.[23][29] The terracotta on the upper stories was sprayed with fourteen-carat gold.[30] The detail of the facade wraps around to its rear elevations as well.[13]
+
+The facade contains few flat surfaces.[31] The design is emphasized by rounded vertical piers, which separate the facade into bays, and recessed spandrels, which separate the windows between each floor.[23][27] The piers rise above and between the openings of the first floor.[25][32] The spandrels are mostly similar in design. On the building's primary elevations, the upper section of a typical spandrel contains a large chevron made of fluted bars, while the lower section contains two half-size chevrons with smaller fluting. Running vertically along the center of each spandrel is a lozenge-shaped bolt with aluminized finishing.[26][27][31] The bolt probably represents the radio industry, though architectural historian Anthony W. Robins writes that the bolt has also been compared to sound waves on a RCA Victrola.[31]
+
+First floor
+At ground level, the facade contains display windows with storefronts; the large display windows are two bays wide, while the small display windows are one bay wide. The Lexington Avenue elevation has four large display windows, two on either side of the main entrance. The 51st Street elevation has four large and two small display windows, a two-bay-wide loading dock, and a one-bay-wide freight entrance. The display windows and loading dock are each surrounded by a red marble frame containing reeded jambs.[23][25] Above each display window is a triangular pediment with a fluted tympanum; a stepped pediment frame; and a niche in the pier above the center of the pediment, containing a representation of an "electric spirit".[25][32] The pediments above the main entrance and freight entrance are more elaborate.[32]
+
+The main entrance is on Lexington Avenue and contains three single-leaf metal doors. Instead of doorknobs, each door contains a push-plate with a zigzag design. The Lexington Avenue entrance is topped by a transom window with interlocking triangles and curves.[32] The pediment above the main entrance contains a metal sculpture with a curving vine and a lozenge along its center. The sculpture is flanked by depictions of pendants that are suspended from spiral scrolls.[31] The pediment above the freight entrance contains an aluminum panel under a series of round brick semicircles; the doorway below is a simple metal door.[32][33]
+
+The building's northeast corner, facing Lexington Avenue and 51st Street contains a more ornate design than the rest of the facade, as it was intended to lead to a bank space on the first floor. At ground level, there is a non-structural buttress made of marble, with elaborate pediments above. The buttress consists of two bays, one facing each street, and is supported by a pier at the corner.[27][32] On the pier is a clock with the cursive GE logo and a pair of disembodied silver arms holding bolts of electricity.[2][31] The bays of the corner buttress are topped by tripartite triangular marble pediments, which feature a clenched fist holding an electric bolt, topped by a series of round brick semicircles.[27][32]
+
+Between the 2nd and 12th floors, the building's northeast corner is curved.[26][31][34] The corner is two bays wide. The spandrels of the corner bays contain a pattern of three lozenges increasing in size from bottom to top, with the topmost lozenge containing an aluminized finish.[26][34]
+
+Upper stories
+Above the 12th floor, the building's northeast corner contains a flat chamfer on each of the setback portions between the 12th and 21st floors.[27][35] There are also three sculptures of "electric spirits" on the northeast corner: at the 12th floor, between the 23rd and 25th floors, and between the 34th and 35th floors. Because of the building's massing, these "electric spirits" are offset from the ground-level entrance.[26][35] Stylized visages also overlook the central bays along both Lexington Avenue and 51st Street.[26][34]
+
+The tower contains four bays on each of the major elevations facing north, south, west, and east, as well as one bay in each chamfer. The spandrels between the 45th and 48th floors consist of raised circles with entirely aluminized finishing.[22][26] An arch rises over the 49th floor of each major elevation.[26][33] The central pier on each side rises above the arch to support one of four figures in the building's crown.[33][36] Each of the 50-foot-tall (15 m) figures depicts a deity with "forked lightning" above them.[12][24][37][38] The building's crown contains Gothic tracery touched with gold.[17][24] The tracery is intended to represent electricity and radio waves. The "rays" of the deities can light up at night.[33][36][38]
+
+Features
+The building has 428,000 square feet (39,800 m2) of floor space according to The New York Times,[39] although the Skyscraper Center gives the gross floor area as 458,295 square feet (42,577.0 m2).[21] The lowest floors typically contain 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2) each, while the tower floors contain 3,000 square feet (280 m2). The interior structure contains a myriad of columns supporting each floor.[40]
+
+The lobby is designed in the Art Deco style and consists of a small vestibule leading to a larger elevator lobby.[31][41] According to one of the building's architects, John Cross, the lobby was an "interesting contrast" to the more conservative details of the facade.[24] The lobby retains many elements of its original design, and some secondary spaces and offices still have some of their initial design elements. However, many floors have been remodeled. The original ornate features of the basement auditorium and the dining rooms at the 48th and 49th floors were removed.[41]
+
+Lobby
+There is a vestibule inside the Lexington Avenue entrance, which contains a polished granite floor. Similar to the exterior, the walls of the vestibule consist of a red marble surface over a red-granite base. The side walls have decorative radiator grilles containing tall rectangles with angular tops. Atop the walls of the vestibule is a frieze consisting of a wave mosaic between beige marble bands; it is interrupted by two slightly projecting stones that serve as reflectors. Metal sconces, shaped like torches, are placed on the walls below the frieze.[41] The vestibule's ceiling contains a smooth barrel vault with silver-leaf finishing, as well as an overhanging Art Deco chandelier.[41][42] The vestibule and the building's lobby are separated by a marble wall. A metal revolving door flanked by two smaller doors leads to the lobby, while a transom window and decorative metal grille are above these doors.[43]
+
+John Cross had intended the design of the lobby to give off an impression of "vibrant energy".[24][44] The lobby is a long, rectangular space extending west from the Lexington Avenue vestibule.[41] The terrazzo floor contains elaborate geometric designs and marble highlights.[45] The walls are made of convex pink marble panels with darker red veins, placed over a base made of white-veined black marble.[46] The walls are topped by wave friezes and torch-shaped sconces, similar to those in the vestibule, although the lobby's western wall does not have a wave frieze.[13][46] The lobby ceiling is made of barrel vaults painted in silver.[13][46] The vaults rise in a lune shape, supported on slightly projecting stones along the length of the friezes atop each wall; the lunes touch at the apex of each vault.[46] The vaults form triangular cut-outs above the frieze on either sidewall, each of which contain one of two mural designs with arrow motifs.[47] Cross likened the illumination of the pink-marble walls to broadcast stations, while he described the triangular cut-outs on the ceiling as symbolizing "the directness and penetration of radio itself".[24] The ceiling also contains three chandeliers,[45] which were not part of the original design.[48]
+
+The lobby's western wall contains an opening that is closed-off by a metal Art Deco screen; this opening is topped by a decorative clock with a metal frame and a red-marble face.[46] On the northern wall, a wide opening leads to a staircase to the basement as well as an adjacent commercial space. A similar opening on the south wall led to a waiting room and shopping arcade, but was sealed in 1995, when the security desk was installed in front of that opening.[45] The elevator openings, five each on the northern and southern walls, contain painted metal doors with digital floor indicators above them. There are also openings leading from the lobby to various secondary spaces, as well as decorative grilles on the walls.[47] The decorative details include a metal Art Deco mailbox on the south wall of the lobby.[24][42][46]
+
+Extending past the western wall of the lobby is a transverse corridor, which contains a similar ceiling design and terrazzo floors. This transverse corridor leads to a freight entrance with marble walls and decorative grilles on the freight doors.[49] On the western side of the ground floor, south of the lobby, is an area with plain terrazzo floors and metal sconces; this space has a stairway to the basement.[19]
+
+Other floors
+The ten elevators from the ground-floor lobby descend to the basement lobby, which contains a simpler design compared with the main lobby. The terrazzo floor is checkered, the walls are made of pink marble slabs, and the elevators contain their original floor indicators. Adjacent to the basement lobby is an auditorium with a plain sloped plaster ceiling and white walls, as well as a small stage.[19] The Bartholomew Building Corporation arranged with the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which at the time operated the 51st Street subway station, to construct an entrance to the station's downtown platform in the General Electric Building's basement. The basement entrance replaced a sidewalk staircase along 51st Street at Lexington Avenue.[50] The passageway was made of marble with aluminum storefronts.[51] A new street entrance opened in 1965,[52] and the passageway was sealed off with a marble-clad partition.[19]
+
+The elevator cabs are inlaid with wood.[31][45] The elevators also include white-metal railings and corner lights that date from the original design. The ceilings of the elevator cabs are made of silver leaf. During some point in the 20th century, the silver-leaf ceilings of the elevators were hidden from view, although they were restored at some point before 2003.[45]
+
+The upper floors were plainer in design compared with the public areas. As built, each story in the building's base contained elevator lobbies with terrazzo floors, as well as marble walls with wave mosaics. Smaller elevator lobbies existed in the floors of the tower, although many of these lobbies were removed during subsequent renovations, giving offices direct access to the elevators.[19] The 48th and 49th floors, the highest usable stories in the General Electric Building, contained the executive dining rooms and were occupied by the General Electric Luncheon Club. The 48th floor had private rooms and the 49th floor had a large dining room.[19][53] Raymond Hood and J. André Fouilhoux designed a "technologically advanced" conference room after GE moved into the building, which combined neon and mercury vapor lights to provide consistent indirect illumination.[54] The conference room no longer exists.[55]
+
+History
+Planning
+In September 1929, Tishman Realty & Construction acquired plots at the southwestern corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street, passing it to the Bartholomew Building Corporation through intermediary Stanhope Estates Inc.[56] The large corner lot was purchased from the Norko Realty Company and Julian Tishman & Sons, as well as two smaller lots on 51st Street from the Nichols Holding Company.[57][58] The next month, the Bartholomew Building Corporation bought the land from Tishman.[56] The site comprised 16,500 square feet (1,530 m2) on the southwestern corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street, with frontage of 112 feet (34 m) on Lexington Avenue and 155 feet (47 m) on 51st Street; it was to be developed with a 46-story skyscraper at 570 Lexington Avenue.[59]
+
+RCA was expected to be one of the major tenants,[60] although the Bartholomew Building Corporation originally refused to confirm this fact.[59] At the time, RCA held a "virtual monopoly on the advertising, marketing, distribution, and selling of communication devices and services" in the United States, though it was barred from making these products and services on its own.[3][7][61] RCA had purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1929, becoming known as RCA Victor.[3][7][10]
+
+Construction
+
+Cross & Cross were hired for the project and filed official blueprints. The New York City Department of Buildings issued a new-building permit for the project on December 17, 1929.[57][58] Detailed plans for 570 Lexington Avenue, by then known as the RCA Victor Building, were publicized in March 1930. As announced, it would be 650.5 feet (198.3 m) tall, consisting of a base of at least 20 stories that tapered into a 30-story tower.[a] The building would contain 310,000 square feet (29,000 m2) of office space, half to be occupied by RCA.[12][37][56] RCA's subsidiaries, NBC and RKO General, would occupy the 9th through 17th floors.[13] A construction contract was immediately let to the A. L. Hartridge Company.[37][56] The demolition of the existing rowhouses on the site was completed on April 15, 1930. The northern wall of Cathedral High School was left vulnerable as a result of the demolition, so it was reinforced with cinder concrete.[14]
