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in 1959 next to the Standard Oil Building at the beginning of Broadway as
one of the first modernist office towers in Downtown Manhattan.
It replaced the Produce Exchange Building
(arch. George B. Post of the New York World Building, 1884) as an
"acceptable" sacrifice to get the Downtown development on the
way.
The building occupies most of its large
plot, rising in triple setbacks, with only the western portion of the
building, facing Bowling Green, rising to the full height of 33-storeys.
Original designs by William Lescaze
with Kahn & Jacobs, had a full-plot base with a tower slab
placed at right angles with Broadway. In 1957, however, developers Uris
hired Emery Roth & Sons to utilize as much as possible of the
building rights with their 129,180 m² design.
The completed facade consists of a glass
wall of alternate-sized glass panes of a bluish tint, having a similar
overall appearance as the glass-walled facades of the Javits Federal
Office Building. |