One Penn Plaza
New York, USA

HEIGHT: 229m/750 feet
FLOORS: 57 floors
COMPLETION: 1972
ARCHITECT: Kahn and Jacobs

was built in 1972 as an office tower next to Madison Square Garden and Penn Station in Garment District.
The 57-storey black glass tower slab rises to 229 m, dominating the immediate neighbourhood; it's also the fourth-largest office building in the city.

There are entry plazas on the 33th and 34th Street sides, as well as one facing Eighth Avenue, complete with trees and planters and flanked by restaurants and cafés. Due to the windiness of an open plaza, a conventional fountain was out of question, so a "fog fountain" was conceived instead: a high dark stone pyramid that emits water spray in summer and steam in winter.

Entering the building, in addition to the granite and marble main lobby (with a red granite One Penn Plaza logo on the floor), there are two escalator lobbies (with connection to the LIRR station concourse) and escalator corridors with photo murals and vaulted ceilings, as well as the verdant Seventh Avenue gallery and waiting areas for the building's 44 elevators, with ceilings in silver leaf finish.

In 1995 the Helmsley-Spear management (Empire State Building etc.) had a massive renovation and improvement scheme carried out to improve the image of the building. The improvement plans by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners were also a commitment to the general "cleaning" of the 34th Street area.

At the top of the building there are four similar red and white neon-light One Penn Plaza logos, each one eight meters high, as immediate identification beacons.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/penn.jpg

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

http://www.wirednewyork.com/skyscrapers/one_penn/one_penn_view.jpg

http://www.wirednewyork.com/skyscrapers/one_penn/one_penn_sky.jpg

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

6/10

Its a boring slab.

too boxy. 5/10

I added some stats to the thread...



I have always liked this building a bit better than the typical 6th Ave Midtown box. The setbacks evoke the image of GE Building a bit, and the varied facade wasn't exactly common back then. I like how it is wide and stable looking in one elevation, and slender and more delicate in another. I definitely think it is one of the nicer buildings from its time.

I give it a 7.5/10

Too huge and wide.

4/10

Not a nice building because it is too dark and does not blend in with surrounding buildings.

3/10

6/10 I like the color of it, but its a bit boring.

I keep waiting for the area to prosper so this building can have some neighbors. As it stands it looks lonely but I like the proportions and dark glazing.

The day work starts on the new Penn Station is when this building can expect some context.

6.5/10

I actually think it looks ok.

7.5/10

It's tall,makes a good wind block. 4.5

i like it! . . . nice and blue with a Big K down at street level . . 7/10 because blue towers were a new thing back then. . .

I quite like it, altho one side looks like its got the wtcs wall attached to it 8/10

7, nice like it

7.5/10. It's a box, but it's a cool box. :)

not so unique, 5.5/10!

Simple, but majestic. 6/10

Simple,too wide,Boxy,coulors are nice.I'll give it a 5.5/10

Not my kind but the first pic is great , look at the add with the guy looking upward ;)

I think it would look better if there was no white in the middle. It would have better "shine" to it. I like it though so ill give it a 7.5.

6/10

It's too wide, and I don't like the color.

The building is boring but not bad
7/10

6.5/10 - yeah, it's a box, but the curtain walls seem to catch ithe light well, and the shape - a smaller tower attached to the larger one - is a good, harmonious composition. The contrast between the sections of facade is also nice, as is the contrast between the wide and slender sides.

This said, it could use a few setbacks, and more idetail in the facade, which is still a bit bland...

3.5 Oh my, what a huge and ugly building

On of the better boxes I think. I like this NYC building. 8/10

Knock it down. 3/10

8/10

This is much too unfriendly to the street. And the facade is but grid work. 4/10.

8.5/10

the vertical lines doesn't match the black colored cladding, it's too wide, and it doesn't fit the skyline. 5.5/10

http://galleries.soaringtowers.org/albums/album13/1penn.sized.jpg

Actually, I think this one looks OK. 7/10

The dreariest box I've come across all day! This is the sort of thing that gives skyscrapers a bad name. :D

5.0.

