One Liberty Plaza
New York, USA

HEIGHT: 226m/743 feet
FLOORS: 54 floors
COMPLETION: 1972
ARCHITECT: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM)

was built in 1972 for the U.S. Steel Company on a site earlier occupied by the Singer Building, once the tallest in the world.
A part of the development effort was the acquisition of the block south of the site for the headquarters. After tearing down the buildings on the block (one remained on the site for some time, though), the developers were able to transfer its unused air rights to the new building. The block itself was transformed into Liberty Plaza, a paved open-air park. As a result of the transfer, the skyscraper houses 167,290 m² within its monolithic bulk.

The massive 54-storey building of black steel and darkened glass rises to 226.5 m over Broadway. The main client, U.S. Steel, wanted to use steel-structures in a clearly visible way also on the facade, and thus there are 2-meter deep steel girders (covered in a fire-protection of another layer of steel) as heavy-weight spandrels, spanning the 15-meter bays. The structure results in large floorplates of 3,700 m².

The entrance to the building is from a narrow, below-grade sunken arcade, defined by the supporting massive steel columns and the glass walls of the lobbies.

The Liberty Plaza across the street slopes accordingly with the street's grade, with steps on each side. Along with the trees, the plaza has such items from the developer's arsenal as benches made of steel plates with bent edges and chains on bollards bordering the sidewalks.

After U.S. Steel's relocation, the building was sold to Merrill Lynch, then to Olympia & York, the later-bankrupt developers of the World Financial Center. Today the building, called One Liberty Plaza, is owned by Brookfield Properties, which also has the ownership/controlling stake of the World Financial Center towers across the WTC site.

After the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks, the building was feared to be under threat of collapsing, but was eventually returned to office use just 45 days after the attack.

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/1LP.jpg

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/1LPa.jpg

http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/images/1_liberty_plaza.jpg

http://www.wirednewyork.com/wtc/images/1_liberty_ritz_carlton.jpg

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/1LPentre.jpg

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/532/4023103_0396.jpg

boxy, but one of the only boxes decent.

6/10

Looks like the top part of Sears. 7.5/10

Everybody hates the building because of the whole Singer Building incident, which is indeed still an open sore upon the New York architectural scene. One Liberty Place can never live up to the beauty of the Singer, but nonetheless, I still like this building.

It was originally constructed for U.S. Steel and you can easily tell from the exposed skin. The building seems asymmetric and uneven to me, but it's a nice organic look to the modernist stacks that took over Lower Manhattan in the 60's and 70's.

7.0

5.5/10

Its really drab.

A boring box, but not that ugly.

6.5/10

7/10 - yeah, it's a box (so why am I NOT surpised?) but the sliml white mullions and the contrast between glass and spandrels give the facade some interest.

It's still a crying shame they tore down the Singer tower for that, though...

It's decent enough for me.
7.0/10

6.5/10

This building reminds me of One Indiana Square, it isn't too bad. But this should have never replaced the Singer Building.

At least they didnt try to mess it up with some wierd, ugly design. They left it nice and simple. :)
I give it a 6.5.

6/10. Nothing much to comment about reguarding this building.

The third picture is awesome! 7.5/10

i wouldn't really bother the blackness of this box if it were a bit taller.. but 700 footers and black boxes don't match for me
6

9/10

for this Downtown's Black beauty

Wasn't this thing blown up in "The Siege" ???
I don't like it one bit 3 :puke:

Yeah, this was the building that posed as the FBI headquarters in "The Seige", which was eventually destroyed by terrorists. It's proximity to the World Trade Center is a bit unnerving...

I don't like it's desing is too boxy, then looks pretty good to me in the skyline 6.5/10

3 Oh my, this thing is ugly. U.S. Steel's building in Pittsburgh is far superior to this thing.... ugly ugly ugly ugly ugly ugly

Everybody hates the building because of the whole Singer Building incident, which is indeed still an open sore upon the New York architectural scene.I take it the Singer Building was quite nice. I can't remember what it looked like.

Anyway, Mies Van Der Rohe might have liked this for its crisp lines and effective use of materials. It's boring but good at the same time! 6.5/10

5/10

8.5/10, I like it..I think it's more of a building you need to see up close to enjoy.

Another disappionting box from SOM! :bash: The black colour matches well with this box though.. :)

6.5/10

Here's a piece of art in the building's mini-plaza:

http://hereisnewyork.org//jpegs/photos/5493.jpg

<table cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=98% class="quoteBox">
<td align=left valign=center> <smallfont> <b>Quote</B> <I>originally posted by CtrlAltDel </i></b> </smallfont> </td>
<tr><td align=left valign=top>Looks like the top part of Sears. 7.5/10</td></tr>
</table>

a white antenna might look good on it too. :)

a nice and neat box

i said I dun like boxes..black ones are scary...4/10.

7

stwtc, that sculpture is in front of Marine Midland ;) .

It is boring, it's boxy and nothing to make it stand out. It does look like the top part of sears tower and is around half the the height of sears, how funny.

7.5/10

My favorite black-box.

box -1

ummm..not great, not bad6/10

5.5/10

facade: ugly
form: box
points: 2

6/10


boring box

Awesome, massive, wimps don't like this, I love it !

8.5/10

I don't like it
5/10

6/10

i like it!

10/10

Originally posted by Jase Calvin
Anyway, Mies Van Der Rohe might have liked this for its crisp lines and effective use of materials. It's boring but good at the same time! 6.5/10
I really doubt Mies would have liked this building. There's nothing elegant about it. The detailing is heavy-handed and soul-deadening -- it just creates a feeling of dread. Looks like a cage, a jail, or at best a big air conditioner -- very institutional, very undeserving of a name like "One Liberty Plaza," and a very unworthy replacement for the Singer Building, which was a tragic loss:

http://www.beauxarts.org/singer_building2.jpg
http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC_Images/507.jpg

tall box. not bad actually.
7/10

8/10 Nice building, i like it.

