Solow Building - 9 West 57th street

[Rich Battista]

The blank in the topic was for the first word in the building's address which i believe is SOLO9WEST57TH. This building is in a picture on your wired NewYork. com site. It is under SKYSCRAPERS AND ARCHITECTURE, then go to BUILDINGS OVER 800 FEET. Then go down the list until you see a building called, CITY SPIRE, then go down the page and the building i am referring to is located in the second picture from the top, whpse writing below it reads, THE VIEW ON THE CITY SPIRE BUILDING FROM PIER 90. CARNEGIE HALL TOWER IS TO THE LEFT. THE BUILDING UNDER CONSTRUCTION IS THE RANDOM HOUSE/ PARK IMPERIAL. The building that i am referring to is inbetween Carnegie Hall Tower and City Spire. It is the building that has what looks like white cement on its outsides with black glass in its center. Please give me some infornmation of this cool looking structure.
* *Here is the pictures link and image locations.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/random_house_piers.jpg
http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/random_house_piers_s.jpg
Thanks Rich


(Edited by Rich Battista at 10:08 pm on Dec. 28, 2001)

[Edward]

It is the 50-story 221-m Solow building at 9 West 57th Street

Developer: Sheldon Solow
Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with Gordon Bunshaft as chief designer
Erected: 1974

See also New York Skyscrapers (http://www.angelfire.com/home/iNetwork/NYC/nyc3b.html#70) website and*City Review (http://www.thecityreview.com/57w9.html)



Glorious large sculpture of a mythic bull by Pablo Picasso on 58th Street plaza of the Solow building (9 West 57th Street).

http://www.wirednewyork.com/skyscrapers/solow/solow_9w57th_picasso.jpg

[Edward]

The view on the Solow building (http://www.wirednewyork.com/solow_building.htm)*from 57th Street.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/skyscrapers/solow/solow_9w57_reflection_3feb02.jpg



The view on the Solow building (http://www.wirednewyork.com/solow_building.htm) from 53rd Street.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/skyscrapers/solow/solow_9w57_w53rd_3feb02.jpg

[Fabb]

Interesting design. But I don't like the white frame.

[Rich Battista]

really? I find the white frame with the dark plated glass to be a great contrast color. The thing i like about it is its slightly curved structure as well as the angled columns holding up and supporting the building at street level, as shown above. I also like the design pattern of the glass on the shorter two sides of the building, it gives a futuristic look, kind of like Citicorp

[NoyokA]

http://ee.1asphost.com/guide499/Solow.html

[lofter1]

Nobody has said much about 9 W. 57 in a while ...

She looked fantastic with the sun bouncing off her south face last Friday afternoon ...

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/5th%20Avenue/9W57_01a2.jpg

[Peteynyc1]

I ate in that "Braserie 8 and a half" restaurant in her lower lobby not long ago. It was suprisingly good and worth trying if you haven't.

[lofter1]

Hope someone else picked up the tab ^^^ :cool:

[Fabrizio]

That's one of my favorite buildings... not so much because of the curved sides but because of those beautiful cross braces seen above. Notice how all that blank granite is so beautiful here. This building just shouts wealth and power... luxury... and look at what a great object it is next to Bergdorfs when seen from this angle.

[Hamilton]

IS there any connection between this building and the "Grace Building" on Bryant Park?

[kliq6]

Designed at the same time

[lofter1]

From EMPORIS:

W. R. GRACE BUILDING (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=wcoronelgracebuilding-newyorkcity-ny-usa) (1971 - 1974): One of two large Midtown skyscrapers with a facade that slopes up from the base; the other is the Solow Building (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=solowbuilding-newyorkcity-ny-usa). This is no coincidence, as Gordon Bunshaft used the first, rejected plans for that building in his design for the W.R. Grace Building.

SOLOW BUILDING (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=solowbuilding-newyorkcity-ny-usa) (1974)

***

Interestingly both evolved from an earlier (unbuilt) proposal (http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC/nycadd2.html#financeplace) ...

Another skyscraper planned for the use of the New York Stock Exchange was the Finance Place, proposed in 1963. Designed by I.M. Pei & Associates, the building was to rise at downtown Broadway, on the a two-block site nowadays occupied by the U.S. Steel Building and the Liberty Plaza. The 45-storey building was to rise to the height of 200 meters, with sloping walls on the east and west facades. The sloping vertical support members were to support trusses at the top, from which the building's floors were suspended, thus leaving the huge 90 m wide Stock Exchange trading floor underneath the office floors entirely columnless. A bold concept which never got beyond the design stage.


From greatgridlock.netA R C H I T E C T S (http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC/nycarchi.html)Solow Building (http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC/nyc3b.html#70) (1974) (Gordon Bunshaft as chief designer)

W. R. Grace Building (http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC/nyc3b.html#71) (1974) (Gordon Bunshaft as chief designer)

[Fabrizio]

I have a whole collection of Gordon Bunshaft DVD's.

[lbjefferies]

Nobody has said much about 9 W. 57 in a while ...

She looked fantastic with the sun bouncing off her south face last Friday afternoon ...


One of my favorite New York skyscrapers. I took a similar picture in June on a day when they sky was as blue as I've ever seen it.

http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/8411/nycii126gc7.jpg

[lofter1]

She does look better from the side.

Not so crazy about how she looks from Central Park ---

[LeCom]

An interesting solution by SOM, making an enormous office box look classy and fitting among the surrounding smaller, more delicate buildings.

[Derek2k3]

http://www.som.com/resources/category/5/0/4/4/1/6/images/001_6078_resized294.jpg
SOM
More Images (http://www.som.com/content.cfm/9_west_57th_street)


9 West 57th Street Office Tower

New York, New York

The unique design of this 49-story black and white tower, completed in 1973 for the Solow Development Corporation, covers 70% of the site at street level and slopes back 40% above the 19th floor to fit neatly into New York's strict zoning envelope.

SOM Services Provided:
Architecture

Project Facts
Year Completed: 1974
Site Area: 1 acres
Project Area: 1,543,665 ft2
Building Height: 725 ft
Number of Stories: 49