American International
New York, USA

HEIGHT: 290m/952 feet
FLOORS: 66 floors
COMPLETION: 1932
ARCHITECT: Clinton and Russell

This 289.5-metre, Gothic-like, spire-topped skyscraper was the tallest building in the Downtown area until the completion of the World Trade Center. It also was to be the last skyscraper to be built in Financial District in the pre-WW II years. It took until 1961 that another tall skyscraper rose to the area, in the form of the Chase Manhattan Bank.

The Cities Service Company was a trust responsible for New York City's gas supply, as well as owning electric companies and street railways, and the building was designed to accordingly exude a sense of power. Limestone models (image) of the 67-storey building are carved on the central columns of both main entrances and the doors (image) are adorned with the agency's emblem, a triangle.

The limestone-clad tower sets back to a white-coloured top, like a snow cap on a mountain (image). The "mountain" had an open-air platform with an enclosed glass observatory above, offering undoubtedly the best views of Downtown before being closed from public -- it is nowadays used by executive personnel. As a curious feature, the elevator to the observatory rises through an opening in the middle of the floor.

At one time called the 60 Wall Tower due to a fifteenth-floor connecting bridge to a building at 60 Wall St., the name was discarded along with the 60 Wall wing and the bridge when the Cities Service Co. vacated the building.

Originally equipped with double-decker elevators -- ie. ones that serve two floors at the time -- in order to provide sufficient vertical service for the narrow tower, these were nevertheless removed due to their unpopularity. The Citicorp Center, however, adopted the idea in the 1970s, to maximize the core usage as well as an energy-conscious choice.

Today the 80,400 m² building is owned by the American International Group, an insurance company. The observatory at the top is still used, albeit only as an executive oasis during lunch hours...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/naptown05/263235.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/skyscraperrot/americanint.jpg

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http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC_Images/681.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/naptown05/70pine03.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/naptown05/264192.jpg

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Another well designed Art Deco skyscraper. Like it's top, but it's size is a bit thin.

8/10

I very good building, but it seems to be lacking a little something. It just seems a bit plain considering all of the ornamentation that was so popular at the time. It makes the building seem a bit cheap. Its hieght is impressive, as is its fairly slender aspect ratio of the tower. It was also a very impressive building for its time, and I'm quite certain that it was in the top 5 for World's tallest at the time. All of that history is certainly worth something...

8.0/10

The most generous ornamentation seems to be at the top, where it's the least visible. Yet I like the place (shabbiness can be overcome :) ).

8.0

8.5, Impressive, but the top close up looks very unclean

nice Skyscraper

7.5/10

It may be drab and old, but it still is quite stylish looking and I love its spire.

It looks dirty and ugly, but i'll be generous because of it's age.

7/10.

One of my favorite skyscrapers, but it could use a good cleaning. Would be a lot nicer if you could still see it unobstructed before they surrounded it by boxes. Nevertheless she is a classic......9/10 (I have a weakness for red-headed stepchildren :D)

http://pes.eunet.cz/architek/0322a.jpg

http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC_Images/636.jpg

http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC_Images/514.jpg

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http://amiaga.com/images/Ae005.jpeg

http://pes.eunet.cz/architek/0322b.jpg

http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC_Images/513.jpg

It's had many names, this is an old logo;
http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC_Images/cs_logo.jpg

http://www.geh.org/fm/feininger/m197806060105.jpg

Vintage view of the harbor
http://www.geh.org/fm/feininger/m197806060114.jpg

http://www.geh.org/fm/feininger/m197806060106.jpg

We all agree,this one needs a bath.Although a bit thin, I like it. 8.0

I adore this building, thanks for the added superb photos enzo. I'd certainly have to jump in and agree that I'd like to see a cleansing. But, that doesn't deter my overall thoughts.

8.5.

I love that neo-gothic style architecture. 9/10

looks like it's gonna collapse...so old...
7/10

9/10 - A slim, graceful tower that really soars, and great use of smaller setbacks near the top, with really nice ornament. Maybe they could have put a bit more razz-a-ma-tazz nearer ground level, but still an Art Deco delight :okay: Art Deco rules!
(and check out that picture of the elevator door!)
Yes, she could use a cleaning though - it's a shame how landlords can let their buildings slide downhill - I understand even the Empire State Building suffered from lack of maintenance for a while, back in the 80's and 90's...

i like it . . looks like a chocolate bar dipped in vanilla. . . i guess . . anyways .. 8/10 for age and overall repetition in design .. i love the simplicity of this logo!!
http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC_Images/cs_logo.jpg

I gave it 8.5 for some old school Character and hight.

