Architecture of New York City

The building form most closely associated with New York City is the skyscraper, which has shifted many commercial and residential districts from low-rise to high-rise. Surrounded mostly by water, the city has amassed one of the largest and most varied collection of skyscrapers in the world.

New York has architecturally significant buildings in a wide range of styles spanning distinct historical and cultural periods. These include the Woolworth Building (1913), an early Gothic revival skyscraper with large-scale gothic architectural detail. The 1916 Zoning Resolution required setback in new buildings, and restricted towers to a percentage of the lot size, to allow sunlight to reach the streets below. The Art Deco design of the Chrysler Building (1930) and Empire State Building (1931), with their tapered tops and steel spires, reflected the zoning requirements. The Chrysler Building is considered by many historians and architects to be one of New York's finest, with its distinctive ornamentation such as V-shaped lighting inserts capped by a steel spire at the tower's crown. Early influential examples of the International Style in the United States are 330 West 42nd Street (1931) and the Seagram Building (1958). The Condé Nast Building (2000) is an important example of green design in American skyscrapers.

The character of New York's large residential districts is often defined by the elegant brownstone rowhouses, townhouses, and tenements that were built during a period of rapid expansion from 1870 to 1930. In contrast, New York City also has neighborhoods that are less densely populated and feature free-standing dwellings. In the outer boroughs, large single-family homes are common in various architectural styles such as Tudor Revival and Victorian. Split two-family homes are also widely available across the outer boroughs, for example in the Flushing area.

Stone and brick became the city's building materials of choice after the construction of wood-frame houses was limited in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1835.Lankevich (1998), pp. 82–83. Unlike Paris, which for centuries was built from its own limestone bedrock, New York has always drawn its building stone from a far-flung network of quarries and its stone buildings have a variety of textures and hues. A distinctive feature of many of the city's buildings is the presence of wooden roof-mounted water towers. In the 19th century, the city required their installation on buildings higher than six stories to prevent the need for excessively high water pressures at lower elevations, which could burst municipal water pipes. Garden apartments became popular during the 1920s in outlying areas, including Jackson Heights in Queens, which became more accessible with expansion of the subway.
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Concentrations of buildings

New York has two main concentrations of high-rise buildings: Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan, each with its own uniquely recognizable skyline. Midtown Manhattan, the largest central business district in the world, is home to such notable buildings as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and Citigroup Center, as well as the Rockefeller Center complex. Lower Manhattan comprises the third largest central business district in the United States (after Midtown and Chicago's Loop). Lower Manhattan was characterized by the omnipresence of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center from its completion in 1973 until its destruction in the September 11 attacks in 2001.

In the first decade of the 21st century, Lower Manhattan saw reconstruction, which included One World Trade Center within the new World Trade Center complex. The Downtown skyline received new designs from such architects as Santiago Calatrava and Frank Gehry. In 2010, a , 43-story tower named 200 West Street was built for Goldman Sachs across the street from the World Trade Center site.

New York City has a long history of tall buildings. It has been home to 10 buildings that have held the world's tallest fully habitable building title at some point in history, although half have since been demolished. The first building to bring the world's tallest title to New York was the New York World Building, in 1890. Later, New York City was home to the world's tallest building for 75 continuous years, starting with the Park Row Building in 1899 and ending with One World Trade Center upon completion of the Sears Tower in 1974. The 1899 Park Row Building, one of the world's earliest skyscrapers, is still standing.

The high-rise buildings of Brooklyn constitute a third, much smaller skyline. Downtown Brooklyn is also experiencing an extensive building boom, with new high rise luxury residential towers, commercial space and a new arena in the planning stages. The building boom in Brooklyn has had a great deal of opposition from local civic and environmental groups which contend that Brooklyn needs to maintain its human scale. The borough of Queens has also been developing its own skyline in recent years with One Court Square (formerly the Citigroup Building, currently the tallest building in NYC outside Manhattan), and the Queens West development of several residential towers along the East River waterfront.

The 1916 Zoning Resolution required setback in new buildings, and restricted towers to a percentage of the lot size, to allow sunlight to reach the streets below.

Famous buildings

Early 20th century

Beaux-Arts

Grand Central Terminal is located in East Midtown close to the Chrysler Building. The railroad terminal, completed in 1913, is the third on its site. It was built in the Beaux-Arts style by the firms Reed and Stem and Warren and Wetmore. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

Art Deco

The Empire State Building, a 102-story contemporary Art Deco style building in Midtown Manhattan, was designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon and finished in 1931. It was the world's tallest building for 42 years. The tower takes its name from the nickname of New York State. It was the first building to go beyond the 100-story mark, and has one of the world's most visited observation decks, which sees about 4 million visitors a year. The building was built in just 14 months.

