Manhattan Skyscrapers Guide

New York is famous for tall architecture - skyscrapers - but also cultural buildings such as the Guggenheim and MoMA. Of all the cities in the United States of America New York has more quality architecture and many of its buildings feature in the key histories of World Architecture. Famous architects that achieved major architecture works here include Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe. Manhattan is based on a grid, with many interesting buildings by famous architects.


New York Architecture - Photo © Tim Collins

Ten Key New York skyscrapers (chronological):

1. Flatiron Building
1902
Daniel Burnham, Architect

2. Woolworth Building
1913
Cass Gilbert, Architect

3. Chrysler Building
1930
William Van Alen, Architect

4. Empire State Building
1931
Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, Architects

5. Rockefeller Center
1940
Raymond Hood, Architect

6. Lever Building (Lever House)
1952
Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) Architects

7. United Nations Headquarters (UNO Buildings)
1953
Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer

8. Seagram Building
1958
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Architec; Philip Johnson

9. UN Plaza
1975
Roche-Dinkeloo Architects

10. Freedom Tower - Site of World Trade Center: Ground Zero
2004-
Daniel Libeskind Architects + David Childs of SOM Architects


New York photos: Andrew McRae, 2007

Key Manhattan building no longer standing:

Site of World Trade Center
New York (destroyed 2001)
1966-73
Minoru Yamasaki, Emery Roth & Sons
One World Trade Center was 417m high, Two World Trade Center was 415m high




New York skyscraper - Empire State building: Andrew McRae

New York Skyscraper photos

New York Architects

Ten Key New York buildings (alphabetical):

1. Flatiron Building
2. Woolworth Building
3. Chrysler Building
4. Empire State Building
5. Rockefeller Center
6. Lever Building (Lever House)
7. United Nations Headquarters (UNO Buildings)
8. Seagram Building
9. UN Plaza
10. Freedom Tower- Site of World Trade Center

1. Flatiron Building
23rd Street, Broadway; 5th Avenue
1902
Daniel Burnham, Architect
Famous piece of New York architecture that appears on numerous postcards and in many films, so-named due to its sharp pointed plan.
At 87m high the Flatiron building is the original New York skyscraper.

2. Woolworth Building
233 Broadway
1910-13
Cass Gilbert, Architect
241m high, one of the first New York skyscrapers. Designed in a formal, symmetrical Gothic Revival style and originally nicknamed the Cathedral of Commerce. The Woolworth building was the tallest in the world from 1913-30. Refurbished 1977-81.

3. Chrysler Building
405 Lexington Avenue
1930
William Van Alen, Architect
Chrysler Building
This building is 318m high, an Art Deco skyscraper that is a world-famous symbol for New York. Tallest building globally on completion, taking over from the Eiffel Tower. It obviously was also the tallest building in New York until the Empire State Building was completed the following year. Refurbished 1995.

4. Empire State Building
350 Fifth Avenue
1931
Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, Architects
Empire State Building
381m high skyscraper, Art Deco architecture - especially the tower interior, famous New York landmark.

5. Rockefeller Center
5th - 7th Avenue; 47th - 51st Street, Midtown
1940
Raymond Hood, Architect

Rockefeller Center - Radio City, Photo © Tim Collins
Rockefeller Center
The home of the beautiful ice rink, the Radio City Music Hall and supreme luxury of the Rainbow Rooms: you can dance away at the top of one of the highest skyscrapers in the city.

6. Lever Building (Lever House)
390 Park Avenue
1952
Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) Architects
A beautiful piece of New York architecture facing Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building and trying to give it a run for its money. Having had a good look at both I think Mies wins but nevertheless this SOM Architects building was a classic in its day, podium and tower: Lever House

7. United Nations Headquarters (UNO Buildings)
1st Avenue
1953
Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Sir Howard Robertson
with Harrison & Abramovitz Architects
The only Le Corbusier building in New York: UN Building New York

8. Seagram Building
375 Park Avenue, New York
1958
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Architect; Philip Johnson
Seagram Building
Another building by Mies van der Rohe is the Barcelona Pavilion
Philip Johnson became an associate for Mies van der Rohe on the Seagram Building in 1955: he worked on interiors such as the Four Seasons Restaurant.

9. UN Plaza
East 44th St / 1st Avenue
1969-75
Roche-Dinkeloo Architects
Crystalline glassy building with facets in plan and section but generally a clean-styled building. The UN Plaza apartments tower was added in 1983. Renamed in 1999 Millennium Hotel New York, UN Plaza.

10. Freedom Tower - Site of World Trade Center
Ground Zero, Lower Manhattan
2004-
Daniel Libeskind Architects + David Childs of SOM Architects
Controversial towers to replace the New York World Trade Centre skyscrapers lost in 2001. The main Freedom Tower skyscraper by Libeskind was to be a significant number of feet high - 1,776 ft - to mark a key American date in history - United States Year of Independence; the building was largely handed over to architect David Childs. Designed to be the tallest tower in the world for the site leaseholder - real estate developer Larry Silverstein. The angular design is typical for Daniel Libeskind but here echoes the Statue of Liberty. A Snohetta building was also due to appear but the situation is in a state of flux, more online soon.

