A few weeks ago, YIMBY featured a fresh rendering for the Moinian Group’s 3 Hudson Boulevard, which is set to rise on the northeast corner of 34th Street and 11th Avenue. Now, new images of the supertall have been released, and while they paint a clearer picture of what the tower itself will look like, clues left by Photoshop indicate that there still may be a surprise at the very top of the FXFOWLE-designed structure.
Close-ups of the images show that a spire was initially included, and then manually blotted out, which begs the question of whether the ornament was not supposed to be made public previously, and whether its inclusion could be a bid to cement the tower as the neighborhood’s tallest. With 30 Hudson Yards set to rise 1,297 feet above ground level, the approximately 1,050-foot tower portion of 3 Hudson Boulevard only needs 250 feet of spire to take the crown for the Far West Side.
Looking back through the history books, such a move would hardly be unprecedented, though it has not happened since 1929. The current spate of supertall development is by far the largest the city has ever seen, surpassing the boom that resulted in the Chrysler Building, and it would be more than fitting if Manhattan’s newest neighborhood saw a race of its own.
In this case, a spire would be particularly warranted. 30 Hudson Yards will certainly be quite attractive, but its rank on the skyline from the get-go will be somewhat underwhelming compared to the expectations for the neighborhood, which was supposed to yield the tallest buildings in New York City. While 3 Hudson Boulevard still wouldn’t break into Manhattan’s five tallest towers by the time it is complete, the spire would at least provide an interesting tale in the neighborhood’s evolution, while also complementing the glassy angularities of its surrounding towers with what should be the area’s only rooftop architectural ornament (beyond the external observation deck located several floors down from 30 HY’s parapet).
3 Hudson Boulevard is now entering actual construction, with an extensive amount of equipment now appearing on-site, as well as the new renderings. Completion of the 1.8 million square-foot and 66-story tower is likely by 2021, and after YIMBY previously reached out to Moinian, the developer noted that the design was still undergoing revisions.
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Shake my head and say “may not”.
I don’t care for spires.
The one on top of World Trade Center looks terrible.
Enough with the spires. How about design that inspires instead. See what I did there?