Completed in 1930, the Chrysler Building is a distinctive symbol of New York, standing high in East Midtown, Manhattan. Originally built for the Chrysler Corporation, the building is presently co-owned by Aby Rosen's RFR Holding LLC, in a joint venture with the Austrian SIGNA Group. The Chrysler Building was the first structure in the world to surpass the 1,000 foot threshold.

30 Rockefeller Plaza is a slim Art Deco skyscraper and the focal point of Rockefeller Center. It stands 850 ft (259 m) with 70 floors. Built in 1933 and originally called the RCA Building, it was later called the Comcast Building. The frieze above the main entrance was executed by Lee Lawrie and depicts Wisdom, along with a phrase from scripture that reads ''"Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the stability of thy times"'', originally found in the Book of Isaiah, 33:6.

International Style

330 West 42nd Street (1931) was the only skyscraper in New York City displayed in Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson's influential International Style exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1932, and the only other U.S. skyscraper at that exhibition, besides the PSFS Building. Johnson, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, later helped build the Seagram Building (1959) on Park Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets, with extruded bronze mullions on the facade. Paul Goldberger wrote in ''The New York Times'' in 1976 that the Seagram Building was one of "New York's most copied buildings", its design having been copied in several structures worldwide.

Late 20th century

The MetLife Building, formerly the Pan Am Building, was the largest commercial office building in the world when it opened on March 7, 1963. It stands directly north of Grand Central Terminal.

The World Trade Center's twin towers were the city's tallest buildings from 1973 until their destruction in the September 11 attacks. The towers rose 1,368 feet (417 m) and 1,362 feet (415 m) respectively, both 110 floors. The North Tower's 360 foot antenna housed most of the city's communications, while the South Tower was home to a popular observation deck. They were the tallest buildings in the world until Chicago's 1,454-foot Sears Tower was completed in 1974.

Citigroup Center is a 59-story office tower located at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It is considered one of the most important post-war skyscrapers to be in erected in New York City. The striking design of the steeply slanted roof, the sleek aluminum-clad facade, and its base on four stilts ''over'' a church also on the site made the skyscraper an instant architectural icon. The sloping roof houses the building's mechanical and ventilation systems. The designers settled on an aluminum-clad facade to reduce the weight load on the building's foundation and support structures, since its entire weight would be supported by stilts. To prevent swaying, a " tuned mass damper" was later added on the roof.

21st century

Time Warner Center is a mixed-use skyscraper at Columbus Circle on Manhattan's Upper West Side. It was the first major building to be completed since the September 11 attacks.

The Condé Nast Building, officially Four Times Square, is a modern skyscraper in Times Square in Midtown Manhattan and one of the most important examples of green design in skyscrapers in the United States. Environmentally friendly gas-fired absorption chillers, along with a high-performing insulating and shading curtain wall, ensure that the building does not need to be heated or cooled for the majority of the year. Office furniture is made with biodegradable and non-toxic materials. The air-delivery system provides 50% more fresh air than is required by New York City Building Code, and a number of recycling chutes serve the entire building. Being the first project of its size to undertake these features in construction, the building has received an award from the American Institute of Architects, as well as AIA New York State.

Hearst Tower, located in Midtown Manhattan at 300 West 57th Street, is another example of the new breed of green design skyscrapers in New York City. Hearst Tower is a glass and steel construction skyscraper which rests on the base of the original 1920s Hearst Corporation Building. Hearst Tower is easily identified by the dramatic interlocking triangular glass panels designed by British architect Lord Norman Foster. Hearst Tower is also the first skyscraper in New York City to be awarded the coveted Gold LEED Certified rating by the United States Green Building Council.

Tallest buildings

The 15 tallest standard structures, which include those with the 10 highest antennae or radio towers (pinnacles)

::† (constructed as the Cities Service Company Building)
::‡ (constructed as the Bank of Manhattan Trust Corporation Building)
::: All addresses are in Midtown Manhattan except those in lighter shades, which are in Lower Manhattan.

Residential architecture

File:Gracie Mansion snow jeh.jpg, Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence.
File:Forest Hills Gardens, Queens, NY.jpg, A large single family home in Forest Hills Gardens, Queens.
File:Fitzgerald-Ginsberg Mansion in Flushing, Queens.jpg, A Tudor Revival style mansion in Flushing, Queens constructed in 1924.
File:Historic 88 Bentley - New Paintjob!.JPG, A home in Tottenville, Staten Island.
File:Howard Beach 1 by David Shankbone.jpg, Houses placed on Hawtree Creek in Howard Beach, Queens.
File:Long Island City New York May 2015 panorama 1.jpg, 21st century residential towers in Long Island City, Queens
File:1 North Fourth complex NY1.jpg, High-rise condominiums on the Williamsburg, Brooklyn waterfront.
File:Saitta House Fall 1.jpg, Queen Anne architecture c. 1899 in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.
File:The Dakota (48269594271).jpg, Dakota Building (1881) on the Upper West Side of Manhattan
File:LowerEastSideTenements.JPG, Tenement buildings in the Lower East Side.
File:Harlem 02.jpg, Brownstone townhouses in Harlem.
File:Ninth-north.jpg, Apartment buildings in Hell's Kitchen.
File:Manhattan House 65 jeh.JPG, Manhattan House buildings in the Upper East Side.

