200-545: Lever House is a 307-foot-tall (94 m) office building at 390 Park Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . Constructed from 1950 to 1952, the building was designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in the International Style , a 20th-century modern architectural style. It was originally the headquarters of soap company Lever Brothers ,
400-612: A white paper for the LPC, which described Lever House as "undistinguished and not worthy of preservation". George Klein, who was in contract to buy the lease on the building itself from Metropolitan Life, favored landmark status. At the time, Klein was trying to develop a structure on the Jofa Building site and incorporate Lever House into the new development. Lever Brothers also supported the designation, but it had hired its own architectural firm, Welton Becket and Associates, to prepare plans for
600-600: A $ 68 million decrease from the debt's original value. RFR filed two lawsuits against Brookfield and Waterman during late 2019. One was related to the lack of sprinklers in the building, in which RFR was threatened with lease termination, while the other alleged that Waterman Interests had fraudulently taken over the ground lease using confidential information. In May 2020, RFR gave a majority stake in Lever House's operation to Brookfield and WatermanClark. The new owners decided to renovate Lever House, as all tenants had left during
800-544: A 1957 article about architecture on Park Avenue, Ada Louise Huxtable wrote that "the staples of our civilization—soap, whiskey and chemicals" (in reference to Lever House, the Seagram Building, and the Union Carbide Building ) were represented in the "monuments" then being developed on Park Avenue. According to British art critic Reyner Banham in 1962, Lever House "gave architectural expression to an age just as
1000-495: A 40-story building containing three times the floor area. Lever Brothers rejected media reports that it was considering moving to New Jersey. Bunshaft said at the time that he never thought the building's small size would have resulted in its demolition. The plans prompted preservationists to request that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) consider designating the building as
1200-558: A 60- to 65-story tower with an 18-story base, and space underneath for Park Avenue and 43rd Street to run through the building. Copies of Burnham's proposal no longer exist, but it followed the lines of the City Beautiful movement . The railroad ultimately chose the design offered by Reed and Stem, experienced railway-station designers who proposed vehicular viaducts around the terminal and ramps between its two-passenger levels. Warren and Wetmore were also selected to co-design
1400-544: A car house, and a stable and horseshoeing shop for the horses that pulled Harlem Railroad carriages from 42nd Street to Madison Square. Vanderbilt developed a proposal to unite the three railroads at a single central station, replacing the separate and adjacent stations that created chaos in baggage transfer. The three lines would meet at Mott Haven, then run on the Harlem Railroad's tracks along Park Avenue in Manhattan to
1600-507: A city landmark. On November 9, 1982, the LPC designated Lever House as a landmark. LPC rules specified that New York City individual landmarks be at least 30 years old, making Lever House the city's youngest landmark at that time. It was also the first time that the LPC had ever granted landmark status to a building that was exactly 30 years old. Fisher Brothers opposed the landmark status. The firm in charge of designing Fisher Brothers' proposed building, Swanke Hayden Connell Architects , prepared
1800-449: A continuation of those on Fourth Avenue; for example, 225 Park Avenue South was originally known as 225 Fourth Avenue. Above 32nd Street, for the remainder of its distance, it is known as Park Avenue, a 140-foot-wide (43 m) boulevard. The address numbers for Park Avenue are reset above 32nd Street; for example, the address 1 Park Avenue would ordinarily have been numbered 461 Fourth Avenue. Between 33rd Street and 40th Street ,
2000-453: A cost of $ 3 million, and opened in February 1930. In 1913 when the terminal opened, J. P. Carey leased 12 square feet (1.1 m ) and opened a shop adjacent to and one level below the terminal's waiting room (now Vanderbilt Hall). Carey's business expanded to include a barbershop, laundry service, shoe store, and haberdashery , all under the name J. P. Carey & Co. In 1921, Carey also ran
2200-532: A durable stone to use on Grand Central's facade, and thus pillars made of a different varieties of stone were installed in the woods (now by the John Kieran Nature Trail, which opened in 1987 ).The variety eventually chosen was Indiana limestone . Meanwhile, Wilgus, who had been tapped to lead the project, started to figure out ways to build the new terminal efficiently. To prevent interrupting railroad service, he decided to demolish, excavate, and build
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#17328440624642400-555: A gas explosion . Eight people were killed and many others were injured. In 2019, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority provided funding for repairs to the roof of the Grand Central Terminal train shed. The train shed is located under Park Avenue and surrounding streets from 43rd to 57th Street, and the repairs to the train shed's roof involved reconstructing parts of Park Avenue. In August 2024,
2600-436: A law to ban all steam trains in Manhattan beginning on July 1, 1908. By December 1902, as part of an agreement with the city, New York Central agreed to put the approach to Grand Central Station from 46th to 59th Streets in an open cut under Park Avenue, and to upgrade the tracks to accommodate electric trains. Overpasses would be built across the open cut at most of the cross-streets. All this prompted Wilgus—who had become
2800-458: A limousine service using Packard cars, and in the 1930s, he added regular car and bus service to the city's airports as they opened. The businesses were very successful due to their location and show windows that Carey installed. Terminal shops were known to inflate prices, so the Carey businesses displayed affordable items with visible price tags in its show windows, as opposed to the norm of displaying
3000-401: A mail conveyor system. During the building's 2020s renovation, the ceiling heights were increased, and the curtain wall was thinned, creating slightly more office space at the perimeter. Unilever was formed in 1929 from the merger of British soap company Lever Brothers Limited and Dutch margarine firm Margarine Unie . Unilever's United States subsidiary was known as Lever Brothers Company and
3200-413: A median strip that covered the railroad's ventilation grates, and renamed Park Avenue. Eight footbridges crossed the tracks between 45th and 56th streets; vehicles crossed on overpasses at 45th and 48th streets. Traffic at Grand Central Depot grew quickly, filling its 12 tracks to capacity by the mid-1880s, not the late 1890s or early 1900s as expected. In 1885, a seven-track annex with five platforms
3400-413: A median strip that covered the railroad's ventilation grates. Eight footbridges crossed the tracks between 45th and 56th Streets, and there were also vehicular overpasses at 45th and 48th Streets. The boulevard north of Grand Central was renamed Park Avenue in 1888. A fatal collision between two trains occurred under Park Avenue in 1902, in part because the smoke coming from the steam trains obscured
3600-586: A member of the Board of Estimate, published a letter to the other board members in which he asked them to support designation. The Board of Estimate ratified the landmark status that March. The landmark status was approved with a slim 6–5 majority, as all five of the city's borough presidents voted against the designation. Lever House's preservation was described by The Christian Science Monitor as "sparking heated debate only in New York City" because, nationally, there
3800-428: A new hub station at 42nd Street. By 1869, Vanderbilt had commissioned John B. Snook to design his new station, dubbed Grand Central Depot , on the site of the 42nd Street depot. The site was far outside the limits of the developed city at the time, and even Vanderbilt's backers warned against building the terminal in such an undeveloped area. Snook worked with engineers Isaac Buckhout and R.G. Buckfield to design
4000-436: A new level among world capitals". Following Lever House's completion, several glass-wall skyscrapers such as the Seagram Building and 28 Liberty Street were built in New York City, and similar structures were erected elsewhere. Commercial buildings were developed on the adjacent blocks of Park Avenue, and many of the residential structures on that street were replaced with largely commercial International Style skyscrapers during
4200-670: A new station beneath the terminal, was completed in January 2023. Grand Central Terminal arose from a need to build a central station for the Hudson River Railroad , the New York and Harlem Railroad , and the New York and New Haven Railroad in what is now Midtown Manhattan. The Harlem Railroad was the first of these railroads to operate, having been incorporated in 1831. The railroad had been extended to Harlem , in upper Manhattan, by 1837. The first railroad structure of any kind on
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#17328440624644400-425: A one-story " taxpayer " building that was intended to preserve the site for future development. The two rowhouses at 62 and 64 East 54th Street remained standing. Lever House was designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in the International Style , a 20th-century modern architectural style. Lever House, the Seagram Building, the former Union Carbide Building , and
4600-402: A pool is at the center of the plaza. Lever House's plaza is legally a privately owned public space . To protect against adverse possession , wherein the city government takes over ownership of the plaza, the building's owners have closed the plaza to the public for one day every year since its completion. Within the ground-story plaza are rectangular columns clad in stainless steel, which support
4800-448: A rectangular slab atop the northern portion of the site, occupying a quarter of the total lot area. The slab is only 53 feet (16 m) wide along Park Avenue, allowing all offices to be within 25 feet (7.6 m) of a window and thereby providing large amounts of natural light to tenants. Along 54th Street, the slab is 180 feet (55 m) wide. The slab's positioning, with the shorter side along Park Avenue, allowed more natural light from
5000-469: A shallow open cut , while the segment between 56th and 97th Streets, which was in a rock cut, would be covered over. After the improvements were completed in 1874, the railroads, approaching Grand Central Depot from the north, descended into the Park Avenue Tunnel at 96th Street and continued underground into the new depot. As part of the project, Fourth Avenue was transformed into a boulevard with
5200-403: A shallow open cut , while the segment between 56th and 97th streets, which was in a rock cut, would be covered over. The improvements were completed in 1874, allowing trains approaching Grand Central Depot from the north to descend into the Park Avenue Tunnel at 96th Street and continue underground into the new depot. As part of the project, Fourth Avenue was transformed into a boulevard with