+Simultaneously with the development of the RCA Victor Building, John D. Rockefeller Jr. was planning a large building complex (later Rockefeller Center) three blocks west of the new skyscraper. In December 1929, the Metropolitan Opera had declined an offer to develop a new opera house at Rockefeller's site.[62][63] Raymond Hood, one of the architects involved in the construction of Rockefeller Center, suggested negotiating with RCA and its subsidiaries to build a mass media entertainment complex there.[64] RCA's founder and GE's chairman, Owen D. Young, was amenable to the proposal.[65] At the time, RCA was seeking more independence from the operations of GE, and three months after David Sarnoff became president of RCA in January 1930, the two companies reached an agreement to separate their operations. As part of that agreement, RCA gave some of its stock and the then-under-construction RCA Victor Building to GE, and the RCA Victor Building became known as the General Electric Building.[3][58][61]
+
+Work on the General Electric Building commenced on May 3, 1930.[10][57][58] The contract with the steel supplier, the McClintic-Marshall Company, specified a tight construction schedule, which the building's construction appeared to have closely followed.[66] While the facade's decorative elements were originally planned to be made of limestone, this was swapped with terracotta, and limestone was only used between the 34th and 35th floors.[18] The aluminum spandrels planned for the upper floors were also replaced with terracotta finished in aluminum.[22] Initial plans called for a more ornate corner entrance with red-and-black marble, aluminum plant motifs, and inlaid enamel.[13] Construction of floor arches and the steel frame continued through mid-1930, during which RCA continued to negotiate a move to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, which was then under construction.[57][67] The Bartholomew Building Corporation conveyed the building's leasehold to RCA on January 13, 1931, and property title passed to GE ten days afterward. Construction was completed at the end of 1931.[57]
+
+Use
+1930s to 1950s
+570 Lexington Avenue had opened to tenants by April 24, 1931, when RCA Victor moved to the space.[68][69] RCA had rented ten floors in January 1931,[70] but later modified the lease to occupy only three floors.[71] Another long-term lessee was Childs Restaurants, who signed a 21-year lease for the ground-level retail space in July 1931.[72] Other large companies took space at the building in its first year, including Seversky Aircraft,[73] the White Sewing Machine Company,[74] the National Civic Federation,[75] and the national headquarters of the Girl Scouts of the USA.[76] By late 1932, RCA and GE finalized an agreement in which RCA would move to Rockefeller Center and GE would take the Lexington Avenue building.[77] RCA moved its offices out of 570 Lexington Avenue in June 1933 with the opening of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[78]
+
+In July and August 1933, GE moved its headquarters to the building.[79] With this move, along with the opening of the adjacent Lexington Avenue station on the Independent Subway System's Queens Boulevard Line (now the E and ​M trains) the president of the Lexington Avenue Civic Association said that the "transformation" of the surrounding stretch of Lexington Avenue had been completed.[80] Architects Pruitt & Brown filed plans in January 1935 to convert the top two floors into a clubhouse for the Elfun Society, a group of GE executives.[81] By that year, 75% of space in the building was occupied, despite the economic downturn caused by the Great Depression.[82] That July, the dining rooms on the 48th and 49th floors were heavily damaged in a fire, the highest ever fought by the New York City Fire Department at the time.[53][83] Later in the 1930s, the Citizen Savings Bank opened a bank branch in the building.[84] Other large tenants in the 1940s and 1950s included attorneys Reed, Crane De Give,[85] as well as the Manhattan Savings Bank.[86]
+
+1960s to 1980s
+An "automatic cafeteria" without a kitchen opened in the General Electric Building in 1961.[87] The building's lights were replaced three years later,[88] and GE moved some of its offices to two other Midtown buildings.[89] By the early 1970s, GE considered constructing a new headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut.[90] The new headquarters opened in 1974, and the Canadian offices of GE moved to the space that the executive offices had vacated at 570 Lexington Avenue.[91] In subsequent years, much of 570 Lexington Avenue's space subsequently became vacant.[40]
+
+The General Electric Building's original granite storefronts were replaced with aluminum storefronts sometime before 1975.[35] The windows of the other stories were replaced in the mid-1980s, and various features of the exterior were restored.[35][92] The building's crown was not lit up between 1982 and 1988, when the building's renovation was nearly complete.[92] Meanwhile, GE had purchased 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 1986 and renamed it the "GE Building" two years later.[48][93][94] While employees of GE subsidiary NBC stated that the similar names could cause potential for confusion, a GE spokesperson said that there was precedent for two similarly named buildings in the city, and that in any case, 570 Lexington Avenue was popularly known as "570 Lex".[93][94] Further confusing the situation, 30 Rockefeller Plaza's former name had been the RCA Building, but 570 Lexington Avenue had also been known by that name during its construction.[48][95]
+
+1990s to present
+GE donated 570 Lexington Avenue to Columbia University in 1993 to gain a $40 million tax deduction.[2][96] The university formed a joint venture with Bernard H. Mendik's Mendik Company and Quantum Realty Partners, and planned a renovation to attract tenants.[39] Between 1993 and 1995, the building was extensively renovated by Ernest de Castro of the WCA Design Group.[2][13] Several interior systems were refurbished, including the lobby and elevators.[13][55] The renovation also added some elements, such as chandeliers, that had been planned but not installed in the original design.[40] The exterior was also cleaned and refurbished, and several "miscellaneous modernizations" were removed. The adjacent 51st Street subway entrance was also rebuilt with an Art Deco design.[13] For his company's preservation of the lobby, Mendik received the Preservation Achievement Award in 1996.[97]
+
+By the end of 1995, Mendik and Quantum Realty were leasing out space within 570 Lexington Avenue. At the time, the building's yearly asking prices per square foot were described as being barely market rate, with $30 per square foot ($320/m2) being asked on the lower floors, and $40 per square foot ($430/m2) for the upper floors. Additionally, 570 Lexington Avenue was not located on such a prestigious street, and its design precluded modifications such as dropped ceilings, raised floors, or column removals.[40] Vornado Realty Trust bought Mendik's company in 1997[98] and increased its ownership stake in 570 Lexington Avenue to a half stake in 1998.[99]
+
+The Feil Organization bought the building in February 2001 for $120 million.[100] By the 2010s, the building's tenants included Cornell University, Cornwall Capital, Asset.tv, Air India, and the Roosevelt Institute.[101] Additionally, in 2018, Urbanspace opened a three-story food hall in the building's base.[102][103]
+
+Impact
+Reception
+At the time of its completion, the General Electric Building was characterized as being in a Gothic style, as the term "Art Deco" had not become popularized yet.[104][33] A 1931 article in The New York Times described the building as being Gothic in design,[16] as did the retail brochures issued by Cushman & Wakefield, which was originally in charge of leasing out the building's space.[33] George Shepard Chappell, writing in The New Yorker under the pseudonym "T-Square", wrote that the General Electric Building was "Gothic in line and modern in detail".[33][105] By the late 20th century, the General Electric Building was being described as Art Deco.[33] In the 1978 Macmillian Encyclopedia of Architects, Christopher Gray described the building as "explicitly Art Deco".[106]
+
+Reviews of the design were mostly positive. While Chappell wrote that the General Electric Building was "a little too consciously picturesque", he admired the building's rounded corner.[24][105] Lewis Pilcher described the building in the 1931 Americana Annual as "superbly conceived [...] with grace and suavity."[13] Arnold Lehman wrote in 1971 that the building was "noteworthy for its highly original decorative treatment", saying that "the sculpted figures in the crown go as unnoticed as the beautifully detailed clock" on the building's northeastern corner.[107] According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the building is a "major example" of Art Deco architecture and its style is "both symbolic and expressive of the building's function".[108] Architecture writer Carter B. Horsley stated that the building's design was an "unofficial campanile to the church" immediately behind.[109]
+
+Later reviews continued to praise the design. Robert A. M. Stern wrote in his 1987 book New York 1930, "Not only was its base a sophisticated piece of urban infill, but its tower was a jewel in New York's skyscraper crown."[17] The AIA Guide to New York City stated that the building's "Art Deco details at both street and sky are both sumptuous and exuberant."[110] According to Peter Pennoyer, the building was distinctive "not only in its powerful and sculptural massing but also in its colorful and adept combination of the Gothic and Art Deco styles".[24] Architecture professor Andrew Dolkart, referring to the General Electric Building and the Waldorf Astoria, said in 2021 that "The dance between those two great Art Deco buildings was something that people interested in the New York skyline noticed right away".[111]
+
+Landmark designations
+The building's exterior was designated a New York City landmark by the LPC in 1985.[2][112] Although separate "interior landmark" designations existed, the lobby was not designated as a landmark because of opposition from General Electric.[13] 570 Lexington Avenue was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 2004.[1][113] Speaking about the landmark designations of the General Electric Building and the neighboring Waldorf Astoria and St. Bartholomew's Church, Frank Mahan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill said the designations "preserved a unique urban composition with a spiraling upward thrust".[111]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

59_West_12th_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+59 West 12th Street
+
+
+
+59 West 12th Street is a residential building located in the Greenwich Village Historic District[1] in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States.
+
+It was built by the developer brothers Bing & Bing with noted architect Emery Roth[2] whose other work includes The Beresford and The El Dorado.
+
+It was granted a certificate of occupancy on August 7, 1931[3] and houses 101 condominium apartments.
+
+Development
+It was part of a simultaneous development of five buildings in the area.
+
+Bing and Bing also used Roth to design 299 West 12th Street.[4]
+
+They worked with the architectural firm of Boak and Paris on both 302 West 12th Street[5] and 45 Christopher Street.[6]
+
+And they chose to work with architect Robert T. Lyons on 2 Horatio Street.[7]
+
+Rivaling Central Park West
+Leo Bing announced on April 1, 1929 that his firm had quietly acquired 75 small lots and old buildings largely around Abingdon Square, Sheridan Square and Jackson Square Park. And the lots would be combined to allow for a set of larger-scale, 17-story apartment buildings.[8]
+
+He said his goal was to "recreate the entire district as a modern counterpart of the high-class residential section it once was" saying it would "rival Central Park West and the fashionable east side within a few years." He cited the goal of neighborhood reinvention as the reason for the simultaneous building, saying his hope was that "complete transformation of the section may be achieved as quickly as possible."[8]
+
+Despite the start of the Great Depression just months after Leo Bing's announcement, by September 1931, Bing & Bing reported that the "five new buildings on Christopher, Horatio and West Twelfth Streets are proving among the most popular of all the Bing & Bing apartment properties. Callers have been numerous … and a high percentage of the space has been leased."[9]
+
+Notable residents
+Once the home of:
+
+References
+External links

60_Hudson_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+60 Hudson Street
+
+
+
+60 Hudson Street, formerly known as the Western Union Building, is a 24-story telecommunications building in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built in 1928–1930, it was one of several Art Deco-style buildings designed by Ralph Thomas Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker for telecommunications in the early 20th century. 60 Hudson Street spans the entire block between Hudson Street, Thomas Street, Worth Street, and West Broadway.
+
+60 Hudson Street is 371 feet (113 m) tall. Its design shows the influence of Dutch and German Expressionism, with Art Deco detailing. The building's shape features asymmetrical massing and numerous setbacks. The brick facade uses a gradient color scheme with nineteen distinct hues, moving from darker shades to lighter ones as the building rises, and several ornate entrances at ground level lead to a barrel-vaulted brick lobby.
+
+60 Hudson Street was initially the headquarters of Western Union, and its construction was commissioned by Western Union president Newcomb Carlton. The building was described as the world's largest telegraph building upon its opening and served as the combined headquarters for all of Western Union's divisions, which were scattered across New York City prior to the building's completion.  Though Western Union relocated elsewhere in 1973, its former headquarters remain a communications center, and since the late 20th century, has housed a colocation center, making it one of the most important Internet hubs in the world. The exterior and lobby were designated as official New York City landmarks in 1991.
