Manhattan Skyscrapers

214 Pages·2005·52.539 MB·English

by  Eric P. Nash (auth.)

Manhattan
Skyscrapers

Manhattan
Skyscrapers
REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION
Eric P. Nash
Norman McGrath
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
Carol Willis
INTRODUCTION BY
PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS NEW YORK
PUBLISHED BY
Princeton Architectural Press
37 East 7th Street
New York, NY 10003
For a free catalog of books, call 1.800.722.6657
Visit our website at www.papress.com
© 2005 Princeton Architectural Press
All rights reserved
Printed and bound in China
08 07 06 05 4 3 2 1
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner without written permission from the publisher,
except in the context of reviews.
The publisher gratefully acknowledges all of the individuals
and organizations that provided photographs for this publi-
cation. Every effort has been made to contact the owners of
copyright for the photographs herein. Any omissions will be
corrected in subsequent printings.
FIRST EDITION
DESIGNER:Sara E. Stemen
PROJECT EDITOR: Beth Harrison
PHOTO RESEARCHERS: Eugenia Bell and Beth Harrison
REVISED AND UPDATED EDITION
PROJECT EDITOR: Clare Jacobson
ASSISTANTS: John McGill, Lauren Nelson, and Dorothy Ball
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Nettie Aljian, Nicola Bednarek, Janet Behning, Penny (Yuen
Pik) Chu, Russell Fernandez, Jan Haux, Clare Jacobson,
John King, Mark Lamster, Nancy Eklund Later, Linda Lee,
Katharine Myers, Jane Sheinman, Scott Tennent, Jennifer
Thompson, Paul G. Wagner, Joe Weston, and Deb Wood of
Princeton Architectural Press
—Kevin Lippert, Publisher
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Nash, Eric Peter.
Manhattan skyscrapers / Eric P. Nash ; photographs by
Norman McGrath ; introduction by Carol Willis.—Rev. and
expanded ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-56898-545-2 (alk. paper)
1. Skyscrapers—New York (State)—New York. 2. Architec-
ture—New York (State)—New York—20th century.
3. Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)—Buildings, structures, etc.
I. McGrath, Norman. II. Title.
NA6232.N37 2005
720'.483'097471—dc22
2005002264
Para Rebecca, rosa rara, perla preciosa, hija hermosa de la luna
ix Acknowledgments 45 Hearst Magazine Building
(originally International Magazine Building)
xi Introduction by Carol Willis
47 Chanin Building
49 One Fifth Avenue
1 American Tract Society Building
51 Helmsley Building
3 Bayard-Condict Building
(originally New York Central Building)
5 Park Row Building
53 Fuller Building
7 Flatiron Building
55 Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower
11 West Street Building (now 90 West Street) (now Republic National Bank)
13 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower 57 Downtown Athletic Club
15 Bankers Trust Company Building 59 Daily News Building
(originally 14 Wall Street)
61 40 Wall Street
17 Woolworth Building (originally the Bank of
Manhattan Company Building)
21 Municipal Building
63 Chrysler Building
23 Candler Building
67 San Remo Apartments (originally San Remo Hotel)
25 Equitable Building
69 Riverside Church
27 Bush Tower
71 120 Wall Street
29 Shelton Towers Hotel
(now Marriott East Side Hotel) 73 500 Fifth Avenue
31 American Radiator Building 75 Empire State Building
33 Ritz Tower 79 Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
35 Paramount Building 81 McGraw-Hill Building
37 Barclay-Vesey Building 83 General Electric Building
(originally RCA Victor Building)
39 Fred F. French Building
85 City Bank Farmers Trust Company Building
41 Beekman Tower (originally Panhellenic Tower)
87 Cities Service Building (now 70 Pine Street)
43 Tudor City
Contents
89 One Wall Street 143 Trump Tower
(originally Irving Trust Company Building)
145 IBM Building
91 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company,
147 AT&T Building (now Sony Building)
North Building
149 Marriott Marquis Hotel
93 Rockefeller Center
151 Lipstick Building
97 100 Park Avenue
153 425 Lexington Avenue
99 United Nations Secretariat
155 Worldwide Plaza
103 Lever House
157 1585 Broadway
105 Seagram Building
(originally Solomon Equities Building)
109 Time & Life Building
159 Bertelsmann Building (originally 1540 Broadway)
111 Union Carbide Building
161 712 Fifth Avenue
(now Chase Manhattan Bank)
163 World Financial Center
113 Chase Manhattan Plaza
167 Four Seasons Hotel
115 Pan Am Building (now Met Life Building)
169 LVMH Building
117 CBS Building
171 Times Square Buildings
119 Silver Towers (originally University Plaza)
177 Trump World Tower
121 Marine Midland Bank Building (now 140 Broadway)
179 Austrian Cultural Forum
123 General Motors Building
181 Westin New York at Times Square
125 One Astor Plaza
185 Time Warner Building
127 XYZ Buildings: Exxon, McGraw-Hill,
and Celanese Buildings 189 Bloomberg Tower
131 W. R. Grace Building 191 Freedom Tower
133 1 and 2 World Trade Center
137 One Liberty Plaza (originally U.S. Steel Building) 193 Bibliography
139 1 and 2 UN Plaza 195 Glossary
141 Citicorp Center 197 Credits

Acknowledgments
A
book, like a skyscraper, is put
together by many unseen hands.
Thanks to my editors and drafts-
men, Beth Harrison at Princeton
Architectural Press and Julie Iovine at the New
York Times, for their sharp minds and pencils,
and general grace under pressure. My publisher,
Kevin Lippert, provided the site to build upon.
Norman McGrath created the framework of
color photographs by which this sheath of text
hangs. Eugenia Bell laid the foundation with
intrepid archival photo research. Like a master
mason, the design director Sara Stemen put the
pieces in place. Sylvie Ball did the finish carpen-
try with several supplemental photographs, and
the architectural historian John Kriskiewicz
helped get the customers in the door with his
insightful introduction. Carol Willis, the direc-
tor of the Skyscraper Museum, deliriously trans-
formed my view of the city when I learned in
her class at the New School for Social Research
that the Empire State Building’s crown was
designed as a mooring mast for zeppelins. And
thanks to my sister, Laura, who has been as true
as a surveyor’s level in helping me set my sights.
ix
Wow! New York, just like I pictured it...skyscrapers and everything!
—Stevie Wonder
...when I try to imagine a faultless love
Or the life to come, what I hear is the murmur
Of underground streams, what I see is a limestone landscape.
—W. H. Auden