5400-428: A skeleton of steel cellular beams , with floor plates made of reinforced concrete. Small sections of the floor slabs outside the restrooms, elevator lobbies, and service core are supported by concrete arches. The dropped ceilings on each story are about 9 feet (2.7 m) high. The floor-to-floor height, as measured between the floor slabs of adjacent stories, is 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 m). The west end of
5600-661: A slab occupying the northern one-quarter of the site. The slab design was chosen because it conformed with the city's 1916 Zoning Resolution while avoiding the use of setbacks . There is about 260,000 square feet (24,000 m) of interior space in Lever House, making it much smaller than comparable office buildings in Midtown Manhattan. The construction of Lever House changed Park Avenue in Midtown from an avenue with masonry apartment buildings to one with International-style office buildings. Several other structures worldwide copied
5800-430: A southbound train overran signals in the smoky Park Avenue Tunnel and collided with another southbound train, killing 15 people and injuring more than 30 others. A week later, New York Central president William H. Newman announced that all of the railroad's suburban lines to Grand Central would be electrified, and the approach to the station would be put underground. The New York state legislature subsequently passed
6000-461: A study of the feasibility of electric trains. The building's construction started in 1903 and it was opened on February 2, 1913. The terminal continued to grow until after World War II, when train traffic started to decline. In the 1950s and 1970s, there were two separate proposals to demolish Grand Central, though both were unsuccessful. The terminal was given several official landmark designations during this period. Minor improvements occurred through
6200-476: A subsidiary of Unilever . Lever House was the second skyscraper in New York City with a glass curtain wall , after the United Nations Secretariat Building . The building has 21 office stories topped by a triple-height mechanical section. At the ground story is a courtyard and public space, with the second story overhanging the plaza on a set of columns. The remaining stories are designed as
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6400-544: A survey course in American architecture that doesn't mention Lever House." According to the LPC, Lever House's design was widely seen by historians as a major advancement in the International Style. Charles Jencks called Lever House's curtain wall a step in "penultimate development and acceptance" of the International Style, while Robert Furneaux Jordan felt the building's court "set a precedent that may lift New York to
6600-408: A temporary station during construction. The construction project was enormous. About 3.2 million cubic yards (2,400,000 m ) of the ground were excavated at depths of up to 10 floors, with 1,000 cubic yards (760 m ) of debris being removed from the site daily. Over 10,000 workers were assigned to put 118,597 short tons (107,589 t) of steel and 33 miles (53 km) of track inside
6800-494: A terminal with separate levels for commuter and intercity railroads; a main concourse with ramps to the lower concourse and the IRT subway station ; an expansive waiting room; a hotel on Madison Avenue; and a viaduct surrounding the 12-story building above the station building. New York Central also planned to eliminate railroad crossings in the Bronx, as well as straighten out and add tracks to
7000-457: A time could be taken out of service. Despite the scale of the project, no pedestrians were hurt during construction. The first bite, which covered the area along Lexington Avenue, required the demolition of more than 200 buildings — and the eviction of hundreds of people from their homes — on a 17-acre (6.9 ha) plot of land bounded by Madison and Lexington avenues between 50th and 45th streets. O'Rourke soon fell behind schedule, and soon it
7200-619: A tour of the building and a ceremony attended by mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri . Lever Brothers leased the building from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company , taking over the responsibility of maintaining it. The New York Times estimated that the promotional value of Lever House amounted to $ 1 million per year, substantially more than the estimated $ 200,000 annual loss due to the lack of retail shops. The building also had an average of 40,000 yearly visitors, many of whom were architecture students, and employee turnover
7400-516: A transfer would be applicable to Lever House. Accordingly, the landmark designation caused an impasse between the Fisher Brothers, Klein, and Lever Brothers. Both developers' plans were based on full control of the building and land, as well as lease negotiations with Lever Brothers, whose lease was still active for another twenty-seven years. Lever Brothers sued the Fisher Brothers in June 1983, alleging
7600-715: A waiting room, a display kitchen, and an auditorium. Within the lobby are glass display cases with steel edges, which originally showcased Lever Brothers' products. Since 2003, the building's owner Aby Rosen has used the plaza and lobby as a gallery for the Lever House Art Collection. Exhibitions have included such works as Virgin Mother by Damien Hirst , Bride Fight by E.V. Day , The Hulks by Jeff Koons , The Snow Queen by Rachel Feinstein , Robert Towne by Sarah Morris , and several sculptures by Keith Haring and Tom Sachs . A 6,500-square-foot (600 m) portion of
7800-471: A westward addition to the tower, the elevators could serve the addition. An emergency stair was placed near the center of the building rather than in the core, thereby providing additional office space along the northern frontage of the building. According to the New York City Department of City Planning , Lever House has a gross floor area of 262,945 square feet (24,428.4 m). All of the space
8000-577: A whole declined slightly during the Great Depression . Regulations from the Interstate Commerce Commission and competition from automobile traffic were cited as factors in this decline. The railroad's finances were also put in danger because of the large amounts of debt incurred during the construction of Grand Central Terminal and Terminal City. New York Central's debt had grown from $ 299 million in 1911 to $ 377 million in 1914. By 1932,
8200-556: Is 89 percent advertising [...] and the advertising agencies of America were there." In designing Lever House, SOM focused on the fact that Lever Brothers wanted 150,000 square feet (14,000 m) of office space all to itself. Luckman left Lever Brothers in January 1950 because of unspecified disagreements with British and Dutch executives of Unilever. Luckman went to design several buildings of his own, initially prompting false speculation that Lever Brothers had fired him due to Lever House's design. Final plans for Lever House were filed with
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8400-471: Is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx . For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east. Park Avenue's entire length was formerly called Fourth Avenue ; the title still applies to the section between Cooper Square and 14th Street . The avenue
8600-406: Is atop the 21st floor and includes air conditioning machinery, elevator machinery and a water tower. On each floor, about 6,000 square feet (560 m) is used for office space, excluding area taken up by closets, elevators, restrooms, and walls. At Lever House's completion, much of Lever Brothers' staff was female, so the offices were designed as spaces that "women would enjoy working in". As such,
8800-515: Is called Union Square East between 14th and 17th Streets , and Park Avenue South between 17th and 32nd Streets . Because of its designation as the widest avenue on Manhattan's East Side, Park Avenue originally carried the tracks of the New York and Harlem Railroad built in the 1830s, just a few years after the adoption of the Manhattan street grid . The railroad's right-of-way at ground level forced foot and carriage traffic onto either side of
9000-683: Is continued on the other side of the river in the Bronx . In the Bronx, Park Avenue begins at East 135th Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood. The entire avenue is divided by Metro-North's own right of way in the borough. Between East 135th Street to East 173rd Street, Park Avenue is one way only in either direction in most sections. North of East 173rd Street it is a two way avenue continuing to Fordham Plaza where it ends. The following institutions are either headquartered or have significant business presences on Park Avenue: In north-south order: Metro-North Railroad 's Grand Central Terminal , serving
9200-463: Is located at the northern end of the road. Explanatory notes Citations Further reading Construction of Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal is a major commuter rail terminal in Midtown Manhattan , New York City, serving the Metro-North Railroad 's Harlem , Hudson and New Haven Lines . It is the most recent of three functionally similar buildings on
9400-451: Is now Hudson Yards . When the city banned steam trains below 42nd Street c. 1857–1858 , the Harlem and New Haven Railroads' southern terminal was moved there. The Hudson River Railroad, meanwhile, was limited to the west side of Manhattan, away from the development that was concentrated on the east side. The business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt , who operated steamboats along
9600-413: Is walk." A further consideration was that Lever Brothers wished for the building to be a corporate symbol for itself, rather than being shared with other tenants. In addition to its 21 usable stories and triple-height mechanical space, the building contained an employees' parking garage in the basement. The enclosed section of the ground floor was largely oriented toward public use, with space for displays,
9800-579: The 7 and <7> trains, opened in 1915, two years after Grand Central Terminal's opening. The IRT Lexington Avenue Line platforms, served by the 4 , 5 , 6 , and <6> trains, opened in 1918. The Grand Central Art Galleries opened in the terminal in 1923. The space was operated by the Painters and Sculptors Gallery Association, founded by artists John Singer Sargent , Edmund Greacen , Walter Leighton Clark , and others. At its opening,
10000-477: The E and M trains, is less than a block west along 53rd Street. The site, which was part of Charles McEvers's farm in the early 19th century, had been developed by the 1870s with four- and five-story row houses. By the late 19th century, the Park Avenue railroad line ran in an open cut in the middle of Park Avenue. The line was covered with the construction of Grand Central Terminal in
10200-581: The Marguery , Park Lane, and Waldorf Astoria . In 1929, New York Central built its headquarters in a 34-story building (now called the Helmsley Building ), straddling Park Avenue north of the terminal. The Park Avenue Viaduct reroutes Park Avenue around Grand Central Terminal between 40th and 46th Streets, allowing Park Avenue traffic to traverse around the building and over 42nd Street without encumbering nearby streets. The western (now southbound) leg of