+
+Architecture
+60 Hudson Street is 371 feet (113 m) tall and contains 24 stories.[1][2] It occupies a trapezoidal plot measuring 193 feet (59 m) on Hudson Street to the west, 180 feet (55 m) on West Broadway to the east, 254 feet (77 m) on Thomas Street to the south, and 329 feet (100 m) on Worth Street to the north.[3][4] The Worth and Thomas Street elevations are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the West Broadway elevation. The Hudson Street elevation runs diagonally, intersecting both Worth and Thomas Streets.[5]
+
+The building was designed by Ralph Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker in the Art Deco style.[6][7] 60 Hudson Street was the third Art Deco building in the New York City area that Walker designed, after the Barclay–Vesey Building (1927) and New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building (1929); it was followed by 101 Willoughby Street and 1 Wall Street (1931) and 32 Avenue of the Americas (1932), as well as telephone buildings in Upstate New York.[8] Within the New York City area, McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin designed numerous other buildings for AT&T or its affiliates during the same time span.[9][a] 60 Hudson Street was one of several technologically advanced headquarters erected in the mid-20th century for communications and utility companies in the U.S.[6] Unlike the AT&T buildings, 60 Hudson Street lacks a unified iconography in its ornamentation.[9]
+
+Form
+The massing of 60 Hudson Street includes numerous setbacks.[9] Though setbacks in New York City skyscrapers were mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution in order to allow light and air to reach the streets below, they later became a defining feature of the Art Deco style.[11] 60 Hudson Street's massing mostly uses rectangular shapes in spite of its trapezoid-shaped lot. This may have been a response to architecture critic Lewis Mumford's previous criticism of the Barclay–Vesey Building's[12] transition from a parallelogram shaped base to a right-angled tower, which he regarded as an "annoying defect".[13][14] Walker subsequently wrote that Mumford's criticism made him realize "a building could take its own form regardless of the land below".[12] Accordingly, Walker designed 60 Hudson Street as an intricate set of interlocking slabs.[14]
+
+On the Hudson Street elevation is a two-story screen, behind which rise three rectangular slabs.[12][15] The northern, center, and southern slabs are respectively 15, 21, and 19 stories tall.[16]  By contrast, the West Broadway elevation, which is perpendicular to both Thomas and Worth Streets, is symmetrical, with the top floors behind a central slab.[12] Along the outer sections of the West Broadway elevation, the setbacks are at the 13th, 15th, 19th, and 22nd stories; the center section contains projecting dormers that rise an additional story above the previous setback, except at the 22nd floor.[16] The series of setbacks on Thomas and Worth Streets are largely symmetrical, and are continuations of the setbacks on the outer edges of the West Broadway elevation. There are several projecting dormers along the setbacks near the western (Hudson Street) ends of both elevations.[17]
+
+60 Hudson Street's form was also influenced by its interior use, as it was a "hybrid building" that contained offices along with mechanical equipment. There were numerous functions that did not necessitate sunlight and could operate using artificial light, such as the central operating system and the mechanical space, which was placed inside the building's core. The office space, conversely, was placed on the exterior walls, so 60 Hudson Street did not require light courts that were as extensive as in nearby buildings.[9]
+
+Facade
+A brick facade was used for 60 Hudson Street and for Walker's other communications buildings, since he preferred the material for its texture and its flexibility in color combinations.[9][15] The brick ornamentation on the facade was concentrated around the base, as well as on the parapets on each setback (which were largely removed by the 1990s).[18] The use of brick was likely influenced by Dutch and German Expressionism,[12][19] as well as Walker's preference for "unity and harmony", his dislike of terracotta-on-brick ornamentation, and his observation that stone could change color within a short time.[18][20] The brick was made by the Continental Clay Products Company of Fallston, Pennsylvania, which also made the facade for the David Stott Building in Detroit, Michigan.[21] Walker also designed the facade with a grid of accented vertical piers, contrasting with horizontal spandrels. This emphasized the vertical lines of the building and, when combined with the setbacks, created an appearance of cascades.[9]
+
+The bricks were tinted in various tones of red, arranged in a gradient, inspired by Louis Sullivan's use of "tapestry brick" in different hues. 60 Hudson Street was one of the first structures to use bricks in this manner. According to Walker, this was inspired by Western Union's inclination toward using a distinctive design for the building.[18][20] There are 19 shades of brick used in the building.[14][18][22] Each shade was created by baking the bricks in a kiln run under varying circumstances. The darkest bricks were used in the base, and the bricks on upper stories contained progressively lighter hues;[15][18] the colors of the bricks changed every 29 feet (8.8 m).[2] To create contrasts in the facade, the base also contained some light bricks and the upper stories also had some dark bricks.[15][18] Though the facade mostly used brick in red and yellow hues,[15][18][23] there were also bricks in very dark blue and purple hues.[24][23]
+
+Base
+The base comprises the first two stories. The lowest section of the facade is composed of three courses of pink granite, while the brick facade rises above that.[16] Around the doors and windows, the brickwork is arranged similarly to curtains.[18][22] The base is also divided vertically by stepped brick piers.[22] Most ornamentation is made of brick, though the friezes, window frames, and doorways are made of bronze.[18]
+
+On the Hudson Street elevation, the facade forms a two-story "screen", behind which rise the upper stories. The main entrance archway is in the center of this "screen",[14][16][25] near the intersection with Jay Street.[5][25] It consists of five bronze doors beneath a bronze lintel, as well as a glazed window above the doors, which is subdivided by diagonal muntins. The other archways on Hudson Street include storefronts on the ground level, and curtain-shaped windows with vertical muntins on the second story.[16] A smaller doorway faces the corner of Hudson and Worth Streets, on the northwest side of the plot.[16][25]
+
+The West Broadway elevation is designed similarly to the "screen" on the Hudson Street elevation. There is a centrally positioned entrance with five doors, a bronze lintel, and a glazed window with diagonal muntins. Three storefronts are on either side of the doorway on West Broadway; at the second story, two of these storefronts contain curtain-shaped windows, and the third contains a pair of sash windows set between vertical brick piers.[16] On the Worth Street elevation, there are storefront windows at either end. The central section of the Worth Street elevation contains triple-hung windows, which concealed an auditorium inside.[26] On Thomas Street, there are two storefront windows on the easternmost bays, as well as two double-height loading docks. The remaining bays on Thomas Street contain rectangular windows or ventilation grates, which are set between brick piers.[26]
+
+Upper stories
+The rest of 60 Hudson Street's facade is mostly consistent in design. On Hudson Street, Walker designed the facade with a pattern of wide and narrow piers that alternate. On the other elevations, the piers were largely flat against the rest of the facade, except behind the setbacks at the upper levels, where the piers were more prominent and designed similar to buttresses.[12] At several locations on the north and south elevations, there were windowless bays that concealed stairways behind them.[18] On the Worth Street elevation, the center window openings on the third floor are filled with copper chevron-shaped louvers.[26]
+
+Interior
+When he designed the Barclay-Vesey Building, Walker had believed that it should serve "as a machine which had definite functions to perform for the benefit of its occupants."[27] In a similar manner, 60 Hudson Street was described as "housing the production of the service which this company renders".[9][15] As with his previous commissions, Walker designed the interior in a similar style to the exterior, at a time when many buildings were being designed with modern-styled exteriors and historically-styled interiors. In contrast to the complex stone designs of his previous commissions, the ornamental program at 60 Hudson Street is more subdued and exclusively uses brick.[12] The interior spaces of 60 Hudson Street cover almost 1 million square feet (93,000 m2).[28] When it was built, the structure had a gross floor area of 1,040,478 square feet (96,663.6 m2) and a usable floor area of 729,035 square feet (67,729.6 m2).[2]
+
+Lobby
+The lobby, a 25-foot-wide (7.6 m) west–east corridor between Hudson Street and West Broadway,[29] is usually not accessible to the public.[30] The corridor contains a barrel-vaulted brick ceiling.[25][31] Extending off this corridor are two elevator banks, one on each side, as well as numerous additional doorways to service areas, stairwells, and the storefronts at each of the building's four corners. Also on the south side is a telephone alcove; an entrance to the lobby outside the building's former auditorium; and a passageway to the former cafeteria,[29] Small vestibules separate the main corridor from Hudson Street and West Broadway.[31] On Hudson Street, between the vestibule and the main hall, is a wide entrance hall. This space contains plaster on the upper portions of its walls, as well as an arched ceiling supported by octagonal brick piers.[32]
+
+Unlike most other Art Deco lobbies of the time, which incorporated traditional motifs with modern materials, 60 Hudson Street's lobby largely uses a modern brick design.[33] Three shades of brick were used in the lobby.[2] The lobby is clad largely in brick and tile, though the floors are made of terrazzo tile and the bottoms of the walls are clad with red granite.[29] A Western Union publication described the lobby as the "only all-brick corridor in any office building in America".[33][34] Many elements of the facade were also used in the lobby, such as the brick reliefs and chevrons; curtain-shaped thresholds and doorways; use of bronze trim; and the mailboxes and doors, which are designed in a style reminiscent of the exterior setbacks.[33] The use of interior brick is inspired not only by Sullivan's "brick tapestries" but also by designs of brick halls created by Peter Behrens, Barry Byrne, and Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint.[29]
+
+The tops of the walls contain curved covings, giving the appearance that the walls and ceilings have been blended.[29] The lobby contains bronze and brick furnishings such as lampposts and signage.[31] The lobby is illuminated almost entirely by sconces that provide indirect light.[25]
+
+Other interior spaces
+Next to the lobby, on the corner of Hudson and Thomas Streets, was a cafeteria that could serve 5,000 workers per day.[2] The second floor contained a gymnasium, a library, and a school for the education of messengers.[2][35][36]
+
+Upon the building's completion, Western Union's operating departments and supporting staff occupied 17 floors.[2] The upper floors contained mechanical shops, offices, and equipment rooms.[35][36] The ninth floor included laboratories for the company, and the 24th floor served as a "presidential suite". The eleventh through fifteenth floors were devoted to facilities for Western Union's different modes of communication: simplex printers, multiplex transmitters, marine and stock ticker tapes, Morse code equipment, and telephone equipment. Four additional floors were set aside for the possible future expansion of these facilities.[28][37] This reinforced 60 Hudson Street's role as "the heart of a nerve system of wires and cables reaching to every corner of the nation and the world."[6]
+
+The building featured 70 million feet (21,000,000 m) of cable and 30 miles (48 km) of conduits, as well as a power plant.[6] Pneumatic tubes led from 60 Hudson Street to twenty-five branch offices in Lower and Midtown Manhattan, allowing for the easy transport of pneumatic tube mail in the city.[2][28] Some of these tubes were later repurposed to hold cables for the Internet companies that occupied the building.[38]
+
+History
+Western Union, founded in 1851, became a major provider of telegraph services in the late 19th century. In 1875, it built the Western Union Telegraph Building at 195 Broadway between Dey Street and Fulton Street.[8][39] Western Union was acquired by AT&T in 1909,[10] and the next year, AT&T revealed plans to improve Western Union's offices "for the accommodation of the public and the welfare" of workers.[40] William W. Bosworth was commissioned to design new headquarters on the same site, the present 195 Broadway,[41] which was completed in 1916.[42][43][44] The newer Broadway building came to be mainly associated with AT&T, to the extent that by the 1920s, Western Union did not have a building with which its headquarters was mainly associated.[8] Simultaneously, work proceeded on 24 Walker Street, a shared-operations building erected five blocks north on the current 32 Avenue of the Americas site in 1911–1914.[10]
+
+AT&T, under indictment of the Sherman Act, sold its shares in Western Union in 1913 due to the threat of antitrust action.[45] Under the tenure of Western Union president Newcomb Carlton, the company's operations grew and its equipment was upgraded to modern standards.[6]
+
+Development
