NEW YORK SKYSCRAPERS
1.Empire State Building
The Empire State Building (1930–1) was eclipsed as the tallest structure in New York for 28 years by the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attack. It was overtaken again upon completion of One World Trade Center in 2014. With an 86th-floor observatory, the Empire State Building receives some 3.5 million visitors a year (for further details see Empire State Building).
2.Chrysler Building
The gleaming, stainless-steel, tiered spire of the Chrysler Building (1928–30) adds grace to the city skyline. William Van Alen fashioned this Art Deco classic as a tribute to the automobile. The building has a decorative frieze of stylized hubcaps and silver gargoyles, much like the winged radiator caps of a Chrysler automobile (for further details see Chrysler Building).
Spire of the Chrysler Building
3.Woolworth Building
233 Broadway, between Park Pl & Barclay St Prominent architect Cass Gilbert was responsible for this flamboyant 1913 Neo-Gothic building, the tallest in the world for two decades after it was completed. The rich terra-cotta ornamentation accentuates the structure’s steel frame, which soars to a graceful crown 60 stories above Broadway. The small lobby boasts a luxurious marble interior using stone from Greece and Vermont (for further details see Woolworth Building).
Woolworth Building
4.GE Building
30 Rockefeller Plaza, between 50th & 51st Sts • Closed to public This dramatic 70-story skyscraper (1931–3), designed by Raymond Hood, has shallow setbacks that recede into the distance. Part of the greatness of Hood’s design is the contrast between the building’s height and the surrounding Rockefeller Center.
5.Flatiron Building
This 21-story, triangular-shaped building has intrigued New Yorkers since it was built by Daniel Burnham in 1902; the shape was so unusual that people took bets on whether it would topple. The secret of this successful design was in the steel frame support, which was used instead of traditional heavy stone walls: a precursor of skyscrapers to come (for further details see Flatiron Building).
6.Lever House
390 Park Ave, between 53rd and 54th Sts • Open during office hours Gordon Bunshaft’s 24-story Lever House, completed in 1952, was revolutionary; it was New York’s first skyscraper built in the form of a soaring vertical slab of glass and steel. It began the eventual transformation of Park Avenue into an avenue of glass towers.
7.Seagram Building
375 Park Ave, between 52nd & 53rd Sts • Open during office hours The first New York building by Mies van der Rohe is this landmark “glass box” with slender bands of bronze amid walls of smoked glass rising from the open plaza. The glass-walled lobby by Philip Johnson helps blur the division between indoor and outdoor space. Inside is the Four Seasons restaurant, offering American cuisine.
8.601 Lexington Avenue
601 Lexington Ave • Closed to public This was considered New York’s first Postmodern skyscraper upon its completion in 1978. The triangular top never served its original purpose as a solar panel, but it did make the building instantly recognizable. An open base on four tall columns and a reflective aluminum-and-glass exterior give it an airy quality.
9.World Wide Plaza
Between 8th & 9th Aves and 49th & 50th Sts The copper roof and frosted-glass crown atop this 48-story tower bring some traditional romance to a 1989 Postmodern building. The World Wide Plaza complex transformed a decaying neighborhood.
10.One World Trade Center
285 Fulton St • Open 9am–8pm daily (to 12am Jun–Sep) Marking the rebirth of Lower Manhattan after 9/11, the iconic One World Trade Center opened in 2014. The tallest building in the city, it rises to a height of 1,776 ft (541 m), reflecting the year of the Declaration of Independence.
One World Trade Center