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#173284406246410400-410: The 6 and <6> trains, while the 14th Street-Union Square station is served by the 4 , 5 , 6 , <6> , L , N , Q , R , and W trains. The following bus routes serve Park Avenue: No buses run along Park Avenue in the Bronx, although Fordham Plaza Bus Terminal
10600-487: The COVID-19 pandemic . In July 2021, SOM proposed restoring the building's historic design elements, replacing non-historic features, and adding an entrance to Casa Lever from the ground story. A lounge for tenants and visitors would be created on the third floor, and a new HVAC system would be installed. Additionally, the architects planned to replace or clean the finishings and re-landscape Lever House's plaza. The LPC approved
10800-527: The Chrysler Building ; luxury apartment houses along Park Avenue; and an array of high-end hotels. The Commodore Hotel , built on the east side of Grand Central Terminal, was opened in 1919. Terminal City was mostly complete by the late 1920s with the completion of the Graybar Building in 1927 and the Helmsley Building in 1929. The development of Terminal City also included the construction of
11000-498: The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 . From 14th Street to 17th Street , it forms the eastern boundary of Union Square and is known as Union Square East ; its southbound lanes merge with Broadway south of 15th Street, and the thoroughfare divides into two distinct portions in the one-block section between 14th and 15th Streets. From 17th Street to 32nd Street , it is known as Park Avenue South . Address numbers on Park Avenue South are
11200-776: The Harlem Line , Hudson Line , and New Haven Line , is at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. The MNR's Park Avenue main line runs along Park Avenue in both boroughs between Grand Central and Fordham station , with stations in between at 125th Street , 162nd Street , and Tremont Avenue . The New York City Subway 's adjacent Grand Central–42nd Street station serves the 4 , 5 , 6 , <6> , 7 , <7> , and S trains. The IRT Lexington Avenue Line additionally runs under Park Avenue and its extensions from 41st to 8th Streets. The 33rd Street , 28th Street , 23rd Street , and Astor Place stations are served by
11400-695: The Helmsley Building (also referred to as the New York Central Building or 230 Park Avenue). The IRT Lexington Avenue Line runs under this portion of the street. Once the line reaches Grand Central–42nd Street , it shifts east to Lexington Avenue . As Park Avenue enters Midtown north of Grand Central Terminal, it is distinguished by many glass-box skyscrapers that serve as headquarters for corporations and investment banks such as Société Générale , JPMorgan Chase at 270 Park Avenue and 277 Park Avenue , UBS at 299 Park Avenue , Citigroup at 399 Park Avenue , Colgate-Palmolive , and MetLife at
11600-500: The Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . The land lot has a frontage of 200 feet (61 m) on Park Avenue, 192 feet (59 m) on 54th Street, and 155 feet (47 m) on 53rd Street, giving the lot a slight L shape. The lot has an area of 34,844 square feet (3,237.1 m). The Banco Santander building on 53rd Street abuts Lever House to the west, and the DuMont Building and Hotel Elysée on 54th Street occupy
11800-537: The New York City Department of Buildings in April 1950. The plans were publicized the same month. Demolition of the four buildings on Lever House's site was scheduled to commence immediately after the plans were announced. The George A. Fuller Company received the contract to construct Lever House in August. A topping out ceremony for the steel frame occurred in April 1951. The building officially opened on April 29, 1952, with
12000-691: The New York City Rapid Transit Commission was planning to give the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) the right to construct an underground subway route around Grand Central Station, which would preempt New York Central's rights to build underground. Wilgus' letter also proposed replacing the two-year-old station with a new two-level electric train terminal, which would allow a larger yard to be built. The terminal would include balloon loops to allow trains to turn around without changing direction. To offset
12200-464: The Park Avenue Viaduct , surrounding the station; one leg of the viaduct opened in 1919, and another part of the viaduct opened in 1928. The electrification of the commuter lines and subsequent completion of Grand Central Terminal contributed to the development of affluent suburbs in the lower Hudson Valley and southwestern Connecticut. This trend had been observed as early as 1907, following
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#173284406246412400-630: The Pepsi-Cola Building are considered part of a grouping of International Style structures developed on Park Avenue from 46th to 59th Street during the mid-20th century. Although the building was completed in 1952, the design largely incorporates ideas first proposed by Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the 1920s. The building was constructed by main contractor George A. Fuller Company, with Jaros, Baum & Bolles as mechanical engineers; Weiskopf & Pickworth as structural engineers; and Raymond Loewy Associates as interior designers. It
12600-465: The Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad . Concurrently, the Harlem Railroad expanded in the area around the 42nd Street depot, which at the time was still sparsely developed. By the mid-1860s, the railroad owned 11 parcels bounded by 42nd and 48th streets on either side of Fourth Avenue, between Lexington Avenue and Madison Avenue . The structures on these parcels included two locomotive sheds,
12800-490: The 1916 Zoning Resolution had allowed structures to rise without setbacks above a given level if all subsequent stories covered no more than 25 percent of the land lot. This theoretically allowed the construction of slab skyscrapers of unlimited height. In practice, Lever House was the city's first high-rise building to take advantage of this provision. Previous skyscrapers developed under this zoning code had been developed with setbacks as they rose. If all stories had contained
13000-582: The 1950s and 1960s. One of the Seagram Building's architects, Philip Johnson , cited Lever House specifically as a forebear to his structure. Lever House's design was also copied internationally; as Nicholas Adams wrote in 2019, "Lever House had represented a clarion call for modernity, and it was widely imitated." These structures included the Banco de Bogotá headquarters in Bogotá in 1960; Ankara 's Emek Business Center , Turkey's first curtain-walled skyscraper, in 1965;
13200-583: The 1970s and 1980s, followed by an extensive rehabilitation in the mid- and late 1990s. From 1913 to 1991, Grand Central was also a major intercity terminal. In its latter years as an intercity station, all trains traveling along Amtrak 's Empire Corridor —the former main line of the New York Central—originated and terminated at Grand Central. In 1991, Amtrak consolidated its New York City services at nearby Penn Station . The East Side Access project, which brought Long Island Rail Road service to
13400-412: The 1980s, relatively few preservationists were concerned about the demolition of curtain walls that had been completed between the 1950s and the 1970s. Preservationists only started to express concern in 1982, after Fisher Brothers had signed a contract to purchase the fee position for the underlying land. The firm wished to replace Lever House, as well as the neighboring Jofa Building on 53rd Street, with
13600-408: The 1980s, the building's blue-green glass facade deteriorated due to weather and the limitations of the original fabrication and materials. Water seeped behind the vertical mullions, causing the carbon steel within and around the glazing pockets to rust and expand. This corrosion led to most of the spandrel glass panels breaking. At least some of these structural failures were attributed to the fact that
13800-809: The Board of Estimate had enough votes to uphold the building's landmark designation, since several board members had expressed their wish that the site be redeveloped more lucratively. Among the reasons Fisher Brothers had cited in their attempt to replace Lever House was the structure's deteriorated condition. Welton Becket and Associates estimated the cost of restoring Lever House at between $ 12 and 15 million. In February 1983, Fisher Brothers publicized plans for its 40-story tower, which they claimed would create 1,500 jobs and generate $ 9.4 million annually in taxes. The same month, several hundred preservationists, such as architect Philip Johnson and former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis , protested in favor of ratifying Lever House's landmark designation. Mayor Ed Koch ,
14000-521: The Galleries extended over most of the terminal's sixth floor, 15,000 square feet (1,400 m ), and offered eight main exhibition rooms, a foyer gallery, and a reception area. The official opening on March 22, 1923, was attended by 5,000 people. A year after it opened, the galleries established the Grand Central School of Art , which occupied 7,000 square feet (650 m ) on the seventh floor of
14200-501: The Hudson Division. Excavations were only performed if there were available tracks to accommodate the work trains. Although construction continued around the clock, workers often halted every few minutes to allow trains to pass, and a smaller crew worked during the day than in the night. In addition, since Grand Central Station saw 800 trains per day, rock-blasting for excavation could only be performed at night, and only one track at
14400-620: The Hudson River, started buying the Harlem Railroad's stock in 1863. By the next year, he also controlled the Hudson River Railroad. Vanderbilt attempted to get permission to merge the railroads in 1864, but Daniel Drew , a one-time competitor in the steamboat industry, bribed state legislators to scuttle the proposal. Drew unsuccessfully attempted to short-sell Harlem and New York Central stock, and Vanderbilt made large profits after buying stock in both companies. Vanderbilt became
14600-511: The Jofa site. The landmark status had to be ratified by the New York City Board of Estimate to become binding. If the landmark status was ratified, the building could not be demolished unless the landmark status caused significant economic hardship even with tax exemptions. The Board of Estimate was to vote on the landmark designation in January 1982, but this was delayed. It was unknown whether
14800-503: The Korein estate to sell the unused development rights from Lever House for up to $ 75 million. The rezoning was passed in 2016, enabling the Korein estate to sell the development rights. At the same time, although RFR had an annual ground lease payment of $ 6 million, the company faced a steep increase to $ 20 million when the lease was scheduled to reset in 2023. Because of the ground lease, RFR had trouble refinancing Lever House. By early 2018, RFR
15000-650: The MetLife Building. From 47th to 97th Streets, the tracks for Metro-North Railroad 's Park Avenue main line run in the Park Avenue Tunnel underneath Park Avenue. At 97th Street, the tracks come above ground, rising onto the other Manhattan structure known as the Park Avenue Viaduct. The first street to pass under the viaduct is 102nd Street; from there to the Harlem River the railroad viaduct runs down