Originally posted by adelaideglenelg
Another well designed Art Deco skyscraper. Like it's top, but it's size is a bit thin.

8/10

You pretty much said it for me right then. I give this building a 8.5/10

what can one say about old New York skyscrapers..??..especially with an Art Deco motif..I agree with everyone else that it needs to be cleaned up but this must have been a hell of a building back in the 30's...my favorite pic thanks to Enzo...


http://www.geh.org/fm/feininger/m197806060105.jpg

8.5/10

8/10. Tall and slender.

->8/10 Pretty nice... too bad it's not given that much attention.

8.5/10

wonderful!!!

Wow :) built in 1932 and it's 290 m tall!
It's slender and a Art Deco skyscraper wich i like
8.0/10

Very nice but not represented in the forum like it should for a tower at this heigth...
9/10. classic...

10

I just love this style of scraper... ART DECO RULES! Wow... it's a shame this skyscraper is so unknown... and so hard to see around all those ugly boxes! This is a brilliant... and strange... building... love the contrast in the stone cladding near the top... light and dark... nice slender soaring quality... and the top is gorgeous... love the spire... very gritty and neo-gothic

Very nice, I quite like it !

I don't really like art deco.. sorry :bash: But i tink it deserves credit for being one of the first "talls".. :)

8.5/10

Nice for an old bldg. 7/10

I think that this building deserves a nice cleaning, i love the slenderness and spire, 8/10

7

So thats where my pencil went.:)

Impressive.8.5/10

8

7.5/10

What a fantastic building, its like some forgotten hero :cry:

TAll, art deco, and obviously an amazing location.

9

One of the most good-looking building in NYC, but it looks like it could need a renovation, though. 9/10

Btw, does anyone know why they closed the observation-deck up there?

9/10...A true art deco classic. Good ornamentation, great setbacks that lead to the dramatic spire. If you look at the Lower Manhattan skyline, you'll be sure to see this big guy sticking out and standing tall.

7.5/10 for this oldie. Nice tall and slender. Ik like this kind of towers.

9.5/10

Classic.

9/10

Great soaring height, beautiful setbacks, it could use a cleaning.

8,5/10
A nice slender tower

7.5

Well Design and classic

9/10

9/10 :)
This building's really interesting and detailed, and I like the spire at the top - very insperational. The only thing I don't like is that the building looks a bit grimey, but after over 70 years, it's looking pretty good.

10/10 - a New York classic. :)

10/10 :)

7/10 Impressive, I like it's look but it's dirty looking

9/10

8/10


Nice.

8/10
Wonderful crown & good design.
Very New York style classic building.

8/10

8/10

He needs a cleanliness, is very ugly 4/10

Peeking out from a skyscraper canyon

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/532/650new_york_city159.jpg

10

http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC_Images/514.jpg
This shot musta been really difficult to make...

Anyway, I love the tower. Definltely like the most underrated skyscraper in the city. Enormously tall, powerful, and beautiful. I also liked how it was totally overpowered by the twin towers.

definitely the most underrated scraper in NY.

i agree with lakegz. i really wonder why this building's so unknown in nyc. it looks great and visually balanced from evey angle.

9/10

8/10

I like its slenderness and the way it steps back many times before the spire. 8/10

8/10

8/10...liked it a lot; nice, if not amazing, art deco. While I do not think that a thin skyscraper is necessarily a good thing, in this case it adds a lot. I like the spire a lot.

One of my favorites, at least out of the old ones. Beats Woolworth and Trump Building by far.

old thin and quite nice! 7

I don't like it. This tower is like one of those ancient high rises in Shibam.

8.5/10
Phenomenal height and floor count, considering the time it was built. Aesthetically, however, it's easily outshone by the Empire State and Chrysler.

Spectacular, one of my favorite towers in NY - 70 years later it still looks mighty and impressive. Buildings like these that make NY's skyline so beautiful.

Absolute 10 for this one.

one of NYC's greatest

10/10

8/10

love it 8.5

9.5

Classic!

8/10

7/10

9/10

8.5/10. I never knew or heard much about Amer. Int'l until now. Another art-deco design! Sadly, it had to be New York City's forgotten skyscraper today.:( Point and a half off for scuminess and dirtiness; needs a cleaning project.