+Western Union began land acquisition in September 1924, when the firm bought two seven-story buildings on Hudson Street (one occupied by grocer R. C. Williams & Company), a four-story stable, and a one-story building on Thomas Street. Western Union agreed to lease back R. C. Williams & Company's building to that company for five years.[46][47] The site was close to 24 Walker Street, as well as the company's major clients in Lower Manhattan: the American Stock Exchange at their Trinity Place building, the New York Cotton Exchange, the New York Produce Exchange, and the ticker service on Wall Street.[6][28] That November, Western Union acquired three more buildings, thereby obtaining about 75 percent of the land on the city block bounded by West Broadway and Worth, Hudson, and Thomas Streets.[48][49] Western Union hired intermediaries to negotiate for the remainder of the block so existing property owners would not become suspicious.[50]
+
+Western Union bought two additional five-story buildings at 160 and 166 West Broadway in January 1927, thereby securing much of the block.[51] At this time, the company indicated that it would probably erect a structure of up to 36 stories on the block.[50] Western Union acquired the final site on the block in July 1927.[52] Newcomb Carlton, president of Western Union, announced on October 4, 1927, that the company had completed plans for a 15-story edifice on the block, which he said would be the world's largest telegraph building.[53][54] Carlton estimated that the structure would cost between $6 million and $6.5 million excluding the site.[53] In May 1928, Western Union filed construction plans for the Hudson Street site.[3][4]
+
+Work started on August 21, 1928, at which point the building was to rise 24 stories.[28] At the time of the site's official groundbreaking, the building was expected to be completed in January 1930.[28] The Western Union Building's completion was predicted to raise land values along Worth Street.[55] Excavations started the following month.;[56][57] according to The Wall Street Journal, the building was the first project in New York City where the excavation used a "well-point system of drainage".[57] Construction was to take two years because of the complexities of the project: the building was required to be fireproof and resistant to theft and outside interference,[6] while the cable and conduit systems were supposed to handle 100 million messages yearly.[28] During the building's construction, in April 1929, four workers died after a derrick on the 22nd floor collapsed.[58][59]
+
+Western Union years
+Western Union started moving from 195 Broadway on August 29, 1930.[60][61] At the time, Western Union did not occupy the entire structure; the first floor and mezzanine on Hudson Street were rented out to other companies, as were the fourth to seventh floors.[2] Eventually, the company was expected to occupy the entire building, except for two storefronts at the ground story.[61] On October 5, 1930, the telegraph lines from 24 Walker Street were "cut over" to 60 Hudson Street, with the help of 3,000 men. Telegraph service was maintained throughout the twelve-hour "cut over" period; this was considered a large engineering achievement for the time.[6][62] The first transcontinental telegraph wire from the building was activated two days later.[63] Just before the building's opening, Carlton protested against plans to demolish the adjacent Sixth Avenue elevated railroad in preparation for the construction of nearby subway lines, stating that it would inconvenience Western Union employees;[64][65] the line remained open until 1938.[66]
+
+The Western Union Building was a premier nexus of worldwide communications during the heyday of the telegraph and was called the "Telegraph Capitol of America".[6] When 60 Hudson Street was Western Union's headquarters, equipment for communications was installed on the roof. The equipment was frequently updated to use the most modern technology, making the building desirable to communications companies.[26] In 1948, Western Union sold 60 Hudson Street to a Chicago-based company for $12.5 million, leasing back the structure. The proceeds from the sale would be used to pay back long-term debt and pay for modernization of the company's equipment.[67][68] By late 1971, Western Union had indicated its intention to move corporate offices to New Jersey, although it would retain nearly 3,000 workers at 60 Hudson Street.[69] Western Union moved its headquarters to Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, in 1973 and continued to occupy much of 60 Hudson Street.[26]
+
+Western Union sold its leasehold of the building to 60 Hudson Associates in September 1981 for an estimated $24 million.[70] At the time, The New York Times said the building was one of five in Lower Manhattan where at least 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of continuous vacant space could be rented immediately.[71] Western Union remained in the building until 1983, when a second sublease was made. Afterward, Western Union gradually moved out of its space.[26] The structure began attracting companies who needed space for their back office departments.[72] 60 Hudson Street remained a major telecommunications hub, as the wires of six long-distance communications providers converged under the building.[73]
+
+Internet hub and offices
+After Western Union left, 60 Hudson Street was converted into a colocation center and grew into one of the most important internet hubs in the world.[74] Hundreds of telecommunications companies interconnect their respective internet networks (known as peering) as well as conventional TDM traffic through numerous meet-me rooms and optical and electrical lines placed throughout the building.[75]  Many data center colocation providers are tenants in the building.[76][77] Epsilon Telecommunications, one such company, has built optical and electrical cabling facilities throughout the building since 1997.[78] Various data centers including Epsilon, Digital Realty, and DataBank house internet and telecommunications providers for the purpose of collocating high capacity transport equipment used to terminate traffic both inbound and outbound with each other.[79] By the late 1990s, the building was nearly fully occupied.[80]
+
+The exteriors and ground-floor lobbies of 60 Hudson Street and two other telecommunications buildings were designated city landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1991.[81][35][82][b] After Western Union moved out of 60 Hudson Street, some of the space was occupied by city and state agencies.[83] These included the New York City Department of Buildings, which had an office there by the late 1980s,[84] and the New York City Department of Correction, which moved there in 2002.[85] The city's departments of buildings and correction left 60 Hudson Street in 2010, and the space was subsequently used by internet providers.[86]
+
+There has been some controversy about the usage of 60 Hudson Street as a colocation building. Residents of the surrounding neighborhood complained in 1999 that the cooling structures on the building were too loud. 60 Hudson Street's then-owners, Hudson Telegraph Associates, agreed to mitigate noise coming from the building.[87] In 2006, a New York City panel approved the storage of nearly 2,000 gallons (7,500 liters) of diesel fuel on six floors of the building, part of some 80,000 gallons (300,000 liters) of fuel oil stored in the building. Community opposition had been raised regarding concerns that the presence of the fuel oil posed a fire hazard that could result in a catastrophic failure of the building.[88] 60 Hudson Street underwent some renovations starting in 2015.[89] In early 2022, Cordiant Digital Infrastructure announced that it would acquire the building's owner, DataGryd, whose sole property was 60 Hudson Street.[90]
+
+Critical reception
+The facade served to give emphasis to the building's shape: the 1939 WPA Guide to New York City observed that 60 Hudson Street resembled "a huge red rock projecting out of the city".[91] Stern wrote that 60 Hudson Street's decoration was "rather integral" to the brick facade, as opposed to at the Barclay–Vesey Building, which contained decorative elements and a facade in "contradiction" to each other.[14] Critic Paul T. Frankl stated that designs like that of 60 Hudson Street were effective, comparing them to "brick tapestries hung from the sky".[12][92] Architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern described the interlocking slabs of the massing as fulfilling "Hugh Ferriss's poetic conceit of the tall building as a manmade mountain".[14] Writing for The New York Times in 1982, Paul Goldberger described 60 Hudson Street as "fine Art Deco building [...] which powerfully closes the vista from Duane Park to the north."[93]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links

66_Drive_In.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+66 Drive-In
+
+
+
+66 Drive-In is a historic drive-in theater national historic district located on U.S. Route 66 in Carthage, Jasper County, Missouri. The theater opened on September 22, 1949, four years before the first local television stations signed on in the Joplin-Springfield area.[2][3] In an era before widespread adoption of transistors and before the invention of integrated circuits, car radios were not standard equipment in all vehicles. The few radios installed in vehicles were of vacuum tube design and power-hungry by modern standards. A series of poles in the car park of the nine-acre site were therefore deployed to hold loudspeakers so that viewers could hear the movie.
+
+When television became a rival to cinema in the 1950s, movie studios went to widescreen format to differentiate their product from broadcast TV; the drive-in's screen was widened sometime after 1953 to accommodate the change in format. A playground was added on-site during the baby boom era.
+
+The cinema was closed in 1985, but was renovated and reopened in 1998. It now shows two movies Friday, Saturday, Sunday every week.[4]
+
+The speakers are now gone, although the poles which once supported them remain.[2]
+
+A drive-in movie venue with many strong similarities to the original 66 Drive-In design (such as the original 4:3 screen aspect ratio, pole-mounted speakers and neon signage on the marquée) appears during the epilogue of Pixar's 2006 film Cars. The fictional drive-in is depicted as screening parody versions of other Pixar feature films.
+
+See also
+References
+External links

6th_Avenue_Hotel_Windsor_Hotel.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+6th Avenue Hotel-Windsor Hotel
+
+The 6th Avenue Hotel - Windsor Hotel, now known as the New Windsor Hotel, is the only 19th century hotel which is still in use in the Phoenix, Arizona, original town-site. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
+
+History
+In 1881, Phoenix was incorporated as a city. One of the first of several important events which revolutionized the economy of Phoenix was the establishment of a railroad system in the 1880s. Phoenix thus became the most important trade center in Arizona. In 1888, the city offices were moved into a new City Hall, at Washington Street and Central Avenue and in 1889, the territorial capital was moved from the town of Prescott to Phoenix.[2] When the territorial capital was moved from Prescott to Phoenix in 1889 the temporary territorial offices were also located in City Hall.
+
+The need for the establishment of hotels and living quarters was apparent. In 1893, Phoenix pioneer and businessman A.D. Walsh had a hotel erected on the corner of what is now known as 6th Avenue and Adams Street and named it the 6th Avenue Hotel. The proper address of the building, which originally was a two-story brick Victorian styled structure, is 546 W. Adams Street.[3][4]
+
+In 1925, the hotel was renamed the Windsor Hotel. In the 1930s the Windsor went through a remodeling process in which a third story was added. The third story brick structure has a stucco facade on the south and west walls. A front brick addition with casement windows mixed the Victorian architecture with a modern facade. In the 1950s, it was finally renamed the "New" Windsor Hotel.[3][4]
+
+No longer used as a hotel, it is now a low cost haven for the elderly poor in downtown Phoenix.[4]
+
+National Register of Historic Places
+The Windsor Hotel was added to National Register of Historic Places on September 4, 1985, and its reference number is 85002041. It is listed as the "6th Avenue Hotel-Windsor Hotel" also known as "47-9' According to the NRHP, the period of significance was 1875–1899.[5]
+
+Gallery
+See also
+Other historic Phoenix structures in Phoenix
+
+References
+External links

70_Pine_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+70 Pine Street
+
+
+
+70 Pine Street (formerly known as the 60 Wall Tower, Cities Service Building, and American International Building) is a 67-story, 952-foot (290 m) residential building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Built from 1930 to 1932 by energy conglomerate Cities Service Company (later Citgo), the building was designed by the firm of Clinton & Russell, Holton & George in the Art Deco style. It was Lower Manhattan's tallest building and the world's third-tallest building upon its completion.
+
+70 Pine Street occupies a trapezoidal lot on Pearl Street between Pine and Cedar Streets. It features a brick, limestone, and gneiss facade with numerous setbacks. The building contains an extensive program of ornamentation, including the Cities Service Company's triangular logo and solar motifs. The interior features included escalators at the base and double-deck elevators linking the tower's floors. A three-story penthouse, intended for Cities Service's founder Henry Latham Doherty, was instead used as a public observatory.
+
+70 Pine Street's construction was funded through a public offering of stock, rather than a mortgage loan. Despite having been built during the Great Depression, the building was profitable enough that it broke even by 1936, and 90 percent of its space was occupied five years later. The American International Group (AIG) bought the building in 1976, and it was acquired by another firm in 2009 after AIG went bankrupt. The building and its first floor interior were designated as official New York City landmarks in June 2011. In 2016, the building became a luxury rental residential property.