15200-620: The New Haven Railroad arrived on October 16; and the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad on November 1, eight days later than planned. The terminal consisted of a three-story head house as well as a train shed to the north and east of the head house. The head house was an L-shaped structure with a short leg running east–west on 42nd Street and a long leg running north–south on Vanderbilt Avenue. It contained passenger service areas at ground level and railroad offices on
15400-619: The Secretariat, where the narrower sides were faced in solid material, all sides of Lever House's slab are faced in glass. A small portion of the slab's western facade contains a service core with masonry cladding. The curtain wall contains vertical steel mullions , which are connected to the building's floor plates. Each pair of mullions is separated by glass window panes which cannot be opened. These consist of greenish panes for windows on each floor, as well as opaque bluish panels for spandrels between floors. The spandrel panels are separated from
15600-456: The U.S. to measure up to those in Europe. Construction started on September 1, 1869, and the depot was completed by October 1871. The project included the creation of Vanderbilt Avenue , a service road along the depot's western border. To reduce confusion, the railroads staggered their inaugural runs to the new station. The Harlem Railroad switched from its Madison Square depot on October 9, 1871;
15800-534: The United States, and thus additional ticket offices were opened. Mary Lee Read, an organist playing in the terminal from 1928 to the late 1950s, brought commuter traffic to a standstill during the war while playing the U.S. national anthem, and was subsequently asked by the stationmaster not to play the anthem and delay commuters. Also during the war, retired employees rejoined the terminal's staff, and women first began being trained as ticket agents, both to make up for
16000-504: The address numbers of Park Avenue South continued from those on the remaining section of Fourth Avenue. The Pan Am Building (now MetLife Building), in between the Park Avenue Viaduct's legs north of Grand Central Terminal, was opened in 1963. In September 2007, the Metro-North Railroad reached an agreement with the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) to install pedestrian traffic signals along Park Avenue between 46th Street and 56th Street. The two sides had feuded over
16200-514: The age was being born". By contrast, architectural critic Lewis Mumford , writing for The New Yorker in 1958, found the slab "curiously transitory and ephemeral". Henry Hope Reed Jr. , in his 1959 book The Golden City , contrasted a picture of Lever House with one of the Postum Building at 250 Park Avenue, captioning Lever House only with the words "no comment". Art historian Vincent Scully said in 1961 that Lever House's construction divided
16400-548: The avenue contains some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Real estate at 740 Park Avenue , for example, sells for several thousand dollars per square foot. In October 1937, a part of the Murray Hill Tunnel was reopened for road traffic. Efforts to promote a Grand Park Avenue Expressway to Grand Concourse in the Bronx were unsuccessful. A tradition was introduced in 1945 as a memorial to American soldiers killed in action, whereby Christmas trees are placed in
16600-540: The benefit of a developer. Mandel's development at 32nd Street was thus known as 461–477 Fourth Avenue, and the developers of that building sued to reverse the appellate ruling. The New York Court of Appeals , the state's highest court, reversed the appellate ruling in February 1928. Bacon contemplated bringing up the matter with the United States Supreme Court , but she ultimately relented, changing her address to "Park Avenue at 34th" by 1930. In 1927,
16800-465: The building only retained about a half-dozen of its original spandrel panels. The deteriorated steel subframe and rusted mullions and caps were replaced. New panes of 1 ⁄ 4 -inch-thick (6.4 mm) vision glass were installed, which were nearly identical to the originals but met modern energy codes. The curtain wall was also moved 1 ⁄ 4 inch (6.4 mm) outward on all sides. The curtain wall's design caused condensation to accumulate in
17000-408: The building used nine primary color schemes, and the floors, linoleum, desks, and acoustic-tile ceilings were colored gray-beige. Each of the executive offices had their own style, and four of these offices had fireplaces. Gypsum partitions on each of the office floors were attached to the mullions. The building was also constructed with air conditioning on each floor, an automatic fire alarm system, and
17200-432: The building's 1,404 windows could be cleaned within ninety seconds; because the window panes were fixed shut, they could be cleaned in less than one-third of the time it took to clean a sash window . The fixed-position window panes required that the building be air-conditioned, so steel grilles are also installed on the facade for ventilation intake. The curtain wall cost $ 28,000 more compared to normal sash windows , while
17400-481: The building's design. Lever House was intended solely for Lever Brothers' use, and its small size had prompted proposals to redevelop the site with a larger skyscraper. The building was nearly demolished in the 1980s, when Fisher Brothers proposed a 40-story tower on the site; afterward, it was narrowly approved as a New York City designated landmark in 1982 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places
17600-423: The building's only tenant. Shortly before Korein's death in 1998, real estate magnates Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs acquired the building lease, although Korein's family retained the land lease. Under the agreement, Rosen's company RFR Holding was obliged to perform a comprehensive restoration of the facade. RFR negotiated a lease-back deal allowing Unilever to remain on the top four floors. The Korein family remained
17800-459: The building, The design also incorporated air rights above the tracks, as had Wilgus's original proposal. Nepotism may have played a role in the selection of Reed & Stem—one partner, Charles A. Reed, was Wilgus's brother-in-law, and the official reason for their selection was that Reed & Stem's plan contained "an elevated driveway around the Terminal". Family ties definitely accounted for
18000-511: The building. They installed ramps of different angles and watched as people of a variety of ages, heights, and weights walked up and down them, in unblinded and blind trials . The incline chosen was 8 degrees, reportedly gentle enough for a child to toddle from a train to 42nd Street. One additional test took place in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, where 13 stone pillars were erected and allowed to weather. The architects wanted to choose
18200-558: The city government began soliciting bids for the reconstruction of Park Avenue's median between 46th and 57th Streets. The project was to include additional plantings, benches, and concessions. The road that becomes Park Avenue originates at the Bowery . From Cooper Square at 8th Street to Union Square at 14th Street , it is known as Fourth Avenue , a 70-foot-wide (21 m) road carrying northbound traffic. At 14th Street, it turns slightly northeast to align with other avenues drawn up in
18400-402: The city. Upon its completion, the same journal wrote, "it is the shape of this building which is impressive, more even than the gleaming materials". New York Times architectural critic Aline B. Louchheim wrote that Lever House was "beautiful as well as functional". British art historian Nikolaus Pevsner told The New York Times shortly afterward, "The fact that such an extraordinary building
18600-489: The completion of electrification. Well-to-do passengers were likely to travel to destinations served by electric trains that ran directly from Grand Central, such as Greenwich or Larchmont , while less wealthy passengers were likely to get off at stops that were further away, such as Stamford or New Rochelle . New York Central promoted new private suburban developments through its “Four-Track Series" magazine. Following Grand Central Terminal's completion, traffic to and from
18800-415: The construction of Depew Place, a marginal road on the east side of the annex named for longtime Vanderbilt lawyer Chauncey Depew and meant to complement Vanderbilt Avenue on the station's west side. The train yards were also expanded, and various maintenance sheds were moved to Mott Haven. Grand Central Depot reached its capacity again by 1897, when it saw 11.5 million passengers a year. To accommodate
19000-590: The construction of Grand Central Terminal alone was expected to cost $ 100 million. The New York Central Railroad tested third-rail-powered electric trains in 1904, using a fleet of new MU Sprague-GE cars from the General Electric Company , and found that their speeds were adequate for service into Grand Central. Over the next few years, the New York Central and New Haven Railroads electrified their tracks, allowing trains to enter Grand Central Terminal upon its completion. The first electric train departed for
19200-438: The costs of construction and of acquiring the expensive new land that would be required—Grand Central proper only covered three blocks—he proposed to superimpose over the terminal a 12-story, 2,300,000-square-foot (210,000 m ) building whose rents would bring in gross annual income of either $ 1.35 million or $ 2.3 million. In March 1903, Wilgus presented a more detailed proposal to the New York Central board, describing
19400-530: The cracks of the curtain wall over the years. The renovation also included the addition of marble benches, as well as a sculpture garden with works by Isamu Noguchi , to the building's plaza. Ken Smith Landscape Architect had proposed revising one of Noguchi's two unbuilt designs for a sculpture garden, but the Noguchi Foundation had rejected the proposals, leading Smith to redesign the garden using eight of Noguchi's sculptures. These elements had been part of
19600-546: The cross-streets. The new electric-train terminal, Grand Central Terminal , was opened in 1913. After the electric trains were buried underground, the area around Park Avenue in the vicinity of Grand Central was developed into several blocks worth of prime real estate called Terminal City . Stretching from 42nd to 51st Streets between Madison and Lexington Avenues, it came to include the Chrysler Building and other prestigious office buildings; luxury apartment houses along Park Avenue; and an array of high-end hotels that included
19800-523: The crowds, the railroads expanded the head house from three to six stories, enlarged the concourse at a cost of $ 2.5 million to connect the three railroads' separate waiting rooms, and increased the combined areas of the waiting rooms from 12,000 to 28,000 square feet (1,100 to 2,600 m ). Foyers were added to the west, south, and east sides of the station; women's waiting rooms, smoking rooms, and restrooms were also added. The tracks that previously continued south of 42nd Street were removed. The train yard