Its alright but old needs a good clean. 7/10

true classic tower
9/10

9.5/10

In my top 3 favorite skyscrapers in the world. My favorite NY skyscraper and IMO, the most unerrated and underacknowledged skyscrapers in the world. Shone out by the Chrysler ay completion because of the Chrysler's spire, I love this building. 10, no doubt.

6/10

Great building. I give it a 9.5/10. :D

When I think if NY in the 30's this is a masterpiece!!!! it used to have a wall st address!! 60 Wall sT. a bridge connected this tower to a small building on Wall st..thus it had a Wall st address even tho it was a block away!!!!!

:) A 10 for me


ps...AIG a multi $$$$ billion dollar company is headquarter there $$$$$$

this is a NYC classic, very tall, but not the most beautiful one.
8,5/10

Good one, 8

7.5

Not as good as other buildings built during the same period. But still very nice. Lower Manhattan is just an awesome mix of new and old.

Bit dirty but cool anyway. 8.5/10

Too bad it's in such bad shape. Really light-looking for its size.
The spire looks a bit out of place.
7.

10/10 I love this building and I don't know why.

8.5.

9.5/10

Great Art Deco design.Unfortunately this tower is too underrated.

never heard of this one till now, but it's amazing. ArtDeco rulesssss, 9.5

10/10

Nice slender tower, a monument. 9/10

Way too thin and lacking in detail. 6/10.

majestic 10/10

Nice art deco tower, but not the best in NYC ;) 8/10

7/10

classic 8.5/10

5/10

9/10

6.5/10.

9/10- good building, especially made in the 30's

classic
9/10

Very unclean
8/10

looks ok to me
8

7.0

95/100.l Very nice art deco building. Its height hurts it(I consider skyscrapers over 300 M tall).

I love these old ny art deco buildings 8.5/10.

In its current state all I can give it is a 6.5/10. But I really like it's form and if they gave the facade a makeover or at least a clean it could really be a great building.

9/10

I love the Art-deco style. 9/10.

7/10

7/10

good old art-deco building
7.5/10

Love that Art Deco. The only thing is that it looks slightly disproportional. 8/10

10/10 it's classy.

8/10

8/10

8/10 wonderful!!!

7/10.

Another grandpa building...Looks great 8/10

6/10

elegant
8/10

Classic baby. Gotta love it. 9.0

Honestly, although I do believe the American International deserves a whole lot more attention than its been given, it still isn't really one of my personal favorites. This is actually the building I compare to the ESB when somebody makes a comment about the Empire State apparently "showing it's old age".

However, the building is still a true NYC art deco classic finished in 1932 with a pretty impressive combination of height and slenderness that now reigns the downtown skyline. I particular like the A.I. when it's included with all the others that squeeze into lower Manhattan with the skyline views from the Brooklyn Bridge.

7/10

8.5/10... Beautiful Art Deco building. I love the miniature model of AIG right next to it. When looking at the building, you can see that it really does resemble a snow-capped mountain.



http://www.tomexe.com/NewYork/NYC051.jpg

6/10

Excellent old building but needs a wash job. What is that hideous chopped pyramid thing next to it???

Definitely my kind of building. This style is timeless. I like the climax of setbacks near the top.

9/10

Alittle lost in modern manhatten but non the less a very neice building. 8/10

8/10.... nice building

A class act. 8.5/10.

This building is not bad, but it has seen its better days.
7/10

The night-lighting at the top is good but overall this is not a tower that appeals alot to me. 6.5

5/10

One of the golden jewels of NY. 20/20 :jk: 10/10

9.5/10 What a stunner. This, the tallest of the big 3 WW2 downtown NYC towers, is what really made the world pay attention to skyscrapers. Sure the Empire and Chrystler in midtown were flashier and more famous, but they were solitary towers. These 3 (Am Int, Trump Building, and 20 Exchange Place) grouped together towering over Wall St and the waterfront was the first real dense conventional downtown image. That image that inspired all cities to try and make one themselves. That image was the awe inspiring trademark of NYC. For history alone it gets a 10. But the overly tall spire and the fact that this should have at least been 1000ft, and the aging facade downgrades to a 9.5

A 10 nothing less will do! :)

this tower is the reason I started looking up!! :)

Built in 1932 and still #33 worldwide! Amazing tower
9/10

8/10 I really like the art deco skyscrapers of the 1930s in New york, they are so distictively new york. But even though i know it was built in the 1930s i don't like the concrete facade.

classic..7.5/10.

I took this pic today while walking around.


http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/6762/img04714zx.jpg

Yet another NYC art deco classic.

8.5/10

a bit boring to be considered a classic. 7/10

Classic. I really like the top of this one, too.

