Here's another cool pic, a part of the building that many people don't notice.
Prior to the mid 60's, tall buildings were required to have setbacks, it's a quirk of the NYC building codes that gave us such buildings as the Empire State and Chrysler. Those setbacks worked well with the Art Deco aesthetic. That rule also gave us the "wedding cake" buildings built right after WW2. But architectural fashion was changing- the International style was in vogue, and clients wanted sleek, modern looking towers. No more wedding cakes or frozen fountains. So architects found ways to deal with those pesky required setbacks. In the late 50's to early 60's, several buildings went up which had those setbacks moved to the sides and rear, giving the appearance of tall, sleek towers facing the avenue, but if you looked beyond that, those buildings had virtual tails, which often took up whole blocks. Here's 270 Park Avenue's impressive tail end, Building got back!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/312175...64553/sizes/h/
