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  #61  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2020, 6:42 PM
SkyHigher SkyHigher is offline
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They would have probably rebuilt the top of empire to reclaim the cities tallest, as believe it or not that idea was after all considered when the trade center was up and coming in the early 70s.

Oh and I hope they change the color of that extension, I don't think black really suits it.
     
     
  #62  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2020, 1:31 AM
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^ I doubt it. Remember the depression was on, and the building was slow to rent. But either way, they could have and probably would have added on to Met Life.



Quote:
Originally Posted by jackster99 View Post
Had Met Life North been built to it's full height, I've always thought it would have vastly overshadowed the Empire State building. I think it would have been the icon of NYC and the skyscraper that the rest of the world associated with the city.

It would have overshadowed the Empire State the way the Empire State overshadowed the Chrysler Building to an extent. Both were tall, but there could only be one king.
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  #63  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2020, 12:35 PM
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Originally Posted by NYguy View Post

^ I doubt it. Remember the depression was on, and the building was slow to rent. But either way, they could have and probably would have added on to Met Life.


It would have overshadowed the Empire State the way the Empire State overshadowed the Chrysler Building to an extent. Both were tall, but there could only be one king.
Yeh good point about the depression.

Though I don't think this building could over shadow ESB. Empire just has something more. It's very special. It's perfect pretty much. It's location obviously seals the deal. The name especially. The Empire State Building. It is such a powerful name.

I can't see it being unseated as the king of New York. Chrysler Building's prominence as well and even more thanks to a new lease of life coming in the near future.
     
     
  #64  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2020, 2:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SkyHigher View Post
Yeh good point about the depression.

Though I don't think this building could over shadow ESB. Empire just has something more. It's very special. It's perfect pretty much. It's location obviously seals the deal. The name especially. The Empire State Building. It is such a powerful name.

I can't see it being unseated as the king of New York. Chrysler Building's prominence as well and even more thanks to a new lease of life coming in the near future.

The Empire State is special because it was the tallest, and dominated for years. The Metlife would have been completed just a short time after the ESB, becoming the tallest, and remaining so for years, also in a central location. It was the pure domination and scale of the ESB that grabbed the attention. But the Metlife would have put the ESB in second fiddle status, similar to the Chrysler. The Metlife likely would have been the building topped with some giant broadcasting antenna or even spire.
















Also remember that original plans for the ESB didn't include the spire. That was added to boost the height away from the competition. It has a similar stepped back design to Metlife.







http://www.rarearchitecturaldrawings...-building.html



https://www.reddit.com/r/architectur..._look_like_if/
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  #65  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2020, 4:35 PM
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I don't agree with you at all.

Using the Chrysler Building comparison isn't really the same either. Both that building and Empire were in a competition even before they were built and they are of similar skyscraper design. Empire won that battle. Chrysler will always play second fiddle but it's still a masterpiece of it's own. All in all they have a history.

Now if the Met Life North building was similar in design to those buildings then yes I could see the comparisons. But it is just too bulky for it to have the same love and respect Empire has. It has very little charm in comparison. I'm not trying to hate on it as I'd still prefer it to the many lifeless forgettable shiny blue boxes going up in the city.

Empire is special not only because it's tall. It's because of it's design, it's location, its name. It's skyscraper perfection. It's untouchable. Possibly forever.

Like the Statue of Liberty, The Brooklyn Bridge it will always be the one of key benchmarks of the city. It is New York.
     
     
  #66  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2020, 4:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SkyHigher View Post
I don't agree with you at all.
I'm sure you don't.



Quote:
Using the Chrysler Building comparison isn't really the same either. Both that building and Empire were in a competition even before they were built and they are of similar skyscraper design. Empire won that battle.
Wrong again, but using your example, the Metlife would have won this battle. Are you not aware of what year the Metlife began construction?

As far as the Chrysler Building, it was in direct competition with 40 Wall Street. The spire, which pushed it within striking reach of the Empire State, wasn't unveiled until the end (leading the ESB to take it's own push even higher).


Chrysler will always play second fiddle but it is a masterpiece of it's own. All in all they have a history. Now if the Metlife North building was similar in design to those buildings then yes I could see the comparisons. But it is just too bulky for it to have the same love and respect Empire has. It has very little charm in comparison. [/QUOTE]


Prior to the Empire State and the Chrysler buildings, New York had a history or world's tallest that were well proportioned masterpieces of their own, the ESB brought nothing new. It was the Empire State's scale and dominance above all those towers that made it the symbol it became, the gigantisism of its time. Metlife would have dwarfed it to become the symbol of the New York skyline and it's scale of gigantism. Nothing would come close for decades, not just in New York, but around the world.

