Astor Place Tower (also known as Sculpture for Living) is a 21-story residential building located on

Astor Place Astor Place is a one-block street in NoHo/ East Village, in the lower part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs from Broadway in the west (just below East 8th Street) to Lafayette Street. The street encompasses two plazas at th ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The building was developed by

The Related Companies The Related Companies, L.P. is an American real estate firm in New York City, with offices and developments in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, Abu Dhabi, London, São Paulo and Shanghai. Related has more than 3,0 ...

and designed by architect

Charles Gwathmey Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – August 3, 2009) was an American architect. He was a principal at Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, as well as one of the five architects identified as The New York Five in 1969. Gwathmey was perhaps bes ...

. The building was panned by architectural critics as a symbol of gentrification, and sales of the building's condos were slow.

History and development

The triangular site on which the tower was built was formerly a parking lot. Originally, a building developed by both

Ian Schrager Ian Schrager (born July 19, 1946) is an American entrepreneur, hotelier and real estate developer, credited for co-creating the "boutique hotel" category of accommodation. Originally, he gained fame as co-owner and co-founder of Studio 54. Ear ...

and Related, to be designed by either

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are considered ...

, was planned for the location.

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

, the owner of the parking lot, leased the land to the developers for 99 years. The original plan called for a hotel with approximately 100 rooms, and the terms of the lease from Cooper Union stipulated that the building be an "original artistic invention". The hotel was also to include a movie theater; completion of the building was expected in 2002. Ultimately, the hotel was not built, and instead, a luxury residential building designed by Gwathmey was constructed. There is a retail base which includes a Chase bank branch.

References

Residential skyscrapers in Manhattan Residential buildings completed in 2005

Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

NoHo, Manhattan {{Manhattan-struct-stub