Midtown Manhattan - Skyline in transition
East Coast cities
978-3-14-100890-6 | Page 191 | Ill. 2
Overview
The New York skyline has been a landmark of the metropolis for more than a hundred years. The construction of skyscrapers was favoured by the rocky, glacially formed subsoil. The Woolworth Building, built in 1913 on Broadway, was long considered the tallest building in the world at 241 metres. In 1931 the Empire State Building took its place (381 m without the antenna), which was then surpassed by the twin towers of the World Trade Center (417 m) in 1972.
Skyline of Midtown Manhattan
Figure 190.2 shows the skyline of Midtown Manhattan, the central business district of New York City, which stretches from 23rd Street to Central Park and is home to two of the city's landmarks, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Behind the Chrysler Building, the Bank of America Tower is located, the fourth tallest building in the city at 366 metres to the top of the tower. In the area behind the Empire State Building, a whole group of new skyscrapers is currently being planned or is already under construction. The tallest of these is the Hudson Yards North Tower, an office complex whose north tower will have a height of 395 metres. The most eye-catching new building north of the Chrysler Building (shown on the right) is the skyscraper 432 Park Avenue, completed in 2015 and currently the second tallest building in the city at 426 metres. It will soon be surpassed by two nearby skyscrapers currently under construction: the Steinway Tower, also called 111 West 57th Street (438 m), and the Central Park Tower (472 m), which will be New York's second tallest building and the tallest residential building in the world when completed.
