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112-785: The James A. Farley Building (formerly Pennsylvania Terminal and the U.S. General Post Office ) is a mixed-use structure in Midtown Manhattan , New York City, which formerly served as the city's main United States Postal Service (USPS) branch. Designed by McKim, Mead & White in the Beaux-Arts style, the structure was built between 1911 and 1914, with an annex constructed between 1932 and 1935. The Farley Building, at 421 Eighth Avenue between 31st Street and 33rd Street in Midtown Manhattan , faces Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden to

224-631: A New York City designated landmark in 1966 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It was officially renamed in 1982 in honor of James Farley who was the nation's 53rd postmaster general and served from 1933 to 1940. The building was sold to the New York government in 2006. The interior space that once housed the main mail sorting room now houses the Moynihan Train Hall since 2021. Office space in

336-540: A Doric one, which is designed to represent the bulk and vigour of a muscular full grown man. The oldest known example of a Corinthian column is in the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae in Arcadia, c. 450–420 BC. It is not part of the order of the temple itself, which has a Doric colonnade surrounding the temple and an Ionic order within the cella enclosure. A single Corinthian column stands free, centered within

448-433: A college education or higher. The percentage of Midtown Manhattan students excelling in math rose from 61% in 2000 to 80% in 2011 and reading achievement increased from 66% to 68% during the same time period. Midtown Manhattan's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City. In Midtown Manhattan, 19% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year , less than

560-515: A low population of residents who are uninsured . In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 11%, slightly less than the citywide rate of 12%. The concentration of fine particulate matter , the deadliest type of air pollutant , in Midtown Manhattan is 0.0113 milligrams per cubic metre (1.13 × 10  oz/cu ft), more than the city average. Eleven percent of Midtown Manhattan residents are smokers , which

672-419: A lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 81.2% between 1990 and 2022. The precinct reported 8 murders, 23 rapes, 653 robberies, 502 felony assaults, 660 burglaries, 2,375 grand larcenies, and 68 grand larcenies auto in 2022. The main part of midtown Manhattan, between 34th and 59th Streets from Lexington Avenue to Eighth Avenue, is served by five fire stations of

784-600: A major force in Midtown Manhattan's economy, and indeed the city's, as the total value of all New York City property was estimated at US$ 914.8 billion for the 2015 fiscal year . Manhattan has perennially been home to some of the nation's, as well as one of the world's, most marketable real estate, including the Time Warner Center , which had the highest-listed market value in the city in 2006 at US$ 1.1 billion, to be subsequently surpassed in October 2014 by

896-738: A new head house for Penn Station, called Moynihan Train Hall , which houses Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road . The first phase, consisting of new exits, a connection to the New York City Subway at 34th Street and Eighth Avenue , and an expanded concourse within the James Farley Post Office, started on October 18, 2010. The first phase opened in June 2017. Construction of the second phase, comprising

1008-613: A new train hall within the Farley Building, started two months afterward. It opened on January 1, 2021. As part of the Moynihan redevelopment, The Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust were selected to develop the building's retail space. The companies signed a contract in June 2017. Vornado and Related leased the building for 99 years, and in exchange, contributed $ 630 million to the hall's construction. In early 2018, Vornado and Related started considering plans to convert

1120-588: A number of private languages and music centers (e.g. Berlitz , American Language Communication Center, New York Language Center, Swan Music School, and the New York Youth Symphony ). The La Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi Italian international school moved to West Midtown in 2016. The New York Public Library (NYPL) operates the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (also the Main Branch),

1232-966: A program aimed at creating "a 24/7, live-work, mixed-use neighborhood" in Midtown South though the conversion of commercial and office space to residential, as part of an effort to create 20,000 new residences citywide in a decade. According to The Broadway League , shows on Broadway sold approximately US$ 1.54 billion worth of tickets in both the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 seasons. Both seasons featured theater attendance of approximately 12.3 million each. Companies that used to have their headquarters in Midtown Manhattan include American Airlines , American Comics Group , American Overseas Airlines , Central Park Media , Eastern Air Lines , GoodTimes Entertainment , LJN , NewKidCo , Pan American World Airways , Philip Morris Companies (now Altria Group ), Trans Caribbean Airways , and Trans World Airlines . In 1997, Aer Lingus announced that it

