Top 10 Manhattan Apartment Buildings Casting Shadows

Top 10 Manhattan Apartment Buildings
Casting Shadows
A Top 10 List in Honor of
Groundhog Day
by Carter B. Horsley
February 2012

www.CityRealty.com | 212.755.5544 | Building Relationshipswww.CityRealty.com | 212.755.5544 | Building Relationships
“Once a year, we all wait to see if the groundhog sees his shadow for an
extended winter, but all year long, New York City’s apartment buildings cast
interesting shadows throughout the city, especially on our parks.”
--Carter B. Horsley, CityRealty Editor

10. One Lincoln Plaza at
20 West 64th Street and
25 West 63rd Street
There are certain "key" buildings that set the
tone for a neighborhood and One Lincoln
Plaza was the first major new apartment
house to be erected after the opening of the
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the
1960s. Built in 1971, this massive, angled, 43-
story building occupies the entire frontage on
Broadway between 63rd and 64th Streets. In
the morning light its shadows touch upon the
large plaza with a fountain at the center of
Lincoln Center, directly across Broadway. It
was developed by the Milstein organization
and its tower has 663 condominium
apartments.

9. Sherman Square at
201 West 70th Street
This 42-story apartment tower was one of
the tallest on the Upper West Side when it
was erected in 1972. Designed by S. J.
Kessler, it has a very large driveway, entrance
and plaza on 70th Street. Converted to a
cooperative in 1984, it overlooks and shades
the tiny Sherman Square at the south end of
the intersection of Broadway and Amsterdam
Avenue, named after General William
Tecumseh Sherman.

8. Madison Green at
5 East 22nd Street
Commanding one of the city's most dramatic
sites, at the south end of Madison Square
Park and at the intersection of Broadway and
23rd Street, Madison Green offers
spectacular views and a location at the
epicenter of the chic and trendy Flatiron
district. The 31-story, beige-brick
condominium building was designed by Philip
Birnbaum and completed in 1982. One
wonders if a reflective-glass façade was ever
considered for the boxy building, as it may
have been the best possible site in the city
for such a treatment, given the architectural
glories that surround it and Madison Square
Park, on which its massive bulk casts
shadows.

7. 2 Horatio Street
This elegant 17-story, 242-unit apartment
building was erected in 1931 by Bing & Bing
and was designed by Robert Lyons with two
stunning angled balcony elements. It was
converted to a co-operative in 1987. Its
shadows cast upon Jackson Square Park at
the intersection of Greenwich Avenue and
Eight Avenue.

6. Printing House at
421 Hudson Street
This very handsome eight-story building was
built at the end of the 19th Century and
converted to a cooperative in 1979. It has
184 apartments, a doorman, high ceilings, a
roof deck, and a swimming pool, and it
overlooks and shades the playground at
James Walker Park.

5. 1 Union Square South
One of the city's rare full-block
developments, this large mixed-use project
includes 240 rental apartments and was
designed by Davis Brody Bond. The north
facade of its base features a major public art
work, "Metronome," created by Kristen Jones
and Andrew Ginzel, consisting of red-brick
masonry designed in circles around a hole
that emits steam, a la the famous old Camel
cigarette sign in Times Square. The
installation also includes an adjacent 15-digit
number that is a clock, and a sculpture of a
hand projecting from the facade that
reportedly is similar to a hand on a statue of
George Washington in the park that,
according to the artist, "gestures a
benediction." Completed in 1998, this 27-
story building offers stunning views of, and
shadows on, Union Square Park.

4. San Remo at
145 Central Park West
Emery Roth designed this splendid twin-
towered “skyscraper palazzo” as well as the
Beresford and the El Dorado. They and the
Century and Majestic, also twin-towered
apartment buildings, gave Central Park West
the world’s finest residential skyline. All
would probably be bitterly opposed today by
community activists who have a contextual
“thing” against tall things, like buildings, and
the shadows they create.

3. Essex House at
160 Central Park South
One of the tallest buildings on Central Park
South, this elegant Art Deco-style hotel and
residential condominium building is topped
by a tall sign, but because it is simply letters
spelling the building’s name, its shadows are
more ghostly. This 43-story building is going
to be significantly “overshadowed” by Extell
Development’s One57 mixed-use tower that
is now about half way up to its 1,004-foot
height on 58th Street.

2. Trump International at
1 Central Park West
Somewhat shorter than Time Warner Center,
this slick 52-story mixed-use tower actually
falls within some of Time Warner Center’s
shadows, but also casts its own on Central
Park. While recladding buildings has become
quite popular in recent years, this was one of
the first major recladdings and it was
beautifully designed by Philip Johnson. The
building was formerly the Gulf & Western
Building.

1. Time Warner Center at
80 Columbus Circle
When Moshe Safdie proposed a bulbous,
twin-towered, mixed-use complex to replace
the New York Coliseum, he unleashed the
sound of fury over the shadows it would cast
in Central Park. The protests eventually led to
a new design from a new architect, David
Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Completed in 2004, Time Warner Center is a
huge, reflective-glass, twin-towered, mixed-
use development with 80 stories and 225
condo apartments. It casts almost the same
shadow of the earlier design, but came with
nary a peep from civic activists who were
probably too busy shopping in its basement
Whole Foods store.

About Carter B. Horsley
Mr. Horsley, editor of CityRealty, writes “Carter’s View on Manhattan Real Estate” and
his popular “CityRealty’s Top 10 Buildings” lists. Prior to joining the online real estate
and apartment search site, he spent 26 years writing for The New York Times as a real
estate and architecture news reporter. In addition, he produced the syndicated radio
program, “The Front Page of Tomorrow’s New York Times,” which was a WQXR
standard. He later served as real estate editor and architectural critic for The New York
Post and International Herald Tribune.
About CityRealty
CityRealty.com is a New York City apartment search and real estate site established in
1994. CityRealty streamlines the apartment search process by matching buyers and
renters with qualified real estate agents who are screened for market knowledge,
expertise, professionalism and client compatibility. Additional information about
CityRealty is available at www.cityrealty.com or by calling (212) 755-5544.

Top 10 Manhattan Apartment Buildings Casting Shadows

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Top 10 Manhattan Apartment Buildings Casting Shadows