8.0

6,5/10

7/10

7/10

6,5/10

There's a building that looks exactly like this in Sims City.

8/10

9/10

Almost ugly but I love the top, very interesting form.
8/10

8/10

Classic 9/10

8/10

Every art deco buildings are incredible. :drool: And this one isn't an exception. 10/10

good tower 8.5/10

9/10 it's 70 years old building with almost 300m high, impressive

10/10. One word. Impressive.

6/10

9.5/10

6/10

7/10

6/10

6/10

6.5/10

10/10 Nice. Old Building.

Not as good as the others from the 1930's but still ...

7.5/10

I've always loved this one. Especially th top. It's just a little to thin and needs a facade clean-up. 9/10

Drab, but the top patina makes it look classic. 7.

9.5 nice art deco!

7.5/10 Because I dont like Art Deco design

Give it glass cladding and I'd increase it's score from 5 to 8.

5 / 10

this building is great.....i wish it were thicker like the empire state building...8.5

Art Deco 9/10 :)

9/10
holds its own against todays designs
very historic

It's okay...

Nice classice but it needs to be clean. 8.5

3/10 It looks like if New York get a strong enough wind this building is going to crumble into dust...

8.5/10

Saved from hideousness by its blandness. The single worst pre WW2 scraper in North America.
2.

hwy,i quite like this skyscraper,it just need to be renovated...and it will look just fine.for the moment,6,5/10

8.5/10

7.5/10

bit dirty

8.5 - not bad.

very nice building! It doesn't look that dirty to me! 9/10

http://www.eastman.org/fm/feininger/m197806060397.jpg

8/10...yet another great new york building...

9,5/10
One of the most beautiful skyscrapers ever built!

7.5/10

8/10

10/10 it's classic.

10/10

Simple, elegant and yet a classic design - probably the best in the Art-Deco era.

It looks veeery nice 9,5/10

mannn this tower is 1931 right? to create something this beautiful, back then....I tip my hat to those who put their ideas into this tower

9/10

Nothing special 6.5/10

5/10

10/10! This is my favorite skyscraper in NYC, yep, I even prefer it to the Chrysler. - all time art deco classic

Gorgeous! 9.5!!

Very elegant :drool:

9/10

9/10 :D

A 10.

i love to see old movies showing this classic NYC skyline......!!!!

http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/imageserver.x/00000000/pixiamom/06062461.jpg

classic 9/10

8/10

An art deco masterpiece with a more or less flawless proportion as far as the shaft and crown go. It deserves no less than a 10.

It is certainly very elegant.

6/10

7/10

7/10

5/10

Yes, she could use a powerwash, in fact she could use an total exterior renovation, including the ornimentation. i'd like to see the AC cooling towers relocated as well, allthough i don't know where.

To me, this tower is the one that came at the end of an era, the era being the end of 20 some odd years of explosive highrise development, that New York City went through before the Great Depression of the 30's, Dubai is today what was then New york, not only that, the idea of the skyscraper and its construction was perfected there, at that time........also it is one of the last examples of the art deco style, which was the style of that time.

I look at all buildings new or old, with there history as a major factor in the "favorite" status. As for this building is in my personal top 3, but i do not give 10's away very easy,

So in this case 9.5

yes very classic. 8/10

6/10

10/10. Freaking amazing.

6/10

7/10.

Interesting shape.

7.5/10

10/10

Very nice,7

ugly. 5

6/10

7/10

8.5/10

8,5/10 :)

Awesome 10/10

Like it, 9

A classic!

8.0

7/10

5/10

One of the truly great romantic towers of Manhattan. Long overshadowed by it's Mid-town contemporaries it had a book published about it in 2000 "SKYSCRAPER RIVALS - The AIG Building and the architecture of Wall Street".


10/10

7/10

looks old and outdated design...not attractive at all whatsoever.....

8/10

6/10

6/10

8/10

8/10

8/10

/ Lille, France : http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=23152282#post23152282

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/5448/768vp6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

8.5/10

7/10

8/10 a classic skyscraper.

So old but beautiful art deco building. It's not my favourite art deco but it's still beautiful.

8/10

double post

Need to have a big renovation but i give 8/10.

8/10. Very majestic, if it weren't for its evil owner and occupant.

We'll see what happens in the near future.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090318/FREE/903189981

8/10

7/10

8/10. Nice and famous old-style skyscraper.

A great Icon !!! 8.0/10

7/10

9/10. another nyc classic. works fine for me! :)