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1344-679: A reference branch at 476 Fifth Avenue. The four-story building, constructed in 1911, is known worldwide for its architecture and has several million items in its collections. There are also five circulating branches in Midtown: Two campuses of the City University of New York (CUNY)—the doctorate-granting CUNY Graduate Center and the Stella and Charles Guttman Community College —are located in Midtown, while Baruch College , also of

1456-561: A replica of the historic Penn Station , in which he had shined shoes during the Great Depression . At the time, existing facilities at Penn Station were overcrowded and the USPS was planning to move much of its operations to another facility. In 1994, the cornice was removed; it was so deteriorated that chunks of stone had started falling onto the street. Parts of the deteriorated steel structure were also replaced. The Farley Building

1568-585: A slab on top, on the grave of a Corinthian girl. Its earliest use can be traced back to the Late Classical Period (430–323 BC). The earliest Corinthian capitals, already in fragments and now lost, were found in Bassae in 1811–12; they are dated around 420 BC, and are in a temple of Apollo otherwise using the Ionic. There were three of them, carrying the frieze across the far end of the cella, which

1680-495: A square end pavilion. The Ninth Avenue side contains a similar row of flat pilasters. There are three arches at the center of the Ninth Avenue facade, which were used for truck deliveries. The roof is mostly flat, aside from the pyramidal roofs of the end pavilions. A sill runs above the third story. Until 1994, the fourth story was crowned by an ornate stone cornice . The roof of the building is about 101 feet (31 m) above

1792-494: A steel-frame superstructure. The monumental facade on Eighth Avenue was conceived as a Corinthian colonnade , composed of twenty 53-foot-tall (16 m) columns. The imposing design was meant to match the strength of the colonnade of McKim, Mead, and White's original Pennsylvania Station across Eighth Avenue, which originally faced the General Post Office Building. A flight of 31 steps, extending across

1904-592: A ticketing and baggage area, a waiting lounge, conference spaces, and a balcony 20 ft (6.1 m) above the hall. A general post office in Midtown Manhattan had been planned from the late 1890s. As part of the planning of Penn Station in the first decade of the 20th century, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) proposed that the United States Post Office Department construct a post office on 8th Avenue, across from

2016-471: Is 41% in Midtown Manhattan, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 45% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018 , Midtown Manhattan is considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying . Midtown Manhattan is patrolled by two precincts of the NYPD . Midtown North is patrolled by the 18th Precinct, located at 306 West 54th Street, while Midtown South

2128-651: Is also growing in Midtown Manhattan based upon the city's strength in academic scientific research and public and commercial financial support. By mid-2014, Accelerator, a biotech investment firm, had raised more than US$ 30 million from investors , including Eli Lilly and Company , Pfizer , and Johnson & Johnson , for initial funding to create biotechnology startups at the Alexandria Center for Life Science, which encompasses more than 700,000 square feet (65,000 m ) on East 29th Street and promotes collaboration among scientists and entrepreneurs at

2240-702: Is commonly defined to be 59th Street ; its southern boundary is less clear, and variously taken to be 34th Street , 23rd Street , or even 14th Street . Midtown spans the entire island of Manhattan along an east–west axis, bounded by the East River on its east and the Hudson River to its west. The Encyclopedia of New York City defines Midtown as extending from 34th Street to 59th Street and from 3rd Avenue to 8th Avenue. In addition to its central business district , Midtown Manhattan encompasses many neighborhoods, including Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea on

2352-554: Is considered to be the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere , servicing around 650,000 people per day. The Port Authority Bus Terminal , located at Eighth Avenue and 41st Street at the western edge of Midtown, is the city's main intercity bus terminal and the world's busiest bus station, serving 250,000 passengers on 7,000 buses each workday. The building opened in 1950 and had been designed to accommodate 60,000 daily passengers. A 2021 plan announced by

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2464-528: Is decorated with oversize fleurons in the form of hibiscus flowers with pronounced spiral pistils. The column flutes have flat tops. The frieze exhibits fruit festoons suspended between bucrania . Above each festoon has a rosette over its center. The cornice does not have modillions . Indo-Corinthian capitals are capitals crowning columns or pilasters , which can be found in the northwestern Indian subcontinent , and usually combine Hellenistic and Indian elements. These capitals are typically dated to