+
+Site
+70 Pine Street is in the Financial District of Manhattan, on a plot bounded by Pine Street to the south, Pearl Street to the east, and Cedar Street to the north.[3] The roughly trapezoidal[4] site covers 32,000 square feet (3,000 m2), measuring 247 feet (75 m) on Pine and Cedar Streets by 116 feet (35 m) on Pearl Street.[5] The terrain slopes downward to the east, toward Pearl Street, so that there is an upper lobby (accessed from Pine Street) and a lower lobby (accessed from Pearl Street).[4][6] Neighboring buildings include 56 Pine Street and the Down Town Association building to the northwest; 90–94 Maiden Lane to the north; 48 Wall Street to the southwest; and 60 Wall Street to the south.[3]
+
+Architecture
+70 Pine Street is a 67-story building rising 952 feet (290 m).[1][7][8] The roof is 850 feet (260 m) tall[9][2] while the top story is 800 feet (240 m) high.[2] Like its contemporaries, 70 Pine Street has a Gothic-like spire-topped appearance.[10] The architectural firm Clinton & Russell, Holton & George designed 70 Pine Street in the Art Deco style;[11][12] the structure was the last large commission by these architects.[13][14] Of that firm's principals, Thomas J. George was likely the most involved with the design.[11][14] James Stewart & Company was the general contractor,[15][16] Taylor Fichter Steel Construction was the structural engineer,[2] and John M. Parrish was the project's general superintendent.[15][17]
+
+The building was constructed as part of an ongoing skyscraper race in New York City,[18] which resulted in the city having the world's tallest building from 1908 to 1974.[19] When completed, 70 Pine Street was the third-tallest building in the world, after the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building in Midtown Manhattan.[10][20][21] The building exceeded 40 Wall Street, the Manhattan Company's building, by 25 feet (7.6 m) to be Lower Manhattan's tallest building.[20] It was the last skyscraper to be built in Lower Manhattan prior to World War II, and was the tallest building in Lower Manhattan until the 1970s, when the World Trade Center was completed. With the collapse of the World Trade Center in the September 11 attacks, it regained the status of the tallest Lower Manhattan building until the completion of the new One World Trade Center in 2014.[2]
+
+Form
+70 Pine Street contains numerous setbacks on its exterior.[14][20][22] Though setbacks in New York City skyscrapers were mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution in order to allow light and air to reach the streets below, they later became a defining feature of the Art Deco style.[23] To maximize rentable space while also complying with the 1916 Zoning Resolution, the setbacks are placed at regular intervals, forming a diagonal line.[4] The setbacks on the northern and southern elevations, and those on the western and eastern elevations, alternate with each other.[24]
+
+The building's 11th through 31st floors gradually step back from the base.[25] The building's shaft begins above the 32nd floor and rises to the 54th or 56th floor, where the corners of the shaft taper off.[14][26] The intermediate levels contain smaller setbacks, which were used as private terraces for the offices on the respective floors.[14][27][28] There were multiple setbacks on each side, so the upper floors contained up to 20 sides.[22] The top stories are one-fourth the size of the lowest stories.[14]
+
+Above the 67th-floor observation deck is the building's spire, composed of a glass lantern rising 27 feet (8.2 m), topped by a stainless steel pinnacle extending another 97 feet (30 m).[14][29] The spire rises 124 feet (38 m) and weighs 8 short tons (7.1 long tons; 7.3 t).[30] The author Dirk Stichweh characterized the spire as giving the impression of a mountain peak covered with snow.[9] The spire had a beacon, which was described as being "visible for 200 miles at sea and inland",[14][31] though in reality the beacon could only be seen from 20 miles (32 km) away.[32] W. Parker Chase, writing in 1932, characterized the spire as being "almost sensational in its 'differentness'".[22][33]
+
+Facade
+The entrance portals and lower-story windows are lavishly decorated.[32][34] The lower stories of the facade are covered with Indiana Limestone,[34][35][36] placed above a water table of Minnesota granite.[36] Red-and-black Morton gneiss wraps the ground floor.[37] The upper stories are clad with four shades of buff-colored brick, which darken toward the building's peak.[34][36] Each setback is surrounded by a parapet with a limestone coping.[36] An extensive lighting system highlighted the building's features at night, consisting of 400-watt lamps.[38] The presence of the lamps was influenced by Cities Service's role as an energy provider.[34][38] An early publicist for 70 Pine Street said that Cities Service founder Henry Latham Doherty was personally involved in the structure's design, and that "he insisted on dignity with beauty, to the absolute avoidance of the garish, the flamboyant, and the over colorful."[39] Doherty wanted the building to appear "exclusive, rich, yet simple and even alittle severe".[36]
+
+70 Pine Street was one of the first buildings to use aluminum extensively on its facade.[35] Cliff Parkhurst[a] of the Parkhurst Organization designed the aluminum ornamentation of 70 Pine Street. These ornamental features include reliefs above each set of entrance doors; spandrels with sharp arrises above the lower-story windows; and a ventilation grille on Cedar Street.[32][15][40] The reliefs above the doors are designed with motifs of butterflies and sunflowers, which appear as an abstract pattern from a distance.[32] In addition, there were 6,000 windows, ten million bricks, 9,000 cubic feet (250 m3) of marble, and 24,000 short tons (21,000 long tons; 22,000 t) of steel used in 70 Pine Street's construction.[27][41] The black and pink marble in the building was transported from Minnesota and Tennessee.[35]
+
+Entrances
+The building has five entrances in total.[42][43] Four primary entrances, two on Pine Street and two on Cedar Street, which all lead to the main lobby. Another entrance on Pearl Street, which was formerly located under the Third Avenue elevated line, is more simply designed and leads to a lobby in the lower level.[20][42] All of these streets are narrower than the typical street in Manhattan: Pine Street is 25 feet (7.6 m) wide while Cedar Street is 35 feet (11 m) wide.[44] Because of the slope of the terrain, the western entrances are at the same level at the street, and the eastern entrances are accessed by short flights of steps rising from the street.[42] All four entrances are designed with Art Deco patterns.[36]
+
+The eastern entrances on Pine and Cedar Streets are near the centers of these elevations; they consist of large four-story portals with stepped arches. Both arches are divided by a limestone pillar that contains a freestanding limestone relief of 70 Pine Street.[36][45][46] These pillars, each 14 feet (4.3 m), may have been designed by Rene Paul Chambellan and were fairly accurate in their detailing.[46][b] Architectural critic Robert A. M. Stern wrote that 70 Pine Street's reliefs "surveyed the crowds of workers as a carved Madonna would bless the pilgrims of a Gothic cathedral."[22] There were three metal doors to either side of the pillars.[46] Above the doors were four tiers of sash windows; the lowest such tier was originally composed of glass louvers, which reduced wind pressure when the doors were being opened, but these were later replaced with glass panes.[15] Along the interior reveals of both portal arches are reliefs containing the triangular logo of Cities Service.[45][46] Inside each entrance were staircases leading to the upper and lower lobbies.[46]
+
+The western entrances on Pine and Cedar Streets are located near the western end of the building and are two stories tall. Each portal contains two sets of revolving doors.[46]
+
+Interior
+At the time of 70 Pine Street's construction, developers had to consider skyscrapers' profitability in conjunction with height. 70 Pine Street was designed to accommodate between 7,000 and 8,000 employees, more than nearly every other skyscraper at the time. The interior spaces were thus designed with high capacity in mind.[18][47][48] The building contains 864,988 sq ft (80,360.0 m2) of interior space.[49] When it opened, there was 1,045,000 square feet (97,100 m2) of gross floor area, of which 680,000 square feet (63,000 m2) was available for lease.[41][50] Offices were arranged in a "U" shape,[51] wrapping around the mechanical core on the north, east, and south.[52] The northern and southern elevations of the facade are staggered because of the setbacks, maximizing natural light in each office.[52]
+
+Lobby
+The first-floor lobby is designed in the Art Deco style and are arranged into six hallways.[18][53] Two of the hallways are 110 feet (34 m) long, traveling north to south between the pairs of entrances on Pine and Cedar Streets, while three other hallways are 140 feet (43 m) long and travel west to east; there is also a wide central hall. The passages are 10 to 20 feet (3.0 to 6.1 m) wide, with the widest section of the lobby near Pine Street, where there is an information booth. The lobby is oriented slightly west, away from the elevated lines that formerly overshadowed Pearl Street, so that the westerly entrances could be located at ground level and so that the sky bridge to 60 Wall Street would be possible.[18] The layout of the lobby allowed visitors to pass from Pine to Cedar Street.[54]
+
+Inside each entrance were retail spaces that faced the first-floor lobby.[42][54] Four storefronts were located on the southern portion of the lobby.[18] Until the early 2000s, these retail spaces contained such stores as "a drugstore, a bookstore, a tobacconist and a telegraph office".[55] There are stairs on the southern portion of the lobby near Pine Street, as well as at the eastern portion near Pearl Street; these stairs ascend to the second floor and descend to the basement lobby.[56] There were also escalators between every level from the basement to the sixth floor, near the western entrance on Pine Street.[22][56]
+
+The basement lobby is a simpler version of the first-floor lobby, serving mainly as a boarding area for the lower decks of 70 Pine Street's former double-deck elevators.[18] The upper decks of these elevators were served from the main lobby;[18][45] the elevators are arranged along the central hall and the northernmost west–east corridor.[53] The elevator doors are designed with Native American motifs, such as zigzags and sunbursts, as well as Cities Service's logo. The elevator frames themselves contain stepped arches.[57] One critic said the use of separate elevator lobbies would "cut the possibility of elevator flirtations exactly in half".[45]
+
+The lobby is decorated with marble walls, plaster ceilings, and aluminum grilles.[34][45] Despite Doherty's desire for "dignity with beauty", the lobby is highly ornamented with multicolored marbles from Europe,[22][34][39] including Roman and golden travertine, Belgian Black, Belgian Grand Antique, Champville, Levanto, and Tinos marbles.[58] Most of the wall area is composed of yellow marble, divided by vertical piers of dark-red marble. The floors are composed of panels of white and pink marble, arranged as in a checkerboard. The ceiling is made of plaster and is supported by large jagged corbels. It is mostly painted white, except for colored bands of relief, which emanate from elements such as the lighting fixtures.[34][59]  Cliff Parkhurst furnished the elaborate metalwork in the lobby.[34] A writer for The New York Times compared the building's lobby to "something Bernini would have designed if he’d lived to see the Jazz Age".[60]
+
+Other interior spaces
+The basement contained a bank vault with the most advanced security systems available during that era.[27] The basement also included a 400-seat eatery known as the Tower Restaurant, as well as other businesses such as a barber shop, beautician, chiropodist, florist, manicurist, hat cleaner–shoe shiner, sandwich shop, and photostat store.[47] The fourth floor contained a clinic for people who worked in the building.[61] One tenant, boxer Artie McGovern, operated an athletic club on the seventh floor, which was reportedly visited by over a thousand men daily and included a gymnasium, handball and squash courts, ping-pong tables, and golf facilities.[47][62]  On the 29th floor, there was a library filled with law books and documents, which was made available only to tenants.[47][50][63] This library had 16,000 volumes and was staffed by a librarian with a bar certification.[47]
+
+Just below the observatory was a conference room with leather paneling.[64] The 62nd through 64th floors contained Cities Service's executive offices, which also had exterior terraces.[65] Doherty's office on the 61st floor was decorated in light colors and was designed to resemble a living room, with couches, chairs, small tables, and other furniture.[66] Cities Service's oval-shaped boardroom occupied almost the entire 64th floor and had leather paneling and high ceilings.[67]
+
+As of 2020[update], the skyscraper has several amenities, including an Elite fitness center by New York Sports Club on the lower level, a food market, and several lounges.[68] Since its 2015–2016 conversion, 70 Pine Street includes 612 residential apartments.[69] The residences are arranged as studio apartments or one- or two-bedroom units, and are generally outfitted with wooden floors.[70] Another 132 units are run as hotel rooms by Lyric, a startup company funded by Airbnb.[71] Retail tenants include a gourmet market and a high-end restaurant in the lobby.[72] The building also contains a fitness and recreation center, including a screening room, bowling alley, indoor golf facility, and a game room in the former bank vault in the basement.[70][73]
