The Midtown supertall boom may be focused on 57th Street, but a few blocks to the south, the tower that started the frenzy is finally reaching into the skyline. 53 West 53rd Street, formerly known as Torre Verre and rising adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art, is now well over halfway to its eventual 1,050-foot pinnacle. The photos were posted by Streetscaper to the YIMBY Forums.
Designed by Jean Nouvel, the building was originally anticipated to stand 1,250 feet, however the top 200 feet were chopped off by then-City Planning head Amanda Burden, after the pinnacle was deemed to be unworthy of sharing the same “rarified” airspace as the Empire State Building.
Since then, several towers of heights substantially taller than the Empire State have topped-out or continue rising in the blocks to the north of 53 West 53rd Street. As for Jean Nouvel’s creation, completion is anticipated for 2019, and the building’s facade is already making major progress.
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I can see living in the cloud. (Amazing)
We proudly build our vertical caves and beehives super-tall.
But at heart we’re still a bunch of war-like apes,
with a callous society to match.
What grandiose tombstone markers these edifices will make
in the future, if there is anyone around to ponder their meaning.
But on the bright side, the stock market is soaring again this morning.
So all is well, right?