5.5
This building's quite ugly, and has know especially nice features. But from some angles the building looks great.
:)

facade: good
form: wide, boxy, and i dunno why i like it...
points: 6.5

8/10


nice box

True seventies building, not very impressive and not very bad either.

The logo's ought to be removed.

6.5/10

wow, this is so wide, i wonder if it's wider than metlife. but it looks amazing from the narrow side.

7.5

Simple design, but elegant. I like the blue glass. 8/10

6/10

Big, boring and out of context. A rare case when the skyscraper does not enhance the surroundings. 6/10

6

Little different from the ordinary but evokes no emotion in me. Hope it's at least nice on the inside.

It is kind of nice.

7/10

Tall and imposing, but quite ugly.
6/10

7-

6/10

I like this tower. 8.0

not too bad

7/10

／( ^｡^)／ GOOD ＼(^｡^)＼

5.5/10

its grrreat 9/10

Just a huge box! 5.5/10.

4/10 baaaaaaaaaaad!

Very nice, but looks like it belongs in Europe. I give it a 9/10. :D

That's a good definition for "plain ugly".
Less than 3.

quite wide....
6.5/10

6.5/10

3.5.

6.5/10

I don't like the 2 different types of cladding.

6/10

:puke:4/10:puke:

This box is OK, but too wide. 7/10

8/10

9/10

7.5/10. One massive building.

An eyesore 3

6/10

4/10

6.5/10

6/10 BOX!!!

6.5/10

its huge. Perhaps too big. Not something im used to saying. But it does dominate its surroundings too much. It doesn't fit in. 2 blocks away from the Empire State. 1 block north of Madison SQ Garden and smack dab on top of Penn Station. The location deserves a better landmark tower than this.

6/10

The tower sticks out a lot because there's nthing high around it. Btw you do know the magnificent building that used to be there right? The mighty original Penn Station. This building and Madison look like crap next to it. One of NY's greatests mistakes. 7/10

6/10

7.5/10

7/10

4,5

8.5/10

7/10

6/10

absolutley fantastic tower, 8.5/10

6/10

6.5/10

6/10

dated and vile 4/10

a huge black matchbox
4.5/10

5.5/10

5/10

5 / 10

6.5 :ohno:

Just looks like a thick wall sticking out.

i dunno. i like the fact that it's black. i like boxes normally but definitely not this one. it doesn't even look as tall as it really is. 6/10

nice box... 8/10

The early 1970s at their most banal and uninspiring. It is almost dispiriting to look at it. I thought 3 but its height which gives its neighbourhood something makes it a woeful 4.

horrid slab that looks ok from the ESB observatory....
5/10

6/10.

nice proportions but to dark and bulky...6/10

6/10

Naaah ugly. A 5 out of 10.

7/10

10/10

7/10

8/10

Well is not one of my favorites, 6.5/10

7/10

not bad box 6/10

6/10

4/10

6/10

3/10

I don't mind this one to be honest, it's boxy and everything but not too fat, I'll give it a 7/10.

6/10

10/10 :banana:

9/10

a bit boring.

is ok 7

8/10

6/10

not the best of boxes, but it has several faces so I'll rate it 7/10

8/10

8/10

Box and bad color.

5/10

I noticed that Nikko didn't like straight tower blocks:) still these boxes:)


7/10

damn dul.5

7/10

7.5/10

8/10

7/10

8/10

7/10

Looks very nice and huge !

7.5/10

4/10

Oh dear Buddha

7.5/10

a favourite of mine- 8.5/10

ugly. 5/10.

8. Good building. Regards.

8.5/10

Imposing

7/10

Oddly well-proportioned for a dark, menacing tower. 7

8/10

7/10

voted 7.5/10

it looks dark & i don't like the color.
7/10

3.5/10

Ugly, fat, and boring.

7/10

9/10

Great box, just a little bit too bulky. 7/10

7/10

Too wide, 7/10 for the height.

8/10

8/10

8/10

8.5/10

Thats what i like :) 8/10

7/10 not bad

7,5/10

10/10

7/10

8/10

8/10

5,5/10

7/10

8/10

4/10.

6/10