20000-514: The decision to hire Warren and Wetmore as co-designers: Cornelius Vanderbilt's grandson William insisted upon employing the firm co-founded by his cousin Whitney Warren . Warren was an alumnus of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts , which influenced his final design for the building. The two firms entered an agreement to act as the associated architects of Grand Central Terminal in February 1904. Reed and Stem were responsible for
20200-457: The design, such as Louchheim, who found the interiors and the penthouse offices unappealing. The architect Frank Lloyd Wright called Lever House a "box on sticks" in a 1952 speech at the Waldorf Astoria , while Edward P. Morgan said the same year that "a 10-year-old boy could have done better with a Meccano set". The building continued to receive mixed reception after its completion. In
20400-404: The double glazing cost $ 135,000 and the window-washing equipment cost $ 50,000. However, the air conditioning system saved $ 90,000 in upfront costs, and it also saved $ 3,600 per year on energy costs and $ 1,000 per year on costs caused by hot and cold air escaping. The fixed window panes also saved $ 2,000 a year on window-washing costs compared to sash windows. The internal superstructure consists of
20600-483: The early 20th century, spurring development in the surrounding area, which was known as Terminal City . The adjacent stretch of Park Avenue became a wealthy neighborhood with upscale apartments. Twenty-two rowhouses on 53rd and 54th Streets, owned by Robert Walton Goelet , formerly stood on Lever House's site. Twenty of these were demolished in 1936 and replaced by the Art Deco Normandie Theater, as well as
20800-558: The east wing of the terminal. The school was directed by Sargent and Daniel Chester French . The Grand Central School of Art remained in the east wing until 1944. In 1958, the Grand Central Art Galleries moved out of the terminal, to the Biltmore Hotel . A power and heating plant had been built in conjunction with the terminal, on the east side of Park Avenue between 49th and 50th streets. The plant provided power to
21000-476: The eleven intersections and the renovation of the sidewalks and streets around Grand Central to prevent rainwater from seeping into the tunnel. Car traffic in this area had been controlled by traffic lights on a pole at each intersection in the middle of the median, instead of the usual four from each direction, resulting in a relatively high rate of pedestrian injuries. Additional traffic lights and pedestrian signals had not been added because this area of Park Avenue
21200-432: The employees' lounge and medical suite. It contains 22,000 square feet (2,000 m) of space. The second floor has also been used for artwork, such as in 2018, when the second and ground floors were lit as part of Peter Halley 's New York, New York . Above the southern three-quarters of the building was a third-story roof terrace clad with red tile, which was outfitted with shuffleboard courts for employees. Inside
21400-556: The final structure. The excavation produced too much spoil for horse-drawn wagons, which at the time could carry 3 or 4 cubic yards (2.3 or 3.1 m ) apiece, so a 0.5-mile-long (0.80 km), 6-foot-wide (1.8 m) drainage tube was sunk 65 feet (20 m) under the ground to the East River. O'Rourke also carried waste away by train, using hopper cars to transport rock and earth to a landfill in Croton-on-Hudson, New York , via
21600-465: The first Madison Square Garden . The New Haven Railroad was chartered in 1849 and had trackage rights to operate on the Harlem Railroad's tracks from Wakefield, Bronx , to Manhattan. The Hudson River Railroad did not have any trackage rights with the Harlem Railroad, so it ran in Manhattan separately along what would become the West Side Line , terminating at Tenth Avenue and 30th Street in what
21800-481: The first restaurant to open at Lever House. The windowless restaurant space, which was designed by Marc Newson , covered 6,500 square feet (600 m) and was hidden behind the public plaza's western wall. The restaurant closed in early 2009 and was replaced by Casa Lever, which opened later that year. In the early 2010s, the administration of mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed the Midtown East rezoning, which allowed
22000-427: The glass, projecting about 1 inch (25 mm) from the outer surface of the glass panels. During nighttime, one of every five mullions is lit. Venetian blinds were used to reduce glare. During a renovation in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the curtain wall was moved forward by 1 ⁄ 4 inch (6.4 mm). The curtain wall was intended to reduce the cost of operating and maintaining the property and, as designed,
22200-418: The ground story was converted into a restaurant in 2003, with rounded walls, five dining niches, and a 22-seat private balcony. As of 2023, the restaurant space is occupied by Casa Lever, whose design includes alcoves with black leather upholstery, black-and-white terrazzo floors, and banquette booths with wood frames. The second and largest floor contained fan, stock, mail, and stenography rooms, in addition to
22400-445: The ground-story lobby near the northern half of the lot. The elevators and an auditorium and display area on the same floor are within a black marble enclosure at the northwestern corner of the building. At the lot's northwestern corner, a vehicular ramp from the western section of the 54th Street frontage leads to the basement garage and a loading dock. A white marble enclosure with stainless steel doors encloses an emergency exit stair at
22600-582: The high-rise tower of Berlin 's Europa-Center in 1965; and the Hydroproject headquarters in Moscow in 1968. Lever House's influence also spread to Scandinavia with Copenhagen 's SAS Radisson , designed in 1960, as well as numerous consular offices in Germany, designed in the 1950s by SOM. According to Adams, the design was ultimately copied more than a dozen times around the world. Park Avenue Park Avenue
22800-585: The issue since 1982, when Penn Central controlled the Park Avenue Tunnel. In 1997, the NYCDOT commissioner stated that signals would be installed during an upcoming phase of reconstruction in the Grand Central area. The $ 35 million project, whose cost was split between Metro-North and the city, was approved by the MTA Board later that month. It called for the installation of 12 pedestrian signals and 8 traffic signals at
23000-433: The landscape of Park Avenue without regard to the existing architecture, At the building's 25th anniversary in 1977, architectural critic Paul Goldberger wrote that Lever House had been "a stunning act of corporate philanthropy". Architectural historian William H. Jordy thought Lever House was a paragon for buildings developed after World War II, while Goldberger wrote in his 1979 book The City Observed that Lever House
23200-455: The late 1890s and early 1900s, so did the problems of smoke and soot produced by steam locomotives in the Park Avenue Tunnel, the only approach to the station. In 1899, William J. Wilgus , the New York Central's chief engineer, proposed electrifying the lines leading to the station, using a third rail power system devised by Frank J. Sprague . Railroad executives approved the plan, but shelved it as too expensive. On January 8, 1902,
23400-507: The latter was still attempting to gain ownership of Lever House so it could be demolished, thereby breaking Lever Brothers' lease. The Fisher Brothers relented that October, agreeing to sell its fee position to Klein. Sarah Korein acquired the land under Lever House from the Goelet estate in 1985, though Unilever continued to lease the building. Her daughter, Elysabeth Kleinhans, recalled that Korein referred to Lever House as her "Mona Lisa". Through
23600-697: The lease was to run for sixty years. The main broker behind the transaction, S. Dudley Nostrand, won the award for the "most ingenious and beneficial Manhattan real estate transaction of 1949" from the Title Guarantee and Trust Company. On October 5, 1949, Lever Brothers announced a wide-ranging expansion program within the United States. The company's president, Charles Luckman , announced the executive offices would be moved from Cambridge to New York City that December, taking temporary space at two buildings in Manhattan. A new executive headquarters known as Lever House, to be built on Park Avenue from 53rd to 54th Street,
23800-584: The leftmost northbound lane descends into the Murray Hill Tunnel . North of 40th Street, the center lanes of Park Avenue rise onto an elevated structure that goes around Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building (formerly the Pan Am Building), carrying each direction of traffic on opposite sides of the buildings. The bridge, one of two structures in Manhattan known as the Park Avenue Viaduct , returns to ground level at 46th Street after going through
24000-426: The magnate Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt created Grand Central Depot for the New York Central & Hudson River, New York and Harlem Railroad , and New Haven railroads. Due to rapid growth, the depot was reconstructed and renamed Grand Central Station by 1900. The current structure, designed by the firms Reed and Stem and Warren and Wetmore , was built after a 1902 crash between two steam trains had prompted
24200-542: The median and lit up on the first Sunday in December at Brick Presbyterian Church . On May 5, 1959, the New York City Council voted 20–1 to change the name of Fourth Avenue between 17th and 32nd Streets to Park Avenue South. The renaming, along with a ban on overhanging signs along the newly renamed Park Avenue South, was intended to improve the character of the avenue. Unlike with the earlier renamings of Park Avenue,
24400-507: The medians on Park Avenue north of Grand Central were trimmed to add one lane of traffic in each direction. This project eliminated the pedestrian path on the medians, as they became much narrower. The median was extended by one block from 96th Street to 97th Street in 1941, creating the only remaining median on Park Avenue with a pedestrian path and seating. In the 1920s the portion of Park Avenue from Grand Central to 96th Street saw extensive apartment building construction. This long stretch of
24600-534: The middle of Park Avenue. Park Avenue in Manhattan ends north of 132nd Street, with connections to the Harlem River Drive . The flowers and greenery in the median of Manhattan's Park Avenue are privately maintained, by the Fund for Park Avenue. The begonia was specifically chosen by the Fund's gardeners because there is no automatic watering system and the floral variety is resilient under hot sun rays. The avenue
24800-403: The modern structure "is a bracing illusion, a gorgeously appointed set." A critic for The Architect's Newspaper said in 2023: "Lever House continues to benefit not only from good bones, but steadfast stewardship." Conversely, Audrey Wachs wrote for Curbed in 2022 that Lever House had become less practical as an office building during the preceding years, existing mostly as a landmark. In 1952,
25000-520: The modern-day site of Grand Central Terminal was a maintenance shed for the Harlem Railroad, built c. 1837 on the west side of Fourth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets. Since the Harlem Railroad had the exclusive right to operate along the east side of Manhattan south of the Harlem River , it originally ran as a steam railroad on street level along Fourth (now Park) Avenue . After the passage of laws prohibiting steam trains in Lower Manhattan,
