Historic Public Observation Decks

[Maidstone_Nic]

I shall be visiting New York in January 2013 and will be staying for approximately 1 month. I have a project that I would dearly love to complete with a view to publishing a book (depending on whether I can gain the co-operation of the current owners of the buildings). The book is to be about those buildings which had an observation deck on one of their upper floors. I appreciate that most of these are now closed and that I may get absolutely no help from the real estate companies who manage them but, if you don't ask, you don't get!

The reason for this post is to ask the experts here if I have missed any buildings in this category. So far I have got:

Chrysler
Woolworth
American International (70 Pine Street)
40 Wall Street (Trump)
20 Exchange Place
Empire State
RCA (TOTR)
Williamsburg Savings Bank
Riverside Church
Municipal Building

I may also approach Goldman Sachs as there were rumours when it was being built that their property in Jersey City was to have an observation deck and I believe that General Motors considered having one in the GM Building at 767 5th Avenue.

Finally, I may also contact MetLife as, although they didn't have an observation deck, they did (in the days when it was Pan Am) have a helicopter landing pad.

With luck, I hope to gain access to the observation decks to photograph the internal view as well as the the actual view from the Obs Deck. Any help or suggestions as to how I should approach the owners/real estate agents would be gratefully received.

Nic.

[stache]

30 Rock and Marriott Marquis. Keep in mind you are going to have an uphill battle as a) - These inquiries will be viewed as a security threat, and b) There is nothing in it for the managers of these buildings.

[Maidstone_Nic]

30 Rock and Marriott Marquis. Keep in mind you are going to have an uphill battle as a) - These inquiries will be viewed as a security threat, and b) There is nothing in it for the managers of these buildings.

Good points, Stache. I don't imagine the lure of being on the front cover of a book that may never see the light of day is a great incentive!

[LeCom]

I've been doing extensive research on New York's observation decks last year. So far my count is at 27. I will post my findings some time later. I've prepared a good amount of charts and whatnot.

Edit: I just made the thread. Here it is. Hope it helps:

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25631

Note to the original poster: Eventually I intend to publish a book myself, but that probably won't happen for at least ten years. Technically, I've been researching this info since I was 11, and being in my mid-20's now, I believe that I have a reasonable collection of info. I intend to keep pushing my research; if most of this was done within a few months, I believe that in ten years or so I'll be in perfect shape to publish something decent. Remember that the things that you see are backed up by about 40-50 pages of raw research compiled in essay form.