2576-525: Is derived from the ancient Greek city of Corinth , although it was probably invented in Athens . The Corinthian order is named for the Greek city-state of Corinth , to which it was connected in the period. However, according to the architectural historian Vitruvius , the column was created by the sculptor Callimachus , probably an Athenian, who drew acanthus leaves growing around a votive basket of toys, with

2688-727: Is higher than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 86% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", more than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Midtown Manhattan, there are 11 bodegas . The nearest major hospitals are Mount Sinai West in Hell's Kitchen ; Beth Israel Medical Center in Stuyvesant Town ; the Bellevue Hospital Center and NYU Langone Medical Center in Kips Bay ; and NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital in

2800-505: Is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are adults: a plurality (45%) are between the ages of 25 and 44, while 22% are between 45 and 64, and 13% are 65 or older. The ratio of youth and college-aged residents was lower, at 7% and 12% respectively. As of 2017, the median household income in Community Districts 4 and 5 (including Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen )

2912-693: Is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building , the Chrysler Building , the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project , the headquarters of the United Nations , Grand Central Terminal , and Rockefeller Center , as well as several prominent tourist destinations, including Broadway , Times Square , and Koreatown . Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan is

3024-470: Is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 297 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole. The 18th Precinct has a lower crime rate than it did in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 82.1% between 1990 and 2022. The precinct reported 1 murder, 22 rapes, 154 robberies, 185 felony assaults, 205 burglaries, 2,065 grand larcenies, and 116 grand larcenies auto in 2022. The 14th Precinct also has

3136-407: Is less than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Midtown Manhattan, 10% of residents are obese , 5% are diabetic , and 18% have high blood pressure —compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 9% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%. Ninety-one percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which

3248-496: Is located at 421 8th Avenue. The post office stopped 24-hour service in 2009 due to decreasing mail traffic. Midtown Manhattan generally has a higher rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city as of 2018 . A majority of residents age 25 and older (78%) have a college education or higher, while 6% have less than a high school education and 17% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 64% of Manhattan residents and 43% of city residents have

3360-941: Is located in Midtown Manhattan. Haier operates its United States offices in the Haier Building at 1356 Broadway, formerly the headquarters of the Greenwich Savings Bank . Haier held the opening ceremony on March 4, 2002. Sumitomo Corporation operates its New York Office, the headquarters of the corporation's United States operations, at 600 Third Avenue, 10016 in the Murray Hill neighborhood. El Al 's North American headquarters are in Midtown. The Air France USA regional headquarters are in 125 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan. Hachette Book Group USA has its headquarters in 237 Park Avenue . In 1994 Alitalia considered moving its USA headquarters from Midtown to Lower Manhattan , but decided to keep

3472-1277: Is one of the world's leading financial centers. Midtown Manhattan is the one of the world's largest central business district , with 400 million square feet (37.2 million m ) of office space in 2018. Midtown contains the headquarters of major companies, including 4Kids Entertainment (formerly), Barnes & Noble , Bloomberg L.P. , Ernst & Young , Calvin Klein , Cantor Fitzgerald , CBS Corporation , Citigroup , Colgate-Palmolive , Cushman & Wakefield , DC Comics , Deloitte , Duane Reade , Estée Lauder Companies , Foot Locker , Frederator Studios , JPMorgan Chase , Hess Corporation , Kroll Inc. , L-3 Communications , Marsh & McLennan Companies , Marvel Entertainment , MetLife , MidOcean Partners , Morgan Stanley , Nasdaq, Inc. , NBCUniversal , The New York Times Company , NexCen Brands , Paramount Global , Pfizer , Polo Ralph Lauren , Saks Incorporated ( Saks Fifth Avenue ), The Sharper Image , Simon & Schuster , Six Flags , TBWA Worldwide , Thomson Reuters , Warner Bros. Discovery , Time Warner Cable , The Travelers Companies , and Univision Communications . The New York Institute of Finance

