New Manhattan Tower is now the tallest, if not the fairest, of them all
16 Oct 2014 4:52 AM IST
There is the cityscape on a curtain, of course — a staple of late-night television since Johnny Carson was on the air — but also 37 wooden models behind Mr. Fallon’s desk. And not just of familiar landmarks like the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, but less obvious ones, too, including the Hearst Tower, the Pier 17 mall and the Maritime Hotel.
Yet one building is missing that is impossible to miss, and not only from Mr. Fallon’s offices at Rockefeller Center but just about everywhere in New York City: 432 Park Avenue.
On Friday, the 104-unit condominium tower, between 56th and 57th Streets, reached its peak of 1,396 feet. At 96 stories, it is arguably the tallest building in the city. One World Trade Center has its spire, but the skyscraper itself is 28 feet shorter than 432 Park. As for the Empire State Building, this new 93-foot-by-93-foot concrete megalith bests it by nearly 150 feet. From the living room of 432 Park’s penthouses, it is possible to look down on the observation deck there, flash bulbs glittering like an oversize chandelier.
But even more than the views from the apartments, it may be the views of them that give 432 Park its allure. From Central Park, Park Avenue or Park Slope, there it is. On the George Washington Bridge or Long Island Expressway, there it is. In the bleachers at MetLife Stadium or Citi Field, there it is. Everyone from cinematographers and muralists to tourists and snow globe makers must now contend with the tower.
‘It’s almost like the Mona Lisa,’ Harry B. Macklowe, the developer building the $1.3 billion tower, said at a topping-out ceremony on Friday for 1,500 construction workers.
‘Except instead of it looking at you, you’re looking at it wherever you are. You can’t escape it.’
Yet one building is missing that is impossible to miss, and not only from Mr. Fallon’s offices at Rockefeller Center but just about everywhere in New York City: 432 Park Avenue.
On Friday, the 104-unit condominium tower, between 56th and 57th Streets, reached its peak of 1,396 feet. At 96 stories, it is arguably the tallest building in the city. One World Trade Center has its spire, but the skyscraper itself is 28 feet shorter than 432 Park. As for the Empire State Building, this new 93-foot-by-93-foot concrete megalith bests it by nearly 150 feet. From the living room of 432 Park’s penthouses, it is possible to look down on the observation deck there, flash bulbs glittering like an oversize chandelier.
But even more than the views from the apartments, it may be the views of them that give 432 Park its allure. From Central Park, Park Avenue or Park Slope, there it is. On the George Washington Bridge or Long Island Expressway, there it is. In the bleachers at MetLife Stadium or Citi Field, there it is. Everyone from cinematographers and muralists to tourists and snow globe makers must now contend with the tower.
‘It’s almost like the Mona Lisa,’ Harry B. Macklowe, the developer building the $1.3 billion tower, said at a topping-out ceremony on Friday for 1,500 construction workers.
‘Except instead of it looking at you, you’re looking at it wherever you are. You can’t escape it.’
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