By the way, the clock tower itself was once world's tallest, a title Metlife was hoping to regain. I'm glad the city is now breathing new life into this area.



https://slgreen.com/properties/1-madison-avenue

1 Madison Avenue, New York, NY


Quote:
A synthesis of technologies, engineering, design and architecture, One Madison Avenue is positioned to become the most significant adaptive reuse project of 21st Century New York.

First built in 1893 to designs by Napoleon Le Brun & Sons, One Madison Avenue was one of the city’s largest office buildings, spanning the full block between Park and Madison Avenues and East 23rd and East 24th Streets. In 1909 the building gained its famed clock tower (now a separate building) which was for a time the tallest building in the world. When completed, the campus was an international sensation in the architectural community, for its rapid construction as well as its soaring design.

During the post-war period, the original building was completely rebuilt in a late Art Moderne style in 1953 to designs by D. Everett Waid. President of the American Institute of Architects from 1924-1926, Waid was the house architect for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and oversaw a renovation of its entire campus along with a new building at 11 Madison to the north.

One Madison Avenue’s new architects, Kohn Pedersen Fox with Hines and Vocon, are building on this history to create a new architectural paradigm. Rising from the completely renovated and rebuilt limestone podium of the original structure, One Madison Avenue’s new 26-story tower will be a glittering jewel box of elegance, efficiency and infrastructure, incorporating two spectacular full garden floors, a glittering new lobby and street entrance, state-of-the-art systems and amenities throughout. Views of the surrounding skyline and Madison Square Park will enhance open, airy interiors with flexible plans, efficient spaces and a projected LEED Gold v4.0 rating.

One of the city’s loveliest public spaces, Madison Square Park opened in 1836 and has been the at the center of New York society ever since. Extensively restored in the late 20th century the park is now the convergent point for some of New York’s most vibrant neighborhoods, including Chelsea, Gramercy, Nomad and the Flatiron District. Unique shopping, Michelin-star dining and cultural resources abound, while the central location and transport options make commuting simple.

With a projected completion date of 2024, the finished structure will join the MetLife clock tower, 11 Madison and the Flatiron Building as one of the many distinguished buildings that front Madison Square and ensure One Madison Square as a dynamic address for the new century.






















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  #67  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2020, 5:24 PM
SkyHigher SkyHigher is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NYguy View Post





Wrong again

in your opinion
     
     
  #68  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2020, 6:13 PM
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^ Not my opinion sonny. The facts speak for themselves.


Back on the development here, I'm sure everyone remembers when Libeskind brought out this proposal...











A throwback to some early days.....



















Metlife north during one of it's construction phases...







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  #69  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2020, 7:34 PM
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I was referring to your 'opinion' that it would have overtaken Empire similar to how it did with Chrysler. Thanks for the pretty pictures though.


* I suppose your going to claim you took those pictures as well?
     
     
  #70  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2020, 7:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SkyHigher View Post
I was referring to your 'opinion' that it would have overtaken Empire similar to how it did with Chrysler. Thanks for the pretty pictures though.

Are you really that dense? Surely you can't be telling me that you don't think the much larger and taller MetLife north wouldn't have overtaken the Empire State? Surely not.
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  #71  
Old Posted Aug 10, 2020, 8:04 PM
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well that was a fun throwback - thanks!

of course there was a nice bank and brownstones previously on the site.

and thank god the libeskind wasn't built, we dodged that goofy horror.
     
     
  #72  
Old Posted Aug 11, 2020, 2:03 AM
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^ I'm glad that Libeskind didn't get built. I liked it at the time though.



I should have realized this sooner, but I didn't realize they were going to take down the skybridge. Would have been nice to keep that as a connection to a time when this was a Metlife campus. But it will come down.



http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Jo...ssdocnumber=01

Quote:
07/21/2020

ALTERATION FILED FOR THE REMOVAL OF SKYWALK/BRIDGE BETWEEN 1 MADISON AVENUE AND 11 MADISON AVENUE.


Transit approval...






Tenant protection plan...











There aren't a lot of these in the city.




https://bluestonelane.com/coffee-sho...-ave-new-york/










https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/photos...rt=mostpopular






https://threader.app/thread/1173900093809995776











Here's another one that was taken down in the neighborhood...


http://www.scoutingny.com/in-search-...ng-skybridges/


Quote:
Once connecting the two buildings that comprised the now defunct International Toy Center, the southern building at 1107 Broadway is currently being converted into luxury condos.