Boring 6/10

Street level

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/532/18561_liberty_plaza_16sept.jpg

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/532/482lbrtyst.jpg

replacin beautiful & 1-of-a-kind singer with this a/c is just wrong. but at least it ain't white or some other color and its "steel-beam facade" saves it from being a total skyscraper failure.

7/10 for the design, but it would of been lower if i took singer into account here (if only this building collapsed in 9/11 instead of old seven)

Looks like the top part of Sears. 7.5/10


HA, I agree

Its a shame that cities destroy history for crap that is ugly and will most likely be more difficult to dispose of. This building looks like crap. 5/10

7

A fairly ordinary box.

Not the best box I've seen in my life. 5/10

6/10

Aggressive looking. 7/10

6.0

monotone 3

Rubish facade, more of a skyline filler, NY has a lot of those, 6/10

7/10

Just another ordinary box, nothing to see here. I give it a 5.5/10.

8.5/10

Boring. 4.5.

8.5/10

It's one of the best boxes in the world!

8/10

5.5/10.

6.5/10

Ugly cladding, 6/10

6.5/10.

9/10, great building.

7.5/10

7/10

Dreary, boring box.
6/10 - because it's tall ;)

6.5/10

A not-very-original-box building. Its steel beams make it look very robust, which is kinda cool, but thats the only positive thing really. 6,5/10

For me it's, in the first place, the box that replaced a classic:
http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/ny/ny0400/ny0428/photos/119897pv.jpg
A picture taken from the Old pics New York City! (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=34300&page=14&pp=20) thread, showing the Singer Bldg. being prepared for her demise.

Nice facade. Design is simple, but it`s not a bad thing.
8.5/10

a 10...we are not critisizing the old Singer Tower, but it's replacement...I love it...It has a great presence on the NYC downtown skyline! huge floor plates ..and tall.....a dream to a tenant! :)


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/nyctowers/1aae1770.jpg

5/10. Boring.

4,5/10

6/10

7/10

5/10

There are way too many of those boxes.
This one is probably a bit above average thanks to the dark steel beams. I like the effect. But it's always the same awful and depressing overall appearance.
Why didn't they keep Singer ??? That would be a 8.5 ;-)

But they did not, so it's a 2.5. Ouch.

6/10

7.5/10

nice and back, but its a boring box 6/10

So the beautiful singer building was demolished for this. Well i wasn't even born yet when this one was being built so I cant comment on that. But this tower has power. Its a box but a strong one. Its the only thing that could stand up to th visual strength of the world trade center across the street without getting overpowered. The old singer building would have gotten lost in the jumble that is lower manhattan and would have been forgotten anyways. at least now everyone remembers it soley because it was demolished. 1 Liberty showed its muscle by surviving 9/11 despite catching fire and having tons of material collapsing on top of it. you have to give it respect. this is a well made building. and it has history. and i think it has a dark mystique to it.

9/10

6/10

Definitely the archetype peice of the era of corporate consolidation ... US Steel (much better name I think) is about as disasterous a building as they come...first it must atone for the demolishion on Singer and City Investing Building, two of the best scrapers on their time...that alone gets this building a 2 rating

7/10.

8/10.

3,5/10

7/10

6/10

nice box, 8.5/10

4/10

7/10

7/10

4/10

7. boxy.

Boring and fugly box.

Nondescript. Only a 'scraper geek - lke most of us - could tell it apart from 100 boxes in 50 cities. Utterly undistinguished but not ugly either. Adds nothing but is inoffensive in a way. it is a 6.

box
5/10

i like the tall in that building but the design...... i dont know, it doesnt impress me so i will give it a 7

6/10

It looks unfinished to me

-10/10
I hate this building they could have built it somewhere else and not replace the Singer Tower UGH

6/10

Not bad but not my style, a 6,5 out of 10.

An ugly box. 6/10

8/10

10/10 ^^

10/10^^

7/10

5/10

boxy 5/10

6/10

6/10

5/10 ...boxxy

3/10

I absolutely hate this one, too boxy, but probably good for NYC.. However, I'm going to give it a 5/10.

a decent box 7/10

tall building but too boxy.

A box, there might be hundreds of tower like this... 5/10

nice but too boxy. 6/10

box :( 5

a good solid not ashamed to be a box design 6/10

boxy, but one of the only boxes w/c is decent.

8.5/10

2/10 and the two is only for the good proportions...BRING BACK THE SINGER BUILDING!!!!

7/10

6. boxy

4/10

not bad 7/10

Big box.

5/10

6/10

7/10

5/

7/10

7.5/10

5/10

8/10

Nice boxy tower...

10/10

8/10

9/10 elegant

5.0/10

good looking box. 7/10.

7. Regards.

5/10

7/10

To think this brooding steel bunker replaced the Singer Tower! 0/10 on history alone.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/nyctowers/1aae1770.jpg

6/10

8/10 although it's a box, to me it looks quite elegant, especially the color is very fine:cheers:

voted 7/10

Boxx building is OK, but not with this one. 6/10

7.5/10

8.5

Tall Box! that's all.
6/10

4/10

Box.

6/10

9/10

Ok-looking box. 7/10

6/10 resembles part of the Sears Tower

6/10

10/10.

7/10 I like it.

Nice box

7.5

Another box.6.5/10

6/10

7.5/10

6/10

8/10 for everything ;)

7/10

10/10

7/10

6.5/10

6/10

7/10

5/10!

6..rather bland.

7/10

6/10

6/10

7/10

I love classic skyscrapers like this--10/10

4/10
Boring...

7/10