CitySpire (also known as CitySpire Center) is a mixed-use skyscraper at 150 West 56th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1990 and designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects, the building measures tall with 75 stories. CitySpire was developed by Ian Bruce Eichner on a site adjacent to the New York City Center theater. When completed, CitySpire was the second-tallest concrete tower in the United States after the Sears Tower.
The skyscraper has an octagonal plan with a dome inspired by that of the New York City Center. The facade is made of stone with glass windows, and it contains setbacks at the 46th and 62nd floors. The building has entrances at 56th and 55th Streets, connected by a passageway that forms part of 6½ Avenue. The lowest 22 floors of the tower are for commercial use. Above are luxury apartments, which are larger on higher floors.
Eichner proposed CitySpire in 1984, acquiring unused air rights above City Center and making improvements to the theater to almost double the tower's area. After several agencies approved the project, City Center began construction in 1985 and was topped out by June 1987. A controversy ensued when the building exceeded its approved height by ; Eichner agreed to add dance-studio space to compensate for the height overrun, but he ultimately never built the space. Soon after CitySpire's opening in 1989, the building went into foreclosure, and there were complaints of a whistling noise from the roof for two years.
Site
CitySpire is at 150 West 56th Street, between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue three blocks south of Central Park, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building's land lot covers and has a frontage of along 56th Street. While the site is deep, extending south to 55th Street, only a small section of the lot has frontage on 55th Street.
The building is directly west of the New York City Center and 125 West 55th Street; Immediately to the north are Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Hall Tower, Russian Tea Room, and Metropolitan Tower from west to east. Other nearby buildings include 140 West 57th Street, 130 West 57th Street, and the Parker New York hotel to the northeast, as well as the 55th Street Playhouse to the southwest and 1345 Avenue of the Americas to the southeast. Several buildings in the area were constructed as residences for artists and musicians, such as 130 and 140 West 57th Street, the Rodin Studios, and the Osborne Apartments, as well as the demolished Sherwood Studios and Rembrandt. In addition, the area contained the headquarters of organizations such as the American Fine Arts Society, the Lotos Club, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. By the 21st century, the artistic hub had largely been replaced with Billionaires' Row, a series of luxury skyscrapers around the southern end of Central Park. Just prior to CitySpire's construction, the site was occupied by six vacant lots at 132–158 West 56th Street and one on 137 West 55th Street. These lots were acquired in the 1970s by Richard M. Chapman, who razed the buildings there.
Architecture
CitySpire (also known as CitySpire Center It was constructed by Tishman Realty & Construction, with Robert Rosenwasser Associates as structural engineer. CitySpire is tall with 75 above-ground levels and two basement stories; When completed, CitySpire was the second-tallest concrete tower in the United States after the Sears Tower in Chicago. CitySpire has three setbacks on the east and west they are placed at the 23rd, 46th, and 62nd floors. Most of the building is no more than wide.
As proposed, the main shaft of the tower was to be clad in stone, while the wings were to be made of glass. Eichner disliked the parapets; he suggested that residents on the 46th floor "can look out at it and know they're looking at a wall instead of Central Park so that Helmut Jahn can rest easy knowing that his 'artistic integrity' is intact."
The roof has a copper-faced dome The dome itself contains louvers and was designed with a green surface. When the dome was constructed, wind created a loud whistling sound when passing through the louvers; this was remedied in 1992 with the removal of alternating panels. Paul Sachner of Architectural Record initially likened the dome to that of the Nebraska State Capitol,
Structural features
The superstructure is made of concrete. Given the size of the lot, this would have provided up to of space. This amounted to of extra space.
The interior floor-numbering system skips floors 13 and 25, so there are physically only 73 stories, though the top story is numbered 75. or 23 floors of the building are for commercial use. There are luxury apartments on the remaining floors, The arcade is one of nine passageways that form 6½ Avenue, a set of full-block passageways from 51st to 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. The connection itself was not opened until 1997, several years after the building opened; The arcade, designed by Brennan Beer Gorman, consists of marble and granite walls as well as a ceiling. The passageway is decorated in an Art Deco-inspired style, with theater posters on the walls. The space has recessed lights on the ceiling and lights on the walls, but there is no seating since the passageway was designed merely for pedestrian movement. The residential lobby at 150 West 56th Street has a domed ceiling as well as wooden paneling. (originally Carnegie Bar and Books). The bar, on the ground floor, has a ceiling high with an overhanging mezzanine. A garage and cafe was also included in the base. Many of the residential units are separated from each other by the building's shear walls. Due to the setbacks on the exterior, floors 47 through 61 typically measure , while floors 63 through 69 are an octagon measuring 80 feet across. but he ended up never living in the unit. Klar had hired Juan Pablo Molyneux to redesign the penthouse over two and a half years. The master bedroom takes up an entire story, while the master bathroom has green marble cladding as well as bronze and mahogany fixtures. though this was apparently because Molyneux actually never saw the design in person, having been dismissed before the design was completed. It was also advertised with a media room containing a large-screen TV; a lounge with bar; and a business center with stock quote and telex machines. The modern amenities include a party and conference rooms, play area, and fitness center with pool. The Mecca Temple was acquired by the New York City government in 1943 and became a theater. In 1982, City Center completed a minor renovation to the lobby and orchestra. City Center planned another set of improvements to enlarge stage, storage, and balcony areas. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated City Center as a city landmark in 1983; as a result, the commission was required to approve any major alterations to the theater. Concurrently, Bruce Eichner bought Chapman's neighboring site for $18 million. Eichner would also make improvements to City Center to obtain additional space. The proposed air-rights sale received criticism both for its relatively low price and for the fact that it would allow an excessively large building. City Center Tower was one of several high-rise developments planned for the area at the time; Metropolitan Tower and Carnegie Hall Tower were being proposed as well.
The air-rights transfers needed the approval of several agencies. The LPC was scheduled to hold a hearing for the proposed sale in November 1984, but an unrelated controversy over another landmark candidate took up all the time allotted for discussing the air-rights sale. The LPC granted the project a "certificate of appropriateness" in January 1985, which allowed the LPC to apply for a special zoning permit from the New York City Planning Commission (CPC) for the air-rights transfer. Several agencies then needed to approve the tower itself. Following objections from members of the Board of Estimate and CPC, some elements of City Center Tower were downsized. followed by the Board of Estimate that August.
The building had been approved to a height of about .