New York Skyscraper News:

One Bryant Park - Bank of America Tower
2004-09
Cook + Fox Architects

Image © Jock Pottle, Esto for Cook+Fox Architects
One Bryant Park

99 Church Street Tower, World Trade Centre Tower Site, Lower Manahttan
2008-11
Robert A. M. Stern Architects

Image : dbox Courtesy of: Silverstein Properties

23 East 22nd Street, Flatiron district
OMA

23 East 22nd Street

56 Leonard Street
Herzog & de Meuron

Image Copyright Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, 2008
56 Leonard Street

WTC New York :

World Trade Centre Tower Two
Foster and Partners

Foster + Partners I Courtesy of: Silverstein Properties
200 Greenwich Street Tower

World Trade Centre Tower Three
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

Image : RSHP, Team Macarie I Courtesy of: Silverstein Properties

World Trade Centre Tower Four
Maki and Associates

Image : Maki and Associates I Courtesy of: Silverstein Properties

Tower Verre : MoMA Extension + Hotel + Apartments
Jean Nouvel

image © Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Manhattan Tower

Masterplan for Eastern Rail Yards & Western Rail Yards
Steven Holl

image courtesy of Steven Holl Architects
Hudson Yards New York

Hearst Building
Eighth Avenue; 56th - 57th Street
2006
Foster + Partners

Photo : Andrew McRae
Hearst Tower
New York skyscraper award : RIBA International Award 2007

400 Park Avenue South
2002-09
Christian de Portzamparc

Manhattan tower

Brooklyn Arts Tower
Behnisch Architekten with StudioMDA

Brooklyn Tower

Lexington Avenue Building
Foster & Partners to design 62 storey New York skyscraper beside Mies Van der Rohe's classic Seagram Building on Lexington Avenue.

BLUE Residential Tower
Bernard Tschumi

BLUE Residential Tower Photo: Peter Mauss/ESTO
New York Tower

LVMH Building
East 57th Street ; Fifth & Madison Avenue
1999
Christian de Portzamparc, Architect

Photo : Wade Zimmerman
LVMH Tower

One Madison Park, Madison Square Park
OMA
Manhattan skyscraper

New York skyscrapers not yet included in this Architecture Guide
(alphabetical order):

500 Fifth Avenue Building
1001 Fifth Avenue Façade
AT&T Building
Carnegie Hall Tower
City Spire Center
Corning Glass Works Building (Corning Glass Center)
JP Morgan Chase New York
Lefcourt National Building
One Chase Manhattan Plaza (Chase Manhattan Bank)
Reynolds Building
World Financial Center


New York Skyscrapers - Photo © Tim Collins

500 Fifth Avenue Building
500 Fifth Avenue
1931

1001 Fifth Avenue Façade
1001 Fifth Avenue
1978–80
Philip Johnson, Architect with John Burgee
Postmodern New York architecture

AT&T Building
Madison Avenue
1983
Philip Johnson, Architect with John Burgee

image isabelle lomholt
Very famous Postmodern building with its so-called 'Chippendale Chair' top
AT&T Building

Carnegie Hall Tower
-
1986–90
Cesar Pelli, Architect

City Spire Center
West 55th Street, Midtown, Manhattan,
Murphy/Jahn Architects
248m high skyscraper.
Other buildings by Murphy/Jahn Architects include MesseTurm, 1990 - tallest building Europe at 257m high until 1997 - and the Trump Tower, completed 2005, 180m high in Stuttgart.

Corning Glass Works Building (Corning Glass Center)
717 Fifth Avenue, Midtown Manhattan, New York
1956-58
Wallace K. Harrison, Architect of Harrison, Abramovitz & Abbe Architects
This building is 109m high; the lobby contains a mural by Josef Albers.
1993-94
Renovated by Gwathmey Siegel, Architect

JP Morgan Chase New York
270 Park Avenue, New York
1957-60
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Architects
This Manhattan skyscraper by SOM Architects is 215m high
JP Morgan Chase buildings in Edinburgh and Glasgow: JP Morgan Chase building

Lefcourt National Building
Lefcourt National Building
Fifth Avenue, Midtown
1929
Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates
153m high, rather plain rectilinear stepped Manhattan tower built for Samuel
Lefcourt. Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates of course were the designers of
probably the most famous New York skyscraper, the Empire State building.

One Chase Manhattan Plaza (Chase Manhattan Bank)
-
1960
Gordon Bunschaft / Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Another building by SOM Architects: Arts Hotel Barcelona

World Financial Center
-
1986
Cesar Pelli, Architect
Including the Winter Garden


Battery Park, Manhattan - Photo © Tim Collins

New York Architects

World Trade Center New York Towers

New York Skyscraper Photos welcome

Useful Links re Manhattan Skyscrapers:

Skyscraper Museum
39 Battery Place, Battery Park, New York:
New York Skyscrapers - Website: www.skyscraper.org

New York Architecture

London Skyscrapers

Times Square
between 40th & 53rd Street; 6th & 9th Avenue

Photo © Tim Collins
Times Square

Harlem Tower
Swanke Hayden Connell Architects

Harlem Tower

Hong Kong Skyscrapers



World Architecture : e-architect - a guide to key buildings across the globe

New York Skyscraper News - Current Projects + Developments

Buildings / photos for the New York Skyscraper page welcome:
info@e-architect.co.uk

New York Skyscraper - page : adrian welch / isabelle lomholt