+
+Observation deck
+The top three floors were originally slated to contain Doherty's private penthouse apartment.[6][32][74] The suite contained a gym and a squash court. Doherty's bed was designed on a motorized platform that could slide out onto the terrace.[6] Doherty ultimately never lived in the space.[21][74][75]
+
+In July 1932, the private suite opened to the public as an observation deck,[21][76] which comprised an open-air platform with a 23-by-33-foot (7.0 by 10.1 m) enclosed glass solarium on the 66th floor.[8][77] The deck operated from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day and charged 50 cents for admission, although tenants and Cities Services employees received a 50-percent discount.[78] It was served by a five-passenger elevator that rose through the floor slab and then retracted.[64][78] The glass solarium contained doors at each of the corners, which were chamfered, as well as on the north and south sides; these doors led to one of six terraces with slate tiles.[79] Decorations from France, Italy, and Spain were used in the observation deck.[35] The deck charged 40 cents for admission in 1939; by comparison, the deck at the Empire State Building cost $1.10 to enter.[80]
+
+During World War II, the attraction was closed to the public because it overlooked the nearby Brooklyn Navy Yard, an active military installation.[75] Until the 1973 construction of the World Trade Center, it was the highest observation deck of any building in Lower Manhattan.[8]  The deck was permanently closed to the public before 1975.[81] Afterward, it was used as a private office for AIG's employees.[35] In 2019, as part of the building's 2010s conversion into residential apartments, James Kent and Jeff Katz turned the top four stories into the fine-dining restaurant SAGA,[82] and on the ground floor Crown Shy, a 120-seat eatery. Crown Shy is an à la carte eatery, where dishes are ordered individually.[72][83]
+
+Mechanical features
+Elevators
+There are 24 elevators in total,[2][c] with six banks of four elevators each in the first-floor lobby.[18] There were eight double-deck elevators, which served alternating floors; six "express" elevators, which ran nonstop from the lobby to serve the upper floors; eight "local" elevators, which served the lower floors; and two freight elevators, which served all floors.[41] All of the elevators were able to serve approximately 10,000 people every hour.[41][84] In an emergency, it was estimated that the elevators, along with the escalators serving the lower floors, would be able to clear the building in 35 minutes.[56] The elevator doors in the main lobby are ornately designed, resembling those at the Fred F. French Building, 608 Fifth Avenue, and the Chrysler Building. Each elevator door is a double-leaf door made of aluminum, with diamond and trefoil patterns, which were cast in one piece.[40] The elevator doors in the lobbies contain octagonal relief panels sculpted by Chambellan. These reliefs alternately show a woman with an oil lamp and a man with an electric turbine.[55][85]
+
+Because of 70 Pine Street's small lot size, and the setbacks that make the upper floors even smaller, it would have been unprofitable under normal building practices if it were taller than 48 stories.[4][6][9] Engineers from Otis Elevator Company told Doherty that double-deck elevators could solve the problem.[6][22][86] As such, the company manufactured eight double-deck elevators,[87][88][89] marking the first installation of Otis double-deck elevators.[35] The double-deck elevators operated as express elevators, serving the 29th through 60th floors;[90] another separate, single-deck elevator served the top six floors.[6] The lower deck of each elevator served odd-numbered floors, while the upper deck served even-numbered floors.[89][91] The Cedar Street portion of the first-floor lobby contained elevator banks that only served the building's lower floors, while the Pine Street portion contained elevators that served higher floors.[56] During off-peak hours, only the upper deck of each double-deck elevator was used.[6][90]
+
+The Real Estate Record and Guide stated that the double-deck elevators, long anticipated by developers, were "permitted by special provision in the new elevator code".[14] Compared to 11 or 14 standard elevators, the double-deck elevators reportedly saved $200,000 in construction costs and made available an additional 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2),[d] at a time when office space could be rented at an average rate of $3.50 per square foot ($37.7/m2) per year.[6][87][89] Columnist Sam Love disagreed, saying that "the odds and the evens in the Cities Service Building will never see each other although they are the nearest neighbors", referring to the floor numbers.[92] The double-deck elevators were removed in 1972 and replaced with single-story cabs.[6][18][88][90] The double-deck elevators had reportedly been unpopular because the lower lobby entrance was not completed, and a proposed subway entrance was not opened.[93] The Citigroup Center adopted the same idea in the 1970s, becoming possibly the first building in New York City after 70 Pine Street to have double-deck elevators.[94]
+
+Other features
+At the 16th floor, a sky bridge connected 70 Pine Street with 60 Wall Street.[20][21][95] There was another connection, a tunnel, between the two buildings.[80] The connections enabled 70 Pine Street to initially claim a Wall Street address, which was perceived as more distinguished than a regular address in the Financial District.[21][35][95] The bridge was destroyed in 1975 when the original 60 Wall Street building was demolished to make way for the current, larger building. At the time, it was one of a few sky bridges in the city.[96][e] In 1979, a replacement bridge was built, connecting the sixth and seventh floors of 70 Pine Street to the seventh and eighth floors of 72 Wall Street.[62]
+
+When it opened, 70 Pine Street featured escalators between its first through sixth floors; the escalators operated in the peak direction, running upstairs in the morning and downstairs in the afternoon. The escalators reportedly enabled everyone on the basement through sixth floors to evacuate within 10 minutes.[62][98][99] At the time of 70 Pine Street's completion, these stories housed Cities Service's clerical staff, and studies had shown that escalators occupied less space than elevators between these stories.[56][100] This was one of the first uses of escalators in a major office building.[90][62] Though the Empire State Building had also included escalators between its lobby and mezzanine, 70 Pine Street was modeled on the layout of a department store, the first office building in New York City to be designed in this manner.[56] These escalators were hidden behind a false marble wall.[56]
+
+70 Pine Street also included a hot-water heating system, which replaced the standard boiler systems used in many contemporary skyscrapers.[27][98] High-velocity pumps propelled water to radiators beneath the windows in each office. Each radiator contained movable louvers that could control the heat in each office.[101] During the winter, a system of chilled water pipes cooled the lowest six stories.[101] The building also had a "unit ventilating system", which occupied spaces over the radiators and inside the walls, providing ventilation without any dust or noise.[27][98] Above each radiator were fans, which drew in air from either indoors or outdoors; filtered and warmed the air; and distributed the warm air throughout each office using ceiling ducts.[102] This eliminated the need for fan rooms, which typically occupied large amounts of space,[102] and also allowed tenants to close their windows during the summer, particularly before air conditioning became popular.[103] Cities Service installed the unit-ventilating system on the lower part of the building above the fifth floor, and tenants on the upper stories could also install the system in their own office.[104]
+
+History
+Henry Latham Doherty became successful by operating numerous companies in the manufactured-gas and electric utility sectors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[105][106] He formed the Cities Service Company as a "light, heat, and power" firm in 1910,[107] and Doherty's business interests grew extensively in subsequent years.[100][108][109] At the time, his main offices were located at 60 Wall Street (built 1905 and demolished 1975), which he had occupied since 1906, and was located just south of the present building site.[110] This structure measured 15 stories high at its front, on Wall Street, and 27 stories high at its rear, on Pine Street.[4]
+
+Development
+Planning
+Doherty, who already owned several Lower Manhattan properties, purchased 60 Wall Street in December 1924 with the aim of expanding the structure.[111] Thomas J. George of Clinton & Russell presented plans in March 1927 for a modern slab-like structure on Wall Street. That October, George modified the plans, which now called for a 60-story structure shaped like a turret.[4] Doherty formed the Pine Street Realty Company in January 1929,[112] having failed to develop "a great business centre" near Battery Park.[111][113] The firm of Clinton & Russell were retained as architects and proposed two plans for the site: a simple slab rising from the ground and a Gothic Revival design rising 60 floors.[111] The New York City Department of Buildings rejected the proposed structure on Wall Street.[4][111][32]
+
+The Pine Street Realty Company then started buying land across Pine Street. The site was in the core of the Financial District, near the Third Avenue elevated line, and was surrounded by shorter buildings.[111][114] The company bought twelve buildings in January 1929, forming a plot with 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2).[115][116] Another five plots were acquired via lease in November 1929, and the Cities Service Company was in negotiations to acquire the Down Town Association building as well. At the time, the company planned to build between 25 and 50 stories.[117] Two more lots were leased in July 1930.[118] In total, the Pine Street Realty Company acquired 23 lots, which all contained low-rise three- to five-story masonry buildings, at a total cost of $2 million, relatively cheap for the time.[5][119] The economist W. C. Clark investigated the planned Cities Service Building's design and, in October 1929, spoke about his findings at the Engineers' Club. He found that taller buildings on small lots could be profitable, provided that these included double-deck elevators due to the lot's small size.[120] As a result, the proposed Cities Service Building was most economically viable as a 63-story building.[14]
+
+Clinton & Russell, under the leadership of Thomas George, designed the new building in the Art Deco style. This contrasted with the firm's earlier works, which were largely designed in the classical style; the original partners had died before 70 Pine Street was constructed.[32] Doherty submitted the building's architectural plans to the Department of Buildings in May 1930. The structure was slated to have 63 stories, including double-decker elevators due to the lot's small size, and it would cost $7 million.[121][122] It was one of several buildings that Doherty planned to erect in Lower Manhattan,[122] though none of the other projects were realized because of a lack of funding following the Great Depression.[5] After the building plans were submitted, the height was increased to 66 stories, and a spire was added, increasing the total height to 950 feet (290 m)[14] or 952 feet (290 m).[108] The Cities Service Building thus beat the 927-foot (283 m) 40 Wall Street to become the tallest building in Manhattan south of 34th Street.[14] August H. Fromm oversaw the building's planning and construction.[123]
+
+Construction
+Construction started in May 1930 and continued for 24 months.[124] Demolition of existing buildings and site excavation began almost immediately after the building plans were submitted.[5] The western portion of the site was the first to be cleared.[125] Some 100,000 short tons (89,000 long tons; 91,000 t) of soil were removed from the site, which was excavated to as deep as 60 feet (18 m).[125][126] The foundation took 245,000 worker-hours to complete;[41] it is composed of 49 piers, which are arranged in four rows and descend 24 feet (7.3 m) to the underlying bedrock.[127] Work was complicated by the presence of a holdout tenant, Nik Coutroulas, a cafeteria operator who held a lease on one of the existing buildings and also operated a Lindy's franchise.[128][129] Doherty's company could not reach a lease agreement with Coutroulas prior to the start of work.[128] Coutrolas's building was demolished anyway and he sued Doherty for damages, eventually receiving a $5,000 compensation.[130]
+
+Construction was funded using a then-unconventional method of public offering. Henry L. Doherty & Co. sold $15.7 million of interest-free shares, described at the time as "financially unique among large New York office buildings".[5][131] The company operated local branch offices in several cities, each of which had to raise a certain amount of money before October 1930. Each office had to meet a different quota: the Spokane, Washington, office had to raise $91,500, while the New York City office was required to raise $3 million.[131] This avoided the need for the building's owners to take out a mortgage loan.[132][133]
+
