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.

Enjoy your visit!


New York Architecture - Photo © Tim Collins

All New York buildings are listed using a standard format:

- Building Title
- Key date of building completion; key dates of subsequent work
- Architect or Architects
- A short description of the architecture & personal evaluation


New York skyscraper - Empire State building: Andrew McRae, 2007

Ten Key New York skyscraperss (chronological):

1. Flatiron Building
1902
Daniel Burnham, Architect

2. Woolworth Building
1910-13
Cass Gilbert, Architect

3. Chrysler Building
1930
William Van Alen, Architect

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

5. Rockefeller Center
1932-40
Raymond Hood, Architect

6. Lever Building (Lever House)
1950-52
Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) Architects

7. United Nations Headquarters (UNO Buildings)
1947-53
Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer

8. Seagram Building
1954-58
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Architec; Philip Johnson

9. UN Plaza
1969-75
Roche-Dinkeloo Architects

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

New York Skyscrapers : photos


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 Skyscrapers - architects listing



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: Ground Zero

1. Flatiron Building
23rd Street, Broadway; 5th Avenue, New York
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, New York
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 - 1930. 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:
Paris Buildings. 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, New York
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, New York
1932-40
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, New York
1950-52
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.

7. United Nations Headquarters (UNO Buildings)
1st Avenue, New York
1947-53
Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Sir Howard Robertson
with Harrison & Abramovitz Architects
This is the only Le Corbusier building in New York; it starred in the Fountainhead film. The main building is a massive slab block - Secretariat, 39-floor office tower - that rises up by the East River, located near the UN Plaza.

8. Seagram Building
375 Park Avenue, New York
1954-58
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 - 2006.


New York Skyscraper News:

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

Image credit: dbox Courtesy of: Silverstein Properties

World Trade Centre Tower Two
Foster and Partners

Credit: Foster + Partners I Courtesy of: Silverstein Properties

World Trade Centre Tower Three
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

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

World Trade Centre Tower Four
Maki and Associates

Image credit: Maki and Associates I Courtesy of: Silverstein Properties

Tower Verre : MoMA Extension + Hotel + Apartments
Jean Nouvel

image: copyright 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

WTC 5 - World Trade Center Five
KPF
WTC New York

Brooklyn Arts Tower
Behnisch Architekten with StudioMDA

Brooklyn Tower

Norman Foster - Seagram 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 from Bernard Tschumi Architects 071107
Manhattan Tower

One Madison Park, Madison Square Park
OMA
Manhattan skyscraper

Other 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)
Hearst Building
JP Morgan Chase New York
Lefcourt National Building
LVMH 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
1980–83
Philip Johnson, Architect with John Burgee
Very famous Postmodern building with its so-called 'Chippendale Chair' top. Its marriage of a regular (efficient = profitable) skyscraper with a iconic piece of architecture 'plonked' on top made it highly unpopular amongst many architects but regarded by many others as enviograting, moving away from the solemnity of typical Modern movement buildings - which had largely become stripped-down variants to money-making shells by the early Eighties. Renamed the Sony 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

Hearst Building
Eighth Avenue; 56th - 57th Street
building under construction 2005-06
Foster & Partners
Sir Norman Foster's first New York building, completing early 2006; Norman entered the World Trade Centre Site architecture competition won by Daniel Libeskind.
The Hearst Building sits on a building base from 1927-28 by Joseph Urban
New York skyscraper : RIBA International Award 2007

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.

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

LVMH Tower
This is the only New York building by Portzamparc - an office building for LVMH - Moët Hennessy-Luis Vuitton. Also by Christian de Portzamparc - City of Music Paris: see our Paris Architecture page.

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

New York Skyscraper

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

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

Times Square Photo © Tim Collins
Times Square

London Skyscrapers
Hong Kong Skyscrapers



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

New York Skyscrapers - Building News

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

New York Skyscraper - page : adrian welch / isabelle lomholt