The Empire State Building's Airship Dock That Never Worked
The Empire State Building's spire was promoted as a mooring mast for transatlantic airships. The idea was glamorous, dangerous, and almost immediately obsolete.
Architecture
The Trouble Inside 432 Park Avenue
432 Park Avenue was sold as a new icon of luxury height. Residents later alleged that life inside the supertall came with leaks, noise, elevator problems, and cracked concrete.
The Times Square Supertall Being Built Around the Holdouts
The Torch at 740 Eighth Avenue shows how Broadway theater air rights, holdout buildings, and a planned drop ride can reshape one Times Square block.
The Park Avenue Loophole That Predicted Billionaires' Row
Ritz Tower used hotel law, shared kitchens, and luxury service to make vertical apartment living acceptable to New York's richest residents.
Inside the Pencil-Thin Tower Above Steinway Hall
111 West 57th Street rises from a landmarked piano showroom into one of the thinnest supertall residential towers ever built.
Why the Church at Ground Zero Glows at Night
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was rebuilt at the World Trade Center with Pentelic marble, the same luminous stone associated with the Parthenon.
Why Tall Buildings Are Called Skyscrapers
Before skyscraper meant a tall building, it belonged to sailing ships, where the word described a tiny sail set near the top of the mast.
The Windowless Skyscraper Built for Machines, Not People
33 Thomas Street looks suspicious because it was designed that way: a hardened AT&T telephone-switching tower built to keep communications running through disaster.
The Woolworth Building Had to Invent a Way to Fight the Wind
When the Woolworth Building became the tallest building in the world, its engineers had to solve wind forces with a bracing system tailored to its strange shape.
Why the American Copper Buildings Lean Toward Each Other
The American Copper Buildings look like two towers bending in the wind, but the lean helps make their three-story skybridge possible.
One World Trade Center Is a Skyscraper Shaped by Security
One World Trade Center kept the symbolic 1,776-foot height from the original master plan, but its final form was transformed by security, leasing, and engineering demands.
The Flatiron Building Was Iconic Before It Was Practical
The Flatiron Building became one of New York's most beloved landmarks despite a triangular site, wind problems, awkward interiors, and years of vacancy.