+The project involved large amounts of materials, including 10 million bricks, 23.5 million pounds (10.7 kt) of cement, and 24,000 short tons (21,000 long tons; 22,000 t) of steel.[126][134] The steel structure was built at an average rate of three floors per week.[15][98] The New York Times reported in April 1931 that the steel had been erected to the 27th floor.[135] By mid-1931, steel frame construction had reached the 59th floor, while the facade had been built up to the 50th floor. At the time, 70 Pine Street's construction employed 600 workers, and the structure had no official name.[20][27] To date, workers had been on the project for 119,000 hours without any major accidents.[27][41] The spire was installed in October 1931.[30] The sky bridge between 70 Pine Street and 60 Wall Street was completed in February 1932, at which point the building at 70 Pine Street became known as the 60 Wall Tower.[21]
+
+Cities Service ownership
+By early 1932, the 60 Wall Tower was completed.[136] The city's Department of Buildings gave the building a temporary occupancy certificate in March 1932, followed by a permanent certificate that August.[21] The building was dedicated on May 13, 1932, Doherty's 62nd birthday.[137] The event celebrated Doherty's reinstatement as executive of Cities Service after he had taken a six-year hiatus from the position due to health problems.[138][139] It included a luncheon attended by 200 businessmen; the dedication of Doherty's bronze bust; the spire's floodlighting; and a radio announcement that Doherty made from the spire using then-new "moonbeam" technology.[21][138][140] Cities Service also issued a pamphlet to advertise its new building.[141]
+
+Tenants had started moving into 70 Pine Street prior to its official dedication.[125] Upon opening, the second through seventeenth floors were occupied by about 3,000 employees of Cities Service.[62] The remaining floors were leased to a large range of tenants, including manufacturers, lawyers, accountants, and the Western Union Telegraph Company.[98] At the time of the building's opening, its tenants included 31 law firms, 21 investment firms, eight insurance companies, and 18 companies in other industries.[142] Most tenants on the upper floors were lawyers, who took advantage of the 29th-floor law library.[47][50][62] The second and third floors were also occupied by the Emergency Unemployment Relief Committee.[143] Additionally, more than 200 people worked for the building itself under the supervision of building manager Edgar J. Smith.[144] These included an all-female staff of elevator operators, most of whom were redheads "recruited largely from the ranks of unemployed showgirls".[145]
+
+The building was reportedly two-thirds rented by 1933, but it did not reach 90 percent occupancy until 1941.[62] Later tenants included the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which took space in 70 Pine Street in 1941.[146] The radio station WGYN also established its studios and transmitter at 70 Pine Street when it was founded in December 1941,[147] and WGYN continued to broadcast from there until May 1950.[148] Cities Service refinanced the building with a $5.3 million, 20-year mortgage loan in March 1950.[149][150]
+
+One portion of 70 Pine Street was separately owned from the rest of the building and could be physically separated if necessary. This section, covering 10,000 square feet (930 m2), was owned by the estate of aviator Cortlandt F. Bishop and leased to a wholly owned subsidiary of the Cities Service Company, Sixty Wall Tower Inc. In June 1950, the land under the building was placed for auction by the New York Trust Company on behalf of Bishop's estate.[151] After World War II, Cities Service downsized its Manhattan staff and leased out several lower floors.[62] Merrill was one such tenant, leasing ten floors in a 1957 transaction,[152] and ultimately moving 3,400 of its 8,600 employees to 70 Pine Street by 1965.[153] Though Cities Service became known as Citgo in 1965, the building retained the "Cities Service Building" name.[62][154]
+
+AIG ownership
+Citgo announced in November 1973 that it would move its executive headquarters to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and sell off 70 Pine Street and several other buildings in Manhattan.[155][156] The move would affect about 250 personnel at 70 Pine Street.[62][157] Citgo subsequently moved to Tulsa in 1975.[96] The following year, the building was purchased for $15 million by the American International Group (AIG),[158][159] which wanted to double the amount of space available for its 500 New York City employees.[160] 70 Pine Street was renamed the American International Building, and AIG workers moved into the structure over the next two years. AIG occupied the lowest 26 stories and leased out 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) to other companies, such as law firms, securities firms, and brokerages.[161]
+
+Under AIG's ownership, the lobby was renovated,[62][162] as was the observation deck, which became a private office.[162] The sky bridge to Wall Street was demolished in 1975 when the previous building at 60 Wall Street was razed.[62][96] By the 1990s, the building's tenants also included the Starr Foundation, which had been established by AIG founder Cornelius Vander Starr and paid no rent for its offices.[163] AIG bought the nearby 175 Water Street in 1995 but kept its headquarters at 70 Pine Street.[164] AIG refurbished the building's elevators in the late 1990s.[6][165] Restoration architect HLW International used blueprints from Otis, the original elevators' manufacturer, to redesign the single-deck elevator cabs in the style of the original double-deck cabs.[165]
+
+70 Pine Street continued as AIG's world headquarters until the financial crisis of 2007–08, when the company went bankrupt and received a bailout from the U.S. government.[166] To repay the federal government, AIG decided to sell its buildings and other assets in March 2009.[167] AIG announced in June 2009 that it had reached an agreement to sell the building[168][169] and to relocate.[166][170] The building was acquired by developer Youngwoo & Associates and the Kumho Investment Bank,[171][172] which spent a combined $150 million on 70 Pine Street and 72 Wall Street.[170][173] This amounted to $100 per square foot ($1,100/m2), about 80 percent less than what AIG could have received for the building before the 2000s financial crisis, according to Crain's New York Business.[174]
+
+Residential and hotel conversion
+Youngwoo initially planned to renovate 70 Pine Street's upper stories into condominiums, which would be sold for $2,000 per square foot ($22,000/m2).[175][176]  The lower floors were to be rented to office tenants for $33 to $35 per square foot ($360 to $380/m2), a 25 to 30 percent decline from asking rates before the late-2000s recession.[173] Because of an oversupply of office space in Lower Manhattan, few companies were willing to lease the 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) of vacant office space at 70 Pine Street.[177] Furthermore, a decline in demand for luxury condominiums in Manhattan, spurred by the late-2000s recession, prompted Youngwoo to cancel its condo-conversion plan. Kumho Investment Bank then hired Sciame Development to take over the project in 2011.[178] That June, Kumho agreed to sell the building to MetroLoft Management.[179][180] This prompted Sciame to sue Kumho for breach of contract.[178]
+
+MetroLoft finalized its acquisition in January 2012,[181] with plans to turn 70 Pine Street into an apartment building or a combined hotel/apartment complex with about 1,000 total units.[182][183] MetroLoft sold 70 Pine Street to Rose Associates later that year.[184][185] Rose and DTH Capital transformed 70 Pine Street into a mixed-use building featuring luxury rental apartments and a variety of retail and restaurants starting in 2015.[186] Leasing of the residential units started in December 2015.[187] The renovation was completed the next year,[188][189] with leasing beginning in February 2016.[190] DTH and Rose obtained $375 million in financing from a syndicate led by Brookfield Properties in May 2017.[191][192] This was replaced in 2019 with a $386 million mortgage loan from Goldman Sachs.[193][194]
+
+Unlike the top floors of other converted residential buildings, which were generally turned into penthouse apartments, Rose decided to add amenities to the top floors of 70 Pine Street.[195] Space in 70 Pine Street's lobby and upper floors was originally set to contain restaurants by April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman, who withdrew from the project in July 2016.[196] Ultimately, the upper-floor restaurant spaces hosted James Kent and Jeff Katz's restaurant Crown Shy, which opened in 2019.[72] Mint House opened a 132-unit hotel for business travelers inside the building in November 2020.[197][198] The Overstory bar opened on the 64th floor in August 2021,[199] and the Saga restaurant opened atop the building later that year.[200][201]
+
+Critical reception and landmark designations
+The completed building attracted attention from figures such as the photographer Weegee, who in 1946 took many photographs of the building's tenants and services. According to author Daniel Abramson, Weegee "was fascinated by this city within a city, its swift transportation, its towering height and subterranean depth, its busy thousands of tenants and visitors, and the unobtrusive, night-and-day efficiency of its service staff".[47] The skyscraper was featured in pictures of Lower Manhattan, such as A New York Canyon, a 1932 image by W. K. Oltar-Jevsky.[202] Other photographs, depicting seaplanes and blimps flying over 70 Pine Street, reinforced the building's association with the Jazz Age.[203]
+
+In 1981, architectural critic Paul Goldberger described 70 Pine Street, 1 Wall Street, and several buildings on nearby John Street as "an echo of the jazz age life".[204][205] Goldberger wrote of the building's spire in 1983: "The lighting is simple and elegant. A lovely translucent glass crown forms the top of the Art Deco setback spire, and at night it glows softly in the midst of the somber financial district."[206] Another Times critic wrote in 2005 that the lobby was "a paradigm of Art Deco style: sunburst ceilings, filigreed radiator grilles, marble floors in black and earth tones, and elevator doors emblazoned with zigzags and Aztec-like figures."[207] The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) considered designating 70 Pine Street's exterior and its first-floor interior as city landmarks in March 2011,[208] and the building was designated as such on June 21, 2011.[209][210] When 70 Pine Street became a New York City landmark, The New York Times wrote: "With its tiered glass lantern and stainless steel spire, it is an icon of the Lower Manhattan skyline."[209]
+
+Incidents
+In 1976, two thousand tenants were evacuated after a fire broke out on the eighth floor, causing several minor injuries.[211] In November 2016, Justin Casquejo, a thrill-seeking teenage free solo climber and stunt performer, hung from 70 Pine Street. He was charged with misdemeanor base jumping and trespassing for climbing on the tower.[212]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+Citations
+Sources
+External links
+

834_Fifth_Avenue.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+834 Fifth Avenue
+
+
+
+834 Fifth Avenue is a luxury residential housing cooperative in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City.[2] It is located on Fifth Avenue at the corner of East 64th Street opposite the Central Park Zoo. The limestone-clad building was designed by Rosario Candela, a prolific designer of luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan during the period between World War I and World War II.[3][4] 834 Fifth Avenue is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious apartment houses in New York City.  It has been called "the most pedigreed building on the snobbiest street in the country’s most real estate-obsessed city" in an article in the New York Observer newspaper.[5] This status is due to the building's overall architecture, the scale and layout of the apartments, and the notoriety of its current and past residents.  It is one of the finest buildings designed by Rosario Candela, according to The New York Times.[6]
+
+History
+The building was constructed in 1931, and was one of the last luxury apartment houses completed before the Great Depression halted such projects in New York City.  Its street-facing facades are composed entirely of limestone.  Elements of Art Deco styling were utilized on the entry ways and portions of the Fifth Avenue facade. The building uses setbacks at the upper floors to create terraces for several apartments and provide visual interest from a distance.
+
+The building is incorporated as a housing cooperative, where tenants own shares in the corporation which owns the building; those shares entitle the owner to occupy a designated unit in the building.  Similar to other ultraluxury apartment buildings in New York City, a person who purchases a unit in the building must pay entirely in cash for the apartment.  No mortgage financing is allowed.  In addition, the cooperative's board is rumored to require potential buyers to possess liquid assets in excess of ten times the value of the purchased unit.[citation needed]
+
+Apartments
+834 Fifth has 24 apartments on 16 floors. The building occupies a plot of land which is approximately 150' by 110', allowing for very spacious units. The building's apartments typically range in size from approximately 3,500 sq ft (330 m2) to  7,000 sq ft (650 m2) with an average unit being approximately 6,000 square feet.  The largest single unit—a combination of two apartments done during the construction process—is approximately 10,000 sq ft (930 m2).