25200-446: The most expensive and luxury items. Carey would store his merchandise in an unfinished, underground two-story section of the terminal, which railroad employees and maintenance staff began calling "Carey's Hole". The name has remained even as the space has been used for different purposes, including currently as a lounge and dormitory for railroad employees. During World War II , the terminal became heavily used by troops moving across
25400-560: The need for ultra-strong columns to support the upper level. The upper level was covered over in 1910. The second and third bites were harder to construct than the first bite, as these were located over the most active sections of track on the west and center sides of Grand Central. North of the station site, Park Avenue and surrounding streets were raised onto bridges above the tracks. The first and second bites had been completed by 1910. The last train left Grand Central Station at midnight on June 5, 1910, and workers promptly began demolishing
25600-438: The new Grand Central Terminal's architecture to match the grand design of Penn Station. In 1903, New York Central invited four well-known firms and architects to compete for the job: Daniel H. Burnham ; McKim, Mead & White; Reed and Stem ; and Samuel Huckel Jr. All four proposed a station topped by a tower, though Huckel did not seem to have participated significantly in the competition. McKim, Mead & White suggested
25800-612: The new station. The building was nearly finished by this point, although some additions would take place later, including the installation of Glory of Commerce in 1914. The terminal spurred development in the surrounding area, particularly in Terminal City , a commercial and office district created above where the tracks were covered. Land values along Park Avenue and in Terminal City more than tripled from 1904 to 1926. Terminal City would eventually include office buildings such as
26000-754: The new terminal increased considerably. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, Grand Central handled 22.4 million passengers. By 1920, a total of 37 million passengers used the station. However, Grand Central was not the most-used station in New York City after 1919, because Penn Station consistently saw more passengers than Grand Central. Even so, Grand Central's development led to the rapid growth of New York City's northern suburbs. The Bronx's population nearly quadrupled between 1900 and 1920, while Westchester's population more than doubled. In 1918, flags were hung in Grand Central Terminal, honoring railroad employees who were fighting in World War I . One flag read 4,976 for
26200-477: The new terminal proved problematic. Accidents began immediately at the grade crossings along Fourth Avenue from 42nd and 59th streets; seven people died within 12 days of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad's move to Grand Central. The following year, in 1872, Vanderbilt proposed the Fourth Avenue Improvement Project. The tracks between 48th and 56th streets were to be moved into
26400-425: The next year. In 1997, Unilever relocated most of its offices out of Lever House, and Aby Rosen 's RFR Realty took over the building. After SOM renovated the building between 2000 and 2001, Lever House was used as a standard office building with multiple tenants. SOM conducted another renovation in the early 2020s. Lever House is at 390 Park Avenue , on the western sidewalk between 53rd Street and 54th Street , in
26600-501: The north and south facades. This design also served a technical purpose, as it complied with the 1916 Zoning Resolution , intended to prevent new skyscrapers in New York City from overwhelming the streets with their sheer bulk. As a result of the slab's small size, Lever House has a floor area ratio (FAR) of 6:1, compared to a FAR of 12:1 at Rockefeller Center and a FAR of 25:1 at the Empire State Building . A provision under
26800-466: The north end of the station. The structure measured 695 feet (212 m) along Vanderbilt Avenue and 530 feet (160 m) along 42nd Street. It was considered the largest railroad station in the world, with 12 tracks that could accommodate 150 train cars at once. It also had the largest interior space in North America. The storage yard stretched north to 58th Street. Because of the complexity of
27000-503: The number of New York Central employees serving, another read 1,412 for New York, New Haven & Hartford employees, and a third read 104 for Grand Central Terminal employees. In 1918, New York Central proposed expanding Grand Central Terminal. Three tracks would be built on the outside of the suburban level, new platforms would be built, and the ramps to the platforms would be widened. A power plant would also be constructed at 43rd Street. Passenger numbers continued to grow, and by 1927,
27200-531: The old station. A large scaffold, as high and wide as the trusses of the train shed, was erected at the rear of the shed. The scaffold was built on rollers, and as each section was demolished, the scaffold was moved to the next section. The design of the new station was not finalized until 1910 because certain design elements of the new terminal, such as the Main Concourse , were not decided until most of Grand Central Station had been demolished In January 1911,
27400-461: The original plans for the building and were never realized. The renovation was completed by 2001. Following the renovation, Lever House became a standard office building with multiple tenants. Metal processor Alcoa (later Arconic ) signed a lease in 1999 for five stories in the building. Other tenants included American General Financial Group, Cosmetics International, and investment bank Thomas Weisel Partners . In 2003, Lever House Restaurant became
27600-440: The overall design of the station, while Warren and Wetmore worked on designing the station's Beaux-Arts exterior. Charles Reed was appointed the chief executive for the collaboration between the two firms, and he promptly appointed Alfred T. Fellheimer as head of the combined design team. New York Central submitted its final proposal for the terminal to the New York City Board of Estimate later that year. The proposed station
27800-505: The owner of the land. RFR hired graphic designer Michael Bierut to expand the building's typeface, which previously had only included the seven unique letters in the name "Lever House". In 1999, RFR Holding announced that it planned to spend $ 25 million (equivalent to $ 46 million in 2023) on capital improvements, including a restoration of the building's curtain wall and public spaces, designed by SOM. Work began in 2000, at which point curtain wall specialist Gordon H. Smith estimated that
28000-571: The platforms. There were four restaurants, a billiards room, stores, and a police station. Its design was similar to that of other major railroad stations, such as St Pancras station in London and Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon in Paris. In particular, Snook took inspiration for the train shed's roof from St Pancras and London's Crystal Palace , as well as from the Louvre museum in Paris. The tracks laid to
28200-466: The president of the Hudson River and New York Central railroads in 1867, and merged them into the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad two years later, on November 1, 1869. He then built a connecting line along the Harlem River's northern and eastern bank, running from the Hudson River Railroad in Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx , to the junction with the Harlem Railroad in Mott Haven, Bronx , as part of
28400-550: The project's cost, also objected to the tower's removal because it would deprive the railroad of revenue, and objected to Warren's elaborate design because it would cost more to build than Wilgus's and Reed and Stem's. The New Haven refused to approve the final design until December 1909, when the two railroads and agreed to include foundations to support a future building above Grand Central Terminal. The elevated viaducts were also restored, as were several of Reed and Stem's other design elements, but Warren's elaborate headhouse design
28600-399: The railroad could not pay dividends to its stockholders, though this financial deficit was somewhat ameliorated by the end of the decade. When Grand Central Terminal opened, it contained a direct connection to the adjacent IRT subway station . The current 42nd Street Shuttle platforms were part of the original IRT subway , which opened in 1904. The IRT Flushing Line platform, served by
28800-428: The railroad filed 55 blueprints for the new station building with the New York City Department of Buildings , among the most comprehensive sets of plans that had ever been submitted to the department. The last tracks from the former Grand Central Station were decommissioned on June 21, 1912. On December 19, 1910, a gas explosion at an electrical substation near Grand Central killed 10 people and injured 117 more. It
29000-399: The railroad lines leading to Grand Central, as part of the Grand Central improvement. The railroad's board of directors approved the $ 35 million project in June 1903; ultimately, almost all of Wilgus's proposal would be implemented. The entire building was to be torn down in phases and replaced by the current Grand Central Terminal . It was to be the biggest terminal in the world, both in
29200-469: The railroad's southern terminal was moved northward from 14th Street in Union Square to 26th Street near Madison Square . In 1857, the New Haven Railroad built a terminal adjacent to the Harlem Railroad's; their rail lines turned into a rail yard shared by both terminals, which was the beginning of the idea of a central terminal, shared by different rail companies. The building was later converted into
29400-453: The railroads between 42nd and 59th Streets. As such, they required railroad crossings along Fourth Avenue, which resulted in frequent accidents; seven people died within 12 days of the Hudson River Railroad's move to Grand Central. In 1872, shortly after the opening of Grand Central Depot, New York Central owner Cornelius Vanderbilt proposed the Fourth Avenue Improvement Project. The tracks between 48th and 56th Streets were to be moved into
29600-433: The renovation plans in January 2022, and work started shortly afterward. Workers replaced broken pieces of black limestone with slabs from a defunct quarry that had provided the building's original limestone, and they pumped dry air into the curtain wall to remove built-up condensation. The Lever Club amenity space was built on the third floor, and mechanical equipment on the upper stories was upgraded. The Casa Lever restaurant
29800-594: The same city block . Other nearby buildings include 399 Park Avenue directly across Park Avenue to the east; the Seagram Building diagonally across Park Avenue and 53rd Street to the southeast; and the CBS Studio Building , Park Avenue Plaza , and Racquet and Tennis Club Building across 53rd Street to the south. An entrance to the New York City Subway 's Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station , served by
30000-431: The same area as the land lot, Lever House would have been equivalent to an eight-story structure. While Rockefeller Center's buildings had somewhat similar slab-like designs, the vast majority of the city's previous skyscrapers had been designed to fill the maximum volume allowed under the 1916 Zoning Resolution. About thirty percent of the ground story is enclosed within glass and marble walls. Three revolving doors lead to