Soon to go...






A look at some of the others in the link...

http://www.scoutingny.com/in-search-...ng-skybridges/





A throwback piece on SL Green and the skybridge...


https://www.crainsnewyork.com/articl...ate-sky-bridge

SL Green will have to pay up to keep operating East 24th Street sky bridge


DANIEL GEIGER
February 23, 2017


Quote:
SL Green Realty Corp. will have to pay almost $600,000 to continue to operate an aerial pedestrian bridge linking two large office buildings it owns next to Madison Square Park.

The $11 billion real estate firm, one of the largest owners of commercial property in the city, is seeking permission from the Department of Transportation, the agency responsible for overseeing the handful of sky bridges that cross over city streets, to continue to use the passageway.

In order to operate the bridge, which crosses 100 feet above East 24th Street, between Park Avenue South and Madison Avenue, SL Green must pay the city $580,265 over the next decade.

The silver, art deco-style sky bridge connects 1 Madison Ave. to 11 Madison Ave., and in recent years it has been used by Swiss bank Credit Suisse, which has office space in both properties and on the floors connected by the aerial walkway. SL Green passes the cost of the bridge on to Credit Suisse by including the charge in its rent bill.
Quote:
The DOT controls the streets and has regulatory oversight of any structures that encroach on that real estate, or even above it, including sky bridges. The agency has a formula to calculate the fee an owner must pay to maintain a sky bridge that takes into account the length of the span and the value of the properties it connects.

Most aerial pedestrian bridges are relics from decades past. Few have been approved historically because they block light and views. The sky bridge over East 24th Street was originally constructed by MetLife, the insurance firm that developed and once owned both 1 Madison Ave. and 11 Madison Ave.

SL Green has owned 1 Madison Ave. for more than a decade and purchased the neighboring 11 Madison Ave. in 2015 for roughly $2.3 billion.
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Last edited by NYguy; Aug 11, 2020 at 2:22 AM.
     
     
  #73  
Old Posted Aug 14, 2020, 11:25 PM
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  #74  
Old Posted Sep 17, 2020, 12:59 AM
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  #75  
Old Posted Sep 17, 2020, 8:20 PM
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There seems to be a height discrepancy in those renderings.
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  #76  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2020, 8:48 PM
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It's the angle. The proposed structure is kitty-corner to the existing.

Origin of perspective can be tricky.
     
     
  #77  
Old Posted Oct 2, 2020, 8:13 PM
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If MetLife North had been completed to its original planned height in the 1930s it's likely the Empire State Building would have recieved a spire in lieu of its later 1950s TV antenna to keep its world's tallest title, especially after the plan to moor Zeppelins up there was abandoned.

MetLife North would have itself probably recieved twin TV antennas in the 50s, John Hancock Center style, boosting its overall height above 1750 feet. The WTC twins might have been built taller by a hundred feet or so to take the roof height title. 13 foot floor heights instead of 12 foot maybe.

It's a cascading knock-off effect down the path of history.
     
     
  #78  
Old Posted Oct 2, 2020, 10:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Visionist View Post
If MetLife North had been completed to its original planned height in the 1930s it's likely the Empire State Building would have recieved a spire in lieu of its later 1950s TV antenna to keep its world's tallest title, especially after the plan to moor Zeppelins up there was abandoned.

MetLife North would have itself probably recieved twin TV antennas in the 50s, John Hancock Center style, boosting its overall height above 1750 feet. The WTC twins might have been built taller by a hundred feet or so to take the roof height title. 13 foot floor heights instead of 12 foot maybe.

It's a cascading knock-off effect down the path of history.

And there were other towers of similar height or taller that didn't even make it out of the ground, so Met Life is the only once that came even close to becoming world's tallest. It took 3 phases of buildng to get it to the size it is now. A piece of me will always imagine it as being built in full. In today's world, that would mean some tweaks to facade design.
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  #79  
Old Posted Oct 4, 2020, 1:06 AM
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One and Eleven Madison, the bridge connecting the two will be taken down...


Taken a few days ago...























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  #80  
Old Posted Oct 4, 2020, 2:32 AM
mrnyc mrnyc is offline
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i don’t get taking out the skybridge, that’s a shame. it was a handsome deco style.

i do really like the new tower addition. its very classy looking. and a nice, modern bookend to the ensemble.
     
     
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