As New York City grew, it spread outward from where it originally began at the southern-tip of Manhattan Island into surrounding areas. In order to house the burgeoning population, farm land and open space in Upper Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island were developed into neighborhoods of brownstones, apartment buildings, multi-family and single-family homes. The density of this new construction generally depended on the area's proximity and accessibility to Manhattan.

The development of these areas was often spurred by the opening of bridges and the connection of boroughs via public transportation. For example, the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883 and connects Brooklyn and Manhattan across the East River. Brooklyn Heights, a nabe on the Brooklyn waterfront, is often credited as the United States' first suburb. The bridge allowed an easier commute between Brooklyn and Manhattan and spurred rapid construction, development, and redevelopment. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, completed in 1964, opened up many areas of Staten Island to residential and commercial development, especially in the central and southern parts of the borough, which had previously been largely undeveloped. Staten Island's population doubled from about 221,000 in 1960 to about 443,000 in 2000.

By 1870, stone and brick had become firmly established as the building materials of choice, as the construction of wood-frame houses had been greatly limited in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1835. Unlike Paris, which for centuries was built from its own limestone bedrock, New York has always drawn its building stone from a network of quarries, sometimes quite distant, which is evident in the variety of textures and hues of stone seen in the city's buildings. In the days before rail, stones were floated down the Hudson River or along the Atlantic Seaboard from pits in New England. While trains brought marble from Vermont and granite from Minnesota, it was Connecticut brownstone that was so popular in the construction of New York's row homes in the late 19th century that the term ''brownstone'' became synonymous with ''row house''.

Beginning in the 1950s, public housing projects dramatically changed the city's appearance. New, large scale (frequently high-rise) residential complexes replaced older communities, at times removing artifacts and landmarks that would now be considered of historic value. During this period, many of these new projects were built in an effort towards urban renewal championed by the famed urban planner Robert Moses. The resulting housing projects have suffered from inconsistent funding, poor maintenance, and high crime, prompting many to consider these projects a failure.

A distinctive feature of residential (and many commercial) buildings in New York City is the presence of wooden roof-mounted water towers, which were required on all buildings higher than six stories by city ordinance in the 19th century because the municipal water pipes could not withstand the extraordinarily high pressure necessary to deliver water to the top stories of high-rise buildings.

Bridges and tunnels

File:A bridge in New York City.jpg, High Bridge (1848)
File:Brooklyn Bridge 1 -66000524.jpg, Brooklyn Bridge (1883)
File:Williamsburg Bridge NY2.jpg, Williamsburg Bridge (1903)
File:Queensboro Bridge New York October 2016 002.jpg, Queensboro Bridge (1909)
File:Manhattan Bridge June 2015.jpg, Manhattan Bridge (1909)
File:George Washington Bridge from Englewood Basin NJ2.jpg, George Washington Bridge (1931)
File:Whitestone Bridge.jpg, Whitestone Bridge (1939)

New York City is located on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island are their own islands, while Queens and Brooklyn are located at the west-end of the larger Long Island. This precipitates a need for an extensive infrastructure of bridges and tunnels. Nearly all of the city's major bridges and several of its tunnels, have broken or set records. For example, the Holland Tunnel was the world's first vehicular tunnel when it opened in 1927.

The Queensboro Bridge is an important piece of cantilever architecture. The towers of the Brooklyn Bridge are built of limestone, granite, and Rosendale cement. Their architectural style is neo-Gothic, with characteristic pointed arches above the passageways through the stone towers. This bridge was also the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening until 1903, and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. The Manhattan Bridge, Throgs Neck Bridge, Triborough Bridge, and Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge are all examples of Structural Expressionism.

Street grid

Formulated in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, New York adopted a visionary proposal to develop Manhattan north of 14th Street with a regular street grid. The economic logic underlying the plan, which called for twelve numbered avenues running north and south, and 155 orthogonal cross streets, was that the grid's regularity would provide an efficient means to develop new real estate property. Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park, disapproved.

See also

*List of buildings
*List of National Historic Landmarks in New York
*List of New York City Designated Landmarks
*List of tallest buildings in New York City
* List of cities with most skyscrapers
*Art Deco architecture of New York City

References

Further reading

*
* Federal Writers' Project (1939). ''The WPA Guide to New York City'', The New Press (1995 reissue).

External links

Downtown Brooklyn Development - New York City Dept. Of PlanningLower Manhattan Development - Lower Manhattan Development Corp.


- information on buildings and architecture by neighborhood
Tom Fletcher's New York Architecture Images and Notes ...
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