30200-480: The same site. The current structure was built by and named for the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad , though it also served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad . Passenger service has continued under the successors of the New York Central and New Haven railroads. Grand Central Terminal arose from a need to build a central station for three railroads in present-day Midtown Manhattan. In 1871,
30400-506: The second story. The columns, which extend to the underlying rock, are set 10 feet (3.0 m) behind the lot boundary to avoid interfering with the walls of the Park Avenue railroad tunnel. The column layout gives the appearance that the upper stories are floating above ground and resembles an architectural arcade . The second story has an opening at its center, overlooking the planted garden. The third through twenty-first stories consist of
30600-469: The segments of the lines into Grand Central were electrified by 1907, full electrification on the remaining parts of these lines was not completed until 1913. Subsequently, as Grand Central Terminal was being completed, all three commuter rail lines moved their operations to Grand Central Palace. Work on the yard progressed slowly, due to the small size of each individual bite, as well as the difficulty of designing two levels with separate track layouts, and
30800-410: The service core on the west side of the slab. Six elevators are provided in the service core: five serving the office stories and one service elevator between the first and third floors. A seventh elevator shaft was provided in the building to serve the upper stories if an additional elevator cab was deemed necessary. The core was placed on the west end of the slab so that, if Lever Brothers had ever built
31000-411: The signals. The New York state legislature subsequently passed a law to ban all steam trains in Manhattan. By December 1902, as part of an agreement with the city, New York Central agreed to put the approach to Grand Central Station from 46th to 59th Streets in an open cut under Park Avenue, and to upgrade the tracks to accommodate electric trains. Overpasses would be built across the open cut at most of
31200-455: The size of the building and in the number of tracks. The Grand Central Terminal project was divided into eight phases, though the construction of the terminal itself comprised only two of these phases. The current building was intended to compete with the now-destroyed Pennsylvania Station , a high-end electric-train hub being built on Manhattan's west side for the arch-rival Pennsylvania Railroad by McKim, Mead & White . Wilgus wanted
31400-453: The slab is cantilevered 5 feet (1.5 m) from the furthest column while the east end is cantilevered 9 feet 8.5 inches (2.959 m). Lever House's wind bracing system consists of transverse bents placed at intervals of 28 feet (8.5 m), with one set of columns through the interior of the slab. The interior columns divide the office space asymmetrically into a wide bay and a narrower bay. The building's utilities run through
31600-710: The soon-to-be-demolished Grand Central Station, to the Harlem Division's Highbridge station in the Bronx, on September 30, 1906. Electrification was eventually extended to Croton–Harmon station , the Hudson Line's northern terminus. By late 1906, Harlem Division trains were also electrified, and its operations moved to the basement of Grand Central Palace; Harlem Line electrification would ultimately stretch as far north as Southeast station . New Haven Division electric trains started running to Grand Central in October 1907. Though
31800-468: The southeastern corner of the ground floor. Above the ground floor, all facades contain a curtain wall with heat-absorbing glass panes and stainless steel . The curtain wall, the second to be installed in New York City after that of the United Nations Secretariat Building , was fabricated and installed by General Bronze, which had just completed the Secretariat Building's curtain wall. Unlike at
32000-426: The space includes conference rooms, lounge seats, and a bar and restaurant. White birch trees were planted on the terrace during the 2020s renovation. The offices of Unilever and its subsidiaries occupied the remaining floors, and there was an executive penthouse on the 21st floor. Each of the upper stories within the slab contains 8,700 square feet (810 m) of gross floor area. The triple-story mechanical penthouse
32200-521: The structure. Its train shed was designed by either Joseph Duclos or R. G. Hatfield, both of whom were employed by the fabricators, the Architectural Iron Works . Although Vanderbilt was inspired by French Classical architecture , Snook's final design was in the Second Empire style . Its design, materials, and convenience rivaled European train stations; it was considered the first in
32400-399: The switches in the yard, New York Central employed several shunting locomotives to shunt empty passenger cars to and from the storage sidings . Grand Central Depot contained three innovative features of note: high-level platforms, level with train cars' floors; a balloon roof for the train shed, enabling a clear span over the tracks; and inspectors who allowed only ticketed passengers on
32600-483: The technologies used in Lever House's construction were relatively new. According to documents filed with the city government in 1995, forty to fifty percent of the original glass had been replaced. Consulting engineer Vincent Stramandinoli proposed erecting a new glass curtain wall in front of the original curtain wall, which was planned to be removed. In 1996, Unilever proposed replacing the curtain wall with an identical wall designed by David Childs of SOM. Childs said at
32800-455: The terminal in sections. The project was to contain three phases or "bites" in total, moving from east to west. As originally planned, the first new bite was supposed to be completed in December 1905, and the last bites would be completed two or three years afterward. Construction on Grand Central Terminal started on June 19, 1903, though official construction plans were not submitted to the city until December 1904. A contract for depressing
33000-568: The terminal saw 43 million annual passengers. Minor improvements were made to Grand Central Terminal during the 1920s and 1930s, such as the 1926 opening of the Graybar Passageway, as well as the 1937 opening of Grand Central's newsreel theater. In 1938, two lower-level platforms were extended to allow commuters to board more easily. By that year, the terminal was regularly accommodating 100,000 passengers and at least 300,000 visitors on an average weekday. The ridership of New York Central as
33200-428: The third story were the employee kitchen, dining room, and cafeteria. In the early 2020s, the third-story terrace was integrated into Lever Club, a 13,540-square-foot (1,258 m) amenity area for the building's tenants. The space was designed by Los Angeles–based architectural firm Marmol Radziner , and is operated by Sant Ambroeus Hospitality Group as of 2023. Lever Club is decorated with green marble walls and floors;
33400-484: The third-story courtyard. Lever House's small floor–area ratio became a drawback for real estate developers in the years after its completion, even though that aspect remained popular among the public. The Lever Brothers Company rejected numerous rumors that the building would be replaced by a larger structure, even advertising the building's 25th anniversary in 1977 with a full-page New York Times ad. At that time, Lever House had hosted more than 250 exhibitions. Until
33600-467: The time that only one percent of the glass remained. The LPC approved Childs's plan, but the proposal was not further acted upon in 1999. Unilever announced in September 1997 that it was moving its Lever Brothers division to Greenwich, Connecticut . Following the announcement, Lever Brothers slowly began vacating the building, leaving Unilever on only the top four floors. At the time, Lever Brothers had been
33800-530: The tracks and the station, as well as to nearby buildings. By the late 1920s, the power and heating plant had become largely unnecessary, as most power and heating services were contracted out to Consolidated Edison . The power plant was torn down starting in 1929 and replaced by the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel. A new substation was built 100 feet (30 m) under the Graybar Building at
34000-505: The tracks on Park Avenue south of 57th Street, as well as for excavating the storage yards, was awarded to the O'Rourke Construction Company in August 1903. The following year, New York Central bought two additional blocks of land east of the future terminal, bounded by Lexington Avenue, Depew Place, and 43rd and 45th streets. This land acquisition included the Grand Central Palace Hotel, an exhibition hall that would be used as
34200-450: The tracks. Later on, the railroad was run through an open cut tunnel under Murray Hill , which was then covered with grates and grass between 34th and 40th Street in the early 1850s. A section of this "park" was later renamed Park Avenue in 1860. Park Avenue's original southern terminus was at 34th Street, and the newly renamed Park Avenue was given its own house-numbering system separate from that of Fourth Avenue. The address 1 Park Avenue
34400-518: The tunnel roof, the project was delayed for several years. The project had been estimated to cost $ 200,000 per intersection in 1994. As part of the new agreement, Metro-North designed a way to anchor the traffic signals in the deck and tunnel roof. Pedestrian signals and gantry-mounted traffic signals were installed at these intersections in July 2010. On March 12, 2014, two apartment buildings near 116th Street , 1644 and 1646 Park Avenue, were destroyed in
34600-417: The upper levels. The train shed was a generally cylindrical-shaped glass structure about 530 feet (160 m) long by 200 feet (61 m) wide, with a height of 100 feet (30 m) at the crown. The train shed's roof was composed of thirty-two trusses that arched above the platforms. There were three waiting rooms, one for each of the three railroads, and a metal-and-glass screen with metal doors closed off
34800-629: The viaduct was completed in 1919, but congestion developed soon after the viaduct's opening, so an eastern leg for northbound traffic was added in 1928. The developer Henry Mandel acquired the lots on the eastern side of Fourth Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Street in 1923 under the name "One Park Avenue Corporation". To ensure his corporate name was accurate, Mandel asked the New York City Board of Aldermen to move Park Avenue's southern terminus to 32nd Street. The change went into effect on December 1, 1924, and address numbers along Park Avenue were changed accordingly. The previous house numbered 1 Park Avenue
35000-505: The vice president of New York Central—to write a fateful letter to Newman. Dated December 22, 1902, it argued that the Park Avenue open cut should be electrified because electric trains were cleaner, faster, and cheaper to repair. Electrification would also remove the issue of smoke and soot exhaust; as such, the open cut could be covered over, and the railroad would benefit from enabling new real estate to be built along sixteen blocks of Park Avenue. The tunnel had to be approved soon because