+
+The original design for 834 called for a midblock 120-foot-wide building, but it was asymmetrically extended southward during construction after a holdout corner mansion was acquired by the developer.[7]  Because this happened with the steel frame of the building's structure already in place, the extra 30 feet of frontage would be allocated as a line of duplex apartments, so that the original developer blueprints remained more or less intact.  All the apartments were designed with high ceilings, and several units have outdoor space.  Apartments in the building have ceiling heights of 11 to 12 feet in the public rooms, while the bedroom floors have ceiling heights of 9 to 11 feet (9 feet in the duplexes and 10 to 11 feet in the simplexes). There are three maisonette apartments, units which have entrances from the street as well as from the building's interior lobby.
+
+The duplexes on the southern side of the building form the A Line, each unit of which is approximately 5,500 square feet.   These apartments typically have a 600-square-foot living room facing Central Park, and a 450-square-foot dining room and 300-square-foot library along the 64th Street side of the building.  Most of these units have four to six bedrooms on their upper floors.  Unit 13-14A is 4,750 square feet (as well as approximately 350 square feet of terraces)[8] and Unit 15A is a 2,000 square foot simplex type apartment with approximately 250 square feet of terrace space.   Several of the A-Line units have annexed space from adjoining apartments resulting in units that are over 6,000 square feet.  In one case, the A-line duplex unit on the 7th and 8th floors was combined with portions of two adjacent B-line units to create the largest apartment in the building, an approximately 10,000-square-foot unit.
+
+The other apartments in the building form the B and C lines.  In the original building there were two duplex maisonettes, the southern one measured roughly 6,250 square feet, while the smaller northern about 5,500 square feet.  Above there were two large duplex units, about 7,000 square feet each.  With the additional area available when the building was expanded to 64th Street, the developer created a total of three duplex maisonettes of 5,500, 4,500 and 6,250 square feet in total. The 6,250-square-foot maisonette was modified to enlarge the lobby.
+
+Above these maisonettes were the other B and C lines units.  On the third and fourth floors are duplex B and C units of approximately 7,000 square feet each.  Floors 5, 7, 9 and 10 contain smaller B-Line simplex units.  These smaller apartments have Central Park-frontage of approximately 60 feet on each floor.  The rest of the building's B-line apartments have a linear expanse of 120 feet of park frontage. Floors 6, 11 and 12  have only one B-line apartment, each of which is 6,500–7,000 square feet (the higher the floor the smaller the square footage due to setbacks and terraces in rear courtyard facing side of each apartment).  Floor 8 also has one B-line apartment, but it is smaller due to space annexed into duplex 7-8A.  In the C-Line, Floor 5 features a smaller simplex unit, 5C, and Floors 9 and 10 feature a larger duplex unit, 9-10C, with a similar footprint to the C-line duplex on the third and fourth floors.
+
+Unit 13B was originally laid out as a four-bedroom duplex, but its upper level, which contained 2 bedrooms, was annexed to become part of the original penthouse (bought by Hugh Baker for $275,000 in 1930). Unit 13B is now a smaller 5,000 square feet two-bedroom simplex unit (including several Park and north-facing terraces).[9]
+
+Finally, at the top of the building, the triplex penthouse is 8,000 square feet, with private rooms on the 14th floor, public rooms on the 15th floor, and a sun room/library on the top level of the unit.  The penthouse also features an additional 4,000 square feet  of outdoor space (terraces, patios).[10]  It was expanded by Wallace K. Harrison for Laurance Rockefeller.
+
+There is also a 1,000-square-foot superintendent's apartment on the ground floor at the rear of the lobby.
+
+Residents
+834 Fifth Avenue has historically been home to a large number of founders and heirs of major American family fortunes. The fortunes include those associated with Standard Oil, Johnson & Johnson, Woolworth Stores, the Hearst Corporation, Ford Motor Company and the Chase Manhattan Bank. The building has long been associated with the Rockefeller family and its various business and charitable interests.
+
+In addition, 834 Fifth Avenue has welcomed a higher percentage of entrepreneurs and self-made business people than its peer buildings. Firms founded by tenants of 834 Fifth include Charles Schwab, TLC Beatrice, the Limited and Fox.
+
+When Charlie Chaplin was in New York City during his contract negotiations with Mutual Film, and found out that his first love, Hetty Kelly, was staying with her sister, Mrs. Ethel Margaret Kelly Gould (wife of Frank Jay Gould), at 834 Fifth Avenue, he stalked the place.[11] Note that this building was not the current structure, but one that was demolished at this site. Other previous structures at this site were 1 East 64th Street (Mr. George Crocker) and 833 Fifth Avenue (Mr. William Guggenheim).[12]
+
+Past and current residents include: 
+
+References

880_Fifth_Avenue.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+880 Fifth Avenue
+
+
+
+880 Fifth Avenue is a luxury apartment building on Fifth Avenue at the northeast corner of 69th Street in New York City. The Art-Deco-styled building has 21 floors and features 162 residential units.[2] 880 Fifth Avenue is also one of the few Fifth Avenue buildings to have a garage.[3]
+
+Background
+It was the final building by architect Emery Roth. The developers were Harold Uris and Percy Uris. Built in 1948,[4] the design for the building was commissioned during the war as the Uris brothers anticipated the war's end and the lifting of the wartime restrictions on non war-related construction.[5] *80 is "stylistically related" to Roth's 875 Fifth Avenue, on the other side of 69th Street his building The Normandy at 140 Riverside Drive, all in the fashionable art moderne, or Art Deco style.[4] 880 was built on the site of home of Edward H. Harriman, designed by the Herter Brothers in 1881, and the Adolph E. Lewisohn house, designed by C. W. Clinton in 1882.[4]
+
+The limestone facade is mildly Art Deco with classical touches. It is topped by a modest pair of towers, but overall the building is dignified, rather than exciting, designed to sell at a profit to an upscale clientele and to fit in among the classical buildings, including the adjacent Frick Museum.[4]
+
+In 1981, The New York Times remarked of the residential buildings constructed by the Uris brothers, "930 Fifth Avenue, 2 Sutton Place, and 880 Fifth Avenue, are among the city's best residential addresses today."[6]
+
+Famous residents
+Notable residents have included Broadway songwriter Mitch Leigh,[7] Alexander Steinberg, and entrepreneur and philanthropist John D. Hertz.[8]
+
+References

88_Greenwich_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+88 Greenwich Street
+
+
+
+88 Greenwich Street, also known as the Greenwich Club Residences and previously as 19 Rector Street, is a building located on the southern side of Rector Street between Greenwich and Washington Streets in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. Constructed in 1929–30, this 37-story structure was designed in the Art Deco style by Lafayette A. Goldstone and Alexander Zamshnick.[4]
+
+An entrance to the Rector Street station of the New York City Subway was located in the basement of the building and opened in 1931.[5] However, this entrance was closed by 1941.[6]
+
+88 Greenwich Street was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. In 2006, the building was renovated into residential condominium use.[4] In 2012, the building was severely affected by flooding from Hurricane Sandy. Approximately three million cubic feet of saltwater entered the building's basement, leading to extensive damage.[7][8] Additionally, during the flooding, water dislodged an oil tank, causing it to crack upon hitting a ceiling beam.[9]
+
+See also
+References
+Notes
+
+External links
+

909_Walnut.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+909 Walnut
+
+909 Walnut (formerly Fidelity National Bank & Trust Building, Federal Office Building and 911 Walnut) is a twin-spired, 35-story, 471-foot (144 m) residential skyscraper in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It was Missouri's tallest apartment building until the conversion of the Kansas City Power & Light building and the tenth-tallest habitable building in Missouri.
+
+In 1997, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[1]
+
+History
+The structure was built in 1931 as the Fidelity National Bank & Trust Building (referred to locally as the Fidelity Building) at an estimated cost of $2.85 million, including bank fixtures.[2] The site had previously been a two-story post office and federal building until 1904, when Fidelity purchased the site for its headquarters. The two-story building was razed in 1930. The new building mimicked the original federal twin-spire structure, in an Art Deco-Gothic Revival architectural motif.
+
+The building's architect — Hoit, Price & Barnes — also designed the nearby Power and Light Building in the Art Deco style.
+
+The bank was liquidated in 1933 during the Great Depression.
+
+On June 14, 1946, under the administration of then-U.S. President Harry S. Truman, the Federal Government acquired the building at a reported price of $3.3 million. As a result, it was renamed the Federal Office Building.[2]
+
+In 1954, the headquarters of the newly formed Severe Local Storms Warning Service of the United States Weather Bureau moved to the building from Washington, D.C. A Radome for a weather radar was constructed between the towers on a steel skeleton rising above them, creating a landmark until 1995 when it was removed and the service relocated to Norman, Oklahoma, where it became the Storm Prediction Center.[3][4]
+
+Another distinctive landmark was the "town clock" in the north tower, which had first started keeping time in the original 1885 post office and was then placed in the tower. A bell cast by the McShane Bell Company of Baltimore, Maryland chimed in 1882.  The clock face has since been removed and replaced by large windows for the highest residential living unit within five states. The bell was sold by the former owner in 2000 and was carried away by helicopter.[2]
+
+When the government left the building in 1995, Northland Management & Investment of Kansas City purchased it for $500,000. The building remained vacant until it was sold in 2000 to Simbol Commercial Inc. of Dallas for $2 million. Following the September 11 attacks, the building was renamed from 911 Walnut to 909 Walnut.[5]  Simbol was said to have spent $64 million to convert this building and the 929 Walnut Building into 159 apartments and 110,000 square feet (10,000 m2) of commercial office space and to construct a 323-car public garage.  The rooftop of the garage also includes a 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) award-winning garden.[6]
+
+The first four floors are occupied by Entertainment Properties Trust (NYSE:EPR).
+
+References
+External links
+ Media related to 909 Walnut Street at Wikimedia Commons

90_Church_Street.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+90 Church Street
+
+90 Church Street is a federal office building in lower Manhattan in New York City. The building houses the United States Postal Service's Church Street Station, which is responsible for the 10048 and 10007 ZIP codes. The building takes up a full block between Church Street and West Broadway and between Vesey and Barclay Streets. 
+
+History
+90 Church Street was designed by Cross & Cross, Pennington, Lewis & Mills and Louis A. Simon, who was Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury at the time. The architectural style of the building is a mixture of Neo-classicism and Art Deco. It has two towers and the facade is clad in limestone. The AIA Guide to New York City described the building as "a boring limestone monolith that has trouble deciding between a heritage of stripped down neo-Classical and a new breath of Art Deco."[2]
+
+The building was completed in 1935.
+
+It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.[3][4]  The building was extensively renovated by Boston Properties, Inc from the early 1990s though 2000 by Architects Swanke Hayden Connell Architects and Brannen Associates.[5]
+
+In addition to housing the Postal Service, the 90 Church Street building contains offices of the New York State Public Service Commission, the New York State Health Department, and the New York City Housing Authority.[4]
+
+September 11 attacks
+The building suffered moderate damage during the September 11 attacks due to a remnant of one of the planes and other debris landing on top of the building. Following the collapse of the World Trade Centers twin towers, the building's facade was damaged, windows were broken, the roof was seriously burned and major water damage occurred throughout the internal structure. It was also extensively contaminated with asbestos, lead dust, fungi, fiberglass dust, mercury, and bacteria.[4]  The building was entirely engulfed by dust after the collapse of both buildings, respectively, and was further damaged when Building 7 collapsed later the same day. There was no major structural damage.[6] During recovery efforts at Ground Zero, the United States Postal Service worked to return individual pieces of mail found by rescue workers to the addressees.[7] In August 2004, the Church Street Station Post Office reopened, and mail was once again being processed there.[8] Church Street Station also serves the 10007 ZIP code, covering portions of Battery Park City, Tribeca, and Civic Center.
+
+References
+Notes
+
+External links
+ Media related to 90 Church Street at Wikimedia Commons