Tag Archives: Helmut Jahn

International Plaza

International Plaza (aka 750 Lexington Avenue) brings striking colors and shapes to upper midtown Manhattan – though not without a puzzle or two.

The 30-story office tower was designed by Helmut Jahn and completed in 1988. The conical-stepped crown – visible only from a distance – is the structure’s most distinctive feature; it caps a cobalt blue glass cylinder buttressed by glass and granite wings above a 13-floor granite and glass base. From certain angles the tower reminds one of a satellite with its solar arrays unfurled. The glass and steel of the building’s granite base are tinted blue-green; along Lexington Avenue, the street-level stores have two-floor bowed display windows. The base is set back generously along East 59th and East 60th Streets and Lexington Avenue – not quite the plaza that the building’s name claims, but more than twice the average sidewalk width for the neighborhood.

Two puzzles erupt from International Plaza’s side facades. The main entrance on East 59th Street is under a boxy three-story portico that doesn’t seem to fit. And on the East 60th Street side, a four-story grey box juts out into the sidewalk, with no apparent purpose. Further, the box is pierced by windows and doors of another era, as though torn from the face of a brownstone. A memorial to a former occupant of the site?

As it turns out, that is what remains of 134 E 60th Street, a townhouse whose last tenant refused to move. The stubborn holdout died in the 1990s, but the townhouse remains. (Untapped Cities blog).

Chicago-based Helmut Jahn designed five other distinctive buildings in New York – three of which were completed in 1987: 425 Lexington Avenue (31 floors, across E43rd Street from the Chrysler building); CitySpire Center (75 floors); Park Avenue Tower (36 floors); America Apartments (37 floors). The fifth (and most recent – 1989) structure is the 12-story Metropolitan Transportation Authority building in downtown Brooklyn.

International Plaza Vital Statistics
  • Location: 750 Lexington Avenue between E 59th and E 60th Streets
  • Year completed: 1988
  • Architect: Helmut Jahn
  • Floors: 30
  • Style: Postmodern
International Plaza Suggested Reading

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Park Avenue Tower

Located just two blocks north of New York’s landmark Lever House, Park Avenue Tower is intriguing faceted architecture, with so many angled planes it would seem more at home in the Diamond District. It might also be more at home on Park Avenue proper instead of up the block – a point that The New York Times made in its commentary.

Blue tinted glass and gray granite are the predominant colors on upper floors; rose-colored granite and glass spandrels predominate on the seven-story base. The E 55th Street entrance has a small plaza, the E 56th Street entrance is almost flush with the property line. The primary tenant – Paul Hastings – has its own entry on the downtown side.

The 36-story building was designed by Helmut Jahn (Murphy/Jahn) and completed in 1987. The Chicago-based architect designed five other distinctive buildings in New York – three of which were completed in 1987: 425 Lexington Avenue (31 floors, across E 43rd Street from the Chrysler building); CitySpire Center (75 floors); International Plaza (30 floors); The America apartments (37 floors). The fifth (and most recent – 1989) structure is the 12-story Metropolitan Transportation Authority building in downtown Brooklyn.

Park Avenue Tower Vital Statistics
  • Location: 65 E 55th Street between Madison and Park Avenues
  • Year Completed: 1987
  • Architect: Helmut Jahn
  • Floors: 36
  • Style: Postmodern
Park Avenue Tower Suggested Reading

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425 Lexington Avenue

425 Lexington Avenue bears the unmistakable earmarks of Helmut Jahn – strong colors, glass and stone, unusual forms. But it would be architecture better received if built anywhere but amidst New York landmarks Chrysler Building, Grand Central Terminal, Chanin Building, etc.

Architectural critics such as Carter Horsley (The City Review) and Norval/White (“AIA Guide to New York City”) pick on the tower’s “squashed” top. Said Horsley: “…the building’s zany top looks Roto-Rooterized, a squished foil to the irrepressible upward thrust of the Chrysler Building just across 43rd Street.” To which Norval/White adds, “…an ugly dwarf next to the venerable reality of the adjacent Chrysler Building.” (I like it, but what do I know?)

But Horsley concludes, “Hopefully, New York developers will continue to let Jahn do his thing until he gets it right for he’s formidable. He is a fine high-tech stylist.”

Murphy/Jahn has similarly styled buildings uptown: International Plaza and Park Avenue Tower. (His other New York designs include CitySpire and the America apartment tower.)

425 Lexington Avenue Vital Statistics
425 Lexington Avenue Recommended Reading

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Helmut Jahn

Helmut Jahn (1940 – ) is a German-born, Chicago-based architect of international renown, with five colorfully distinctive New York towers (and one mid-rise) under his belt. The proposed but not built Television City would have been a record-breaker on behalf of The Donald (Trump). A new Jahn-designed tower – 50 West Street – is now underway.

After emigrating to the U.S., Jahn studied at the Illinois Institute of Technology under famed Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. He joined the firm of C.F. Murphy Associates in 1967. The roof of Jahn’s first major project, Kemper Arena (1974), collapsed in 1979. But his practice hardly skipped a beat: Eight major projects filled the years 1980-1986. In 1987-1989 he exploded on the New York scene with six projects: Office towers 425 Lexington Avenue, City Spire, International Plaza, and Park Avenue Tower, plus America Apartments. A smaller project – the 12-story Metropolitan Transportation Authority Building located in Brooklyn – was completed in 1989.

Jahn also designed Donald Trump’s proposed 150-story Television City.

After nearly 30 years’ absence, Jahn design is again under construction in New York. The long-dormant 50 West Street project, a 63-story mixed-use tower, is slated for 2016 completion.

Helmut Jahn New York Buildings
Helmut Jahn Suggested Reading