Mid-20th century Look Building’s design was influenced by European Modernism. On July 27, 2010, Landmarks designated the Look Building at 488 Madison Avenue in Midtown, Manhattan as an individual City landmark. The 23-story, asymmetrical building was one of the City’s first office towers to reflect the influence of European Modernism.

Emery Roth & Sons designed the Look Building and the Uris Brothers developers completed the structure in 1950. The building was named after one of its early tenants, Look! Magazine, and it features ribbon- like bands of windows and a series of setbacks faced with white brick. Emery Roth & Sons closely followed the 1916 zoning resolution’s setback regulations in order to maximize floor area. (more…)

The Springs Mills Building.

Green glass skyskraper was built on L-shaped lot between 1961 and 1963. On April 13, 2010, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate the Springs Mills Building at 104 West 40th Street as an individual City landmark. The Springs Mills linen company hired the firm of Harrison & Abramowitz to construct a 21-story building on an L-shaped through-block lot in 1961. The architects submitted building plans just before the City implemented its comprehensive overhaul of the zoning resolution.

The building’s main entrance is located in its slender 40th Street frontage, accessed through a small plaza. The structure’s wide base occupies the lot’s southern portion along 39th Street and includes setbacks at the sixth and twelfth floors. The building’s thin tower features a tinted green glass curtain wall in the form of an elongated hexagon and divided by aluminum mullions. The building is slightly wider at the center of the lot than at either of its frontages, allowing natural light to reach the structure’s interior.

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Green glass skyskraper was built on L-shaped lot between 1961 and 1963. On April 13, 2010, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate the Springs Mills Building at 104 West 40th Street as an individual City landmark. The Springs Mills linen company hired the firm of Harrison & Abramowitz to construct a 21-story building on an L-shaped through-block lot in 1961. The architects submitted building plans just before the City implemented its comprehensive overhaul of the zoning resolution.

The building’s main entrance is located in its slender 40th Street frontage, accessed through a small plaza. The structure’s wide base occupies the lot’s southern portion along 39th Street and includes setbacks at the sixth and twelfth floors. The building’s thin tower features a tinted green glass curtain wall in the form of an elongated hexagon and divided by aluminum mullions. The building is slightly wider at the center of the lot than at either of its frontages, allowing natural light to reach the structure’s interior. (more…)

Accessory garage’s 1973-issued certificate of occupancy permitted transient parking as secondary use. On March 10, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved Central Parking Systems’ application for a special permit to convert an existing 213- space accessory parking garage at 159 West 48th Street in Manhattan into a 220-space public parking garage. Central Parking would also provide 23 bicycle parking spaces.

The garage occupies six floors and the roof of a seven-story building with ground floor retail. The facility was built in 1973 as an accessory parking garage for an office building located at 1185 Sixth Avenue. Its certificate of occupancy permits transient parking as a secondary use. In October 2009, Buildings issued Central Parking a notice of violation for operating the garage as a public parking facility contrary to its certificate of occupancy. (more…)

Nation’s largest mass transit project will double NJ Transit’s commuter rail capacity into Manhattan. The City Council approved the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s applications related to the $8.7 billion Access to Region’s Core (ARC) passenger rail project. Jointly sponsored by the Port Authority and New Jersey Transit, the project’s goal is to double the capacity of NJ Transit’s commuter rail service into Manhattan by building a rail tunnel under the Hudson River connecting to an underground rail station adjacent to Penn Station.

The Port Authority submitted an application for a special permit to construct the new rail station, six station entrances, and four fan plants to provide emergency ventilation. The rail station will be 150 feet below grade at the terminus of the proposed tunnel along West 34th Street between Ninth and Sixth Avenues. The Port Authority will build the entrances along West 34th Street near intersections with Eighth, Seventh, and Sixth Avenues, and the four fan plants will be located from Eleventh through Sixth Avenues. (more…)