35200-417: The window panes by horizontal mullions and muntin grilles. When installed, the spandrel panels were intended to conceal the masonry construction of the superstructure . The window panes are 7 feet 2 inches (2.18 m) tall, with the sill being 30 inches (760 mm) above the top of each floor slab, thereby concealing air-conditioning units beneath each window. The mullions are nearly flush with
35400-649: The year of Lever House's completion, Office Management and Equipment magazine awarded the building "Office of the Year". The American Institute of Architects (AIA) gave the building an Honor Award the same year. Lever House also received the Fifth Avenue Association's award for "best New York building" constructed between 1952 and 1953. The AIA further recognized Lever House in 1980 with a Twenty-five Year Award . As Yale School of Architecture professor Elihu Rubin told Time magazine in 2022, "There's probably hardly
35600-415: Was a trend in favor of preservation at the time. Lever House was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 2, 1983. As a result of Lever House's relatively small floor area, the land lot had 315,000 square feet (29,300 m) of unused development rights , which under New York City zoning code could be transferred to nearby buildings. However, the LPC had not yet determined whether such
35800-437: Was added to the east side of the existing terminal. Designed in the same style as the original station, with a 90-foot-high (27 m) mansard roof , it handled passengers disembarking to New York City, while the original building handled outbound traffic. If the annex had been a standalone station, it would have been the country's fourth-largest at the time, The New York Sun wrote just before it opened. The project included
36000-432: Was also refurbished in early 2023 by the firm David Bucovy Architect, reopening that June. Casa Lever's renovation included the new entrance and the restoration of interior architectural features. By November 2023, SOM had finished renovating Lever House. In 1950, before construction even began, Architectural Forum described Lever House as "infinitely more spirited and dignified than any other commercial office building" in
36200-585: Was as influential to architecture as the Daily News Building and 330 West 42nd Street had been. Washington Post reporter Benjamin Forgey wrote in 1982 that the plaza was "dark and uninviting", though he thought the base and tower were well-proportioned and that the trees above the plaza helped beautify Park Avenue. Following the building's early-2020s renovation, architectural critic Justin Davidson wrote that
36400-531: Was assigned to a house at 101 East 34th Street, at the northeast corner of Park Avenue and 34th Street. The Harlem Railroad was later incorporated into the New York Central Railroad , and a terminal for the New York Central at 42nd Street, the Grand Central Depot , opened in 1871. But the tracks laid to the new terminal proved problematic. There were originally no grade-separated crossings of
36600-478: Was built and named for the Lever Brothers Company, a soap company that was an American subsidiary of Unilever . Lever House is 307 feet (94 m) tall and has 21 usable office stories topped by a triple-height mechanical space. The ground level of Lever House consists predominantly of an outdoor plaza, paved in light- and dark-colored terrazzo, with some indoor sections. A rectangular planted garden with
36800-538: Was commissioned from a firm rather than an individual genius [...] is different from" continental Europe. Architectural Record wrote of the plaza: "In this aspect, the entire structure is thoughtful, pleasant, and a decided advance over the average speculative building." Not all of the initial commentary was positive. Luckman reflected in the Los Angeles Times that financiers had nicknamed it "Luckman's folly" during its construction. Critics also debased aspects of
37000-407: Was described as being largely complete the same year. The section-by-section building process doubled the cost of construction; at first the project was supposed to cost $ 40.7 million, but the cost jumped to $ 59.9 million in 1904 and to $ 71.8 million in 1906. The total cost of improvements, including electrification and the development of Park Avenue, was estimated at $ 180 million in 1910. Of that,
37200-504: Was initially headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts . The subsidiary opened offices at 445 Park Avenue, three blocks north of the present building's site, in 1947. The company began acquiring land on Park Avenue from 53rd to 54th Street around June 1949, leasing the lots from Robert Walton Goelet's estate. The negotiations were made in secret, involving fourteen sets of lawyers, numerous brokers , and several shell companies . As finalized,
37400-428: Was intended for Lever Brothers; in exchange for a more prominent structure, the company had been willing to forgo additional space that could have been rented to commercial or office tenants. A Lever spokesperson said the design choice was an intentional architectural and public-relations feature, saying, "The fact is shops don't rent for much on Park Avenue. People buy on Fifth or Madison [Avenues]. All they do on Park
37600-429: Was intended to filter out thirty percent of heat from sunlight. The fixed-pane windows were cheaper to install and reduced the amount of particulate matter that entered the building, and they kept air conditioning costs down. Additionally, Unilever constructed a window-washing scaffold, suspended from a 10.5-short-ton (9.4-long-ton; 9.5 t) "power plant car" on the roof. The scaffold, designed by Kenneth M. Young of SOM,
37800-473: Was just over one-third of the average turnover for the city's other large companies. In Lever House's early years, the enclosed ground-story space was used for art exhibitions. These included the Sculptors Guild 's annual exhibit as well as an annual heliography exhibition. Lever Brothers commissioned Robert Wiegand in 1970 to paint a 37-by-52-foot (11 by 16 m) mural, Leverage , along a wall adjacent to
38000-587: Was later discovered that a motorman had accidentally broken a gas storage tank, causing a leak. A jury later declined to find the motorman guilty of wrongdoing. On February 2, 1913, the new terminal was opened. Passengers boarded the first train at one minute past midnight. The opening had been celebrated one day prior with a private dinner for Warren and Wetmore and 100 guests at the Grand Central Terminal Restaurant . Within 16 hours of its opening, an estimated 150,000 people had passed through
38200-506: Was located directly atop the roof of the Park Avenue Tunnel, with the street being 8 inches (20 cm) above the roof in some locations. Because the roof was 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm) thick, there was not enough room to provide a foundation for the traffic poles without puncturing the structure. Due to the high cost of making these upgrades, and the lack of cooperation between the New York City Department of Transportation and Metro-North, which had opposed any solution that would modify
38400-471: Was massive, containing two track levels, a large main concourse, a post office, several entrances, and a construction footprint spanning 19 blocks. The design team, called Associated Architects of Grand Central Terminal, had a tense relationship due to constant design disputes. Over Wilgus' objections, Warren and Wetmore removed the 12-story tower and vehicular viaducts that had been part of Reed and Stem's plan. The New Haven Railroad, which bore one-third of
38600-452: Was much criticism of the station's filthiness. In 1899, The New York Times published an editorial that began, "Nothing except the New York City government has been so discreditable to it as its principal railroad station […] at 42nd Street." The architect Samuel Huckel Jr. was commissioned to make further modifications to the terminal's interior. A nearby post office was also proposed to ease mail handling. As train traffic increased in
38800-562: Was occupied by Martha Bacon, widow of diplomat Robert Bacon , who led the opposition to the renumbering. The Board of Aldermen summarily overturned the name change, but Mayor John Hylan vetoed the move in April 1925. This prompted Bacon to appeal the decision to the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division , which overturned Hylan's veto in November 1927, on the basis that the extension of Park Avenue to 32nd Street had been made for
39000-456: Was planned to the firm's subsidiaries upon its expected completion in late 1951. SOM was hired to design Lever House when it was announced. Luckman, who also held an architect's license, assisted with the design. Although SOM had prepared plans for slab-like buildings in Chicago for a Lever Brothers headquarters, the company decided upon a New York City headquarters because "the price one pays for soap
39200-555: Was reconfigured and a pneumatic switch system was added in an effort to reduce congestion and turn-around time for trains. Finally, the renovation added a new facade in the Neo-Renaissance style, based on plans by railroad architect Bradford Gilbert . The reconstructed building was renamed Grand Central Station . The new waiting room, located between 42nd Street and the concourse, opened in October 1900. By this time, Grand Central had lost its impression of grandeur, and there
39400-452: Was retained. Reed died in 1911; the day after his funeral, Wetmore and New York Central met secretly. The railroad then entered a contract solely with Warren and Wetmore, who took full credit for the station's design. Allen H. Stem of Reed and Stem subsequently sued Warren and Wetmore, which was ordered to pay restitution after a protracted legal battle. Before construction, the architects tested several aspects that were to be included in
39600-409: Was the first window-washing scaffold in the city. It could move vertically along steel rails embedded in the mullions. Lever Brothers wanted the building to be "a symbol of everlasting cleanliness", and, according to Curbed , the scaffold was used for a publicity stunt that "used Lever-brand Surf soap to scrub the windows clean". Two window washers were hired to clean the facade every six days. Each of
39800-516: Was three years behind on its rent payments and mortgage bondholders were looking to foreclose on the property, a move that could potentially cancel all of the building's office leases. Bondholders initiated foreclosure proceedings that May. A joint venture between Brookfield Properties and Waterman Interests (later WatermanClark) bought the ground lease from RFR in July 2018. Brookfield and Waterman purchased RFR's debt load in early 2019 for $ 12.8 million (equivalent to $ 15.3 million in 2023),
40000-417: Was unable to excavate the first bite before the deadline of July 1, 1906. The construction company blamed New York Central for not making tracks available, thereby preventing its trains from hauling out debris, but was loath to hire more workers because it would cost more money. This considerably slowed construction progress. In May 1907, O'Rourke and New York Central terminated their contract. The first bite
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