Height: 689 ft/ 210 m
Floors: 50
Year: 1974
Architects: Davis, Brody & Associates, SOM

This black and white tower, completed in 1973 for the Solow Development Corporation, rises 49 stories above one of midtown Manhattan's busiest streets. It's unique design covers 70% of the site at street level and slopes back 40% of the site above the 19th floor to fit neatly into New York's strict zoning envelope. The building contains 1,400,000 sf of space. It's steel structure has two travertine-clad end walls which contain the structural steel wind bracing and the mechanical systems. The exposed portion of the wind bracing is covered with black duranodic aluminum. The north and south facades are clad in solor bronze glass. Each typical floor is rectangular in plan and has a central service core.

The Fact

One of two large Midtown skyscrapers with a facade that slopes up from the base; the other is the W.R. Grace Building.

Unique Base:

http://www.som.com/resources/projects/3/8/6/9west57_e2_1334.jpg

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

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=5569628&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=5569642&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

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

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/solow.jpg

it's ok...6/10

6.5 ok, although from ground level it seems more grand..

Pretty cool.I especially like the sides.
7.0/10

Glassy, nice design, tall 7.5/10

It's great how it curves, but other than that, it's rather plain jane.


6.0

7.5/10

Elegant. I love that slope.

Really cool building, 8/10:cheers:

7/10

Cool looking building... I like how it flares at the base and the sides. 8/10 :)

Funny thing is I never heard of this building until now. :baaa:

8.5/10...I love simple glass towers, and this is one of them. The base is amazing, the black and white combo seems to work well, but I don't like the side with the X design, looks like SOM tried to add some John Hancock building flavor with that.

Ersh, yea there's plenty of unseen skyscrapers in NYC, and I'm trying to make 'em seen!

8/10

i like this one, 10

5.5

respect for the originality and the recognizeability in nyc. but its no happy building. i don"t like the color at all, and I am wondering about the side of the building with the steel crosses... it would have been nicer, or at least there will be more consequenze without those crosses. well. 5.5 is not bad for a building from the seventies.

7/10

The slope is original enough - though the concrete band on top of the building ruins and fluidity that could have been achieved by the architects. Nice building though. 7.5

8/10

5.5

Sibling building Avon is better.

looks better up close than farther away.

6.5

5/10. should have been more slender

Great! The dark glass within the slender frame, a nice contrast to the ecletic surrounding. 9.0

i like the slope. 7/10

At streetlevel looking up the slope probably leads to a real psychedelic 70´s experience....:D

i gave 8 somehow i like it :)

A 5.0. I don't like this building. It's a box, and that space beneath it is downright antihuman. Grrrrr!

6.5/10


it has something that I don't like.

8/10

Isn't that the building where Chandler used to work back when friends was good?

It's ok
7/10

6/10

6.5/10

7.5/10

An iconic building. I remember in movies that had scenes in Central Park (like Look Who's Talking Too) this tower stood out among all the rest. 7.5/10.

6.5/10 - It gets points for that nice, shiney-shiney facade, and at least the stone or concrete provides a good contrast. And the entrance seems to flow well from the rest of the design.
BUT...
The stone or concrete is too wide - it would have been better in smaller strips spread out along the facade. And the roof, once again, is flat and dull...

The facade is good and overall i like it.

7/10

Nice scraper, 8.0

5/10 - Ugly glass.....

I love the base, and the bottom part of the building which slopes outward - very clever.

The white edges of the building create a nice contrast with its dark facade, and the X-bracing adds a bit of detail.

8/10 overall.

8/10

it's definitely more intersting than w.r. grace with its cross bracings on the side of the building. but i find it to be rather wide and bulky. at least the curves made it interesting enough...

7

interesting base. i like the glass as well;)

7/10

Very eye-catching. Has a nice facade and the slope works well. I give it an 8.5/10. :okay:

quite nice 9/10

nice curvature, 8

7/10

too fat!
6/10

The side part is the best of the building.The main facade is too common.
7/10

8.5/10...I love simple glass towers, and this is one of them. The base is amazing, the black and white combo seems to work well, but I don't like the side with the X design, looks like SOM tried to add some John Hancock building flavor with that.
Same comments, and same vote from me.

7/10

8/10

8.

6/10.

6/10.

I love this tower, the base, the facade, ...
9.5/10

8/10 great design.

6.5/10

It's quite boring, but I like its curved shape. 7/10

5.5/10

it looks ok from the street level

7.5/10

8/10

not original facade 6/10

I like the slope, 7.5/10

7/10

8/10 - very massive

I really like this tower. 9/10

6/10

6/10

6/10 ;)

in real life more impressive. 7/10

I love how it curves.
8/10

6.5/10.

I love this building. 10.

10/10 easily one of my favorites in NYC. so picturesque. From central park it is a perfect background canvas for the plaza hotel. Its soo wide or long. Its got great height and bulk. The slope is fantastic and none of this compares to the awesome feeling when you stand at its base and stare up its slope. you stare at a sea of black glass up to the blue sky. this made me fall in love with skyscrapers when i was a kid. 10/10 maybe for nostalgia alone, but its just so damn cool.

6,5/10

5,5/10

7/10

great tower nice glass and the curve at he bottom is phenomenal 9/10

Fantastic, i love it 9/10

8/10

8.

8/10

from the top,4.5.the bottom 7.5.I guess ill give it a 6/10

4.5

7.5/10

6.5/10

I remember walking past this building on my trip to new york. Anyways it was probably a really cool building when it was first finished witht eh sloping bottom and all but not it's mostly a box, kind of boring.

7.5/10

6/10.

7/10

Wow, 9/10! :okay:

one of the great buildings in New York, and for that matter the world

10/10 easy

i like the sides...8/10

The first 10 floors are interesting, but otherwise this is just a weird looking weird. 7/10

Perfect in a landscape of skyscrapers like there in New York, just the single building a bit of boring, but it's still ok. 7/10

7/10

4/10

Nice look to it. 8/10.

I've always like this one for some reason
8/10

7/10 Nothing special.

6/10

7/10

6/10

7/10

6/10

7,5/10

7/10

8+5/10

I do not like the white part of the building, a 6 out of 10.

weird building, i like :D

8/10

6.5/10

7,5/10

8/10

8/10

i pass by this bldg.,luv it!

5/10

6.5 its ok

6/10

pretty cool 8/10

8/10

9/10

8. Good building. Regards.

8/10

9/10

Height: 689 ft/ 210 m
Floors: 50
Year: 1974
Architects: Davis, Brody & Associates, SOM

This black and white tower, completed in 1973 for the Solow Development Corporation, rises 49 stories above one of midtown Manhattan's busiest streets. It's unique design covers 70% of the site at street level and slopes back 40% of the site above the 19th floor to fit neatly into New York's strict zoning envelope. The building contains 1,400,000 sf of space. It's steel structure has two travertine-clad end walls which contain the structural steel wind bracing and the mechanical systems. The exposed portion of the wind bracing is covered with black duranodic aluminum. The north and south facades are clad in solor bronze glass. Each typical floor is rectangular in plan and has a central service core.

The Fact

One of two large Midtown skyscrapers with a facade that slopes up from the base; the other is the W.R. Grace Building.

Unique Base:

http://www.som.com/resources/projects/3/8/6/9west57_e2_1334.jpg

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

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=5569628&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=5569642&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

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

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/solow.jpg


ok my vote is 8.5/10

8/10

10/10

9/10

7.5/10

7.5/10

6/10