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3584-490: Is part of 10001. Other areas between 14th and 34th Streets are covered by ZIP Codes 10003, 10009, 10010, and 10011, though these are generally not considered to be part of Midtown proper. There are also thirty-three ZIP Codes assigned to individual buildings or building complexes. The United States Postal Service operates six post offices in Midtown: The James A. Farley Station , the city's main post office,

3696-430: Is patrolled by the 14th Precinct, located at 357 West 35th Street. The precincts ranked 69th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. The high per-capita crime rate can be attributed to the low population of the area, as well as the high number of crimes committed against tourists. As of 2018 , with a non-fatal assault rate of 25 per 100,000 people, Midtown Manhattan's rate of violent crimes per capita

3808-609: Is taken from Herodotus ' Histories (Book 8, Ch. 98) and describes the faithful service of the Persian system of mounted postal messengers under Xerxes I of Persia . It was selected by the United States Department of the Treasury in 1912. The inscription is frequently mistaken as the official motto of the United States Postal Service (USPS) and has become known as the United States Postal Service creed . At

3920-622: Is usually found in smaller columns, both ancient and modern. The style developed its own model in Roman practice, following precedents set by the Temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of Augustus ( c.  2 AD ). It was employed in southern Gaul at the Maison Carrée , Nîmes and at the comparable Temple of Augustus and Livia at Vienne . Other prime examples noted by Mark Wilson Jones are

4032-530: The Composite order during the 16th century. The mid-16th-century Italians, especially Sebastiano Serlio and Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola , who established a canonic version of the orders, thought they detected a "Composite order", combining the volutes of the Ionic with the foliage of the Corinthian, but in Roman practice volutes were almost always present. In Romanesque and Gothic architecture , where

4144-651: The Ladies' Mile , along Fifth Avenue from 14th to 23rd Street; and the Tenderloin , from 23rd to 42nd Street and from Fifth Avenue to Seventh Avenue . Important streets and thoroughfares The border of Midtown Manhattan is nebulous and further confused by the fact that the term "Midtown Manhattan" can be used to refer either to a district or a group of neighborhoods and districts in Manhattan: Midtown Manhattan, along with Lower Manhattan ,

4256-509: The Long Island Rail Road 's mail operations were moved from Long Island City to the Penn Station post office. As completed, the Penn Station post office measured 355 feet (108 m) along Eighth Avenue and 332 feet (101 m) along the side streets, with 400,000 square feet (37,000 m) of interior space. The Times described it as the second largest building in the city behind the original Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal ,

4368-507: The Netherlands . The French Third Republic was represented by the cipher "R.F." for République Française at the time of the Farley Building's opening, as the republic lacked an official national emblem . Elevators led from the Farley Building to most of Penn Station's platforms. By the end of the 20th century, only the elevator to track 12 was used to deliver mail. In addition, six siding tracks extend west from Penn Station underneath

4480-575: The New York City Fire Department (FDNY): The greater Midtown area between 14th Street and 59th Street contains seven additional fire stations. As of 2018 , preterm births and births to teenage mothers in Midtown Manhattan are lower than the city average. In Midtown Manhattan, there were 67 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 4 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Midtown Manhattan has

4592-566: The Tower of the Winds in Athens (about 50 BC). There is a single row of acanthus leaves at the bottom of the capital, with a row of "tall, narrow leaves" behind. These cling tightly to the swelling shaft, and are sometimes described as "lotus" leaves, as well as the vague "water-leaves" and palm leaves; their similarity to leaf forms on many ancient Egyptian capitals has been remarked on. The form

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4704-492: The United States Congress , who expressed concern that the U.S. government would only own "a chunk of space in the air", namely the air rights above the tracks. Concern also stemmed from the planned interior court measuring 100 by 150 feet (30 by 46 m), which could potentially become a ventilation flue . Nonetheless, the land for the post office was acquired by June 1906. The U.S. government took title to

4816-560: The Upper East Side . Midtown Manhattan is located within six primary ZIP Codes . West of Fifth Avenue, Midtown is located in 10018 between 34th and 41st Streets, 10036 between 41st and 48th Streets, and 10019 between 48th and 59th Streets. East of Fifth Avenue, Midtown is located in 10016 between 34th and 40th Streets, 10017 between 40th and 49th Streets, and 10022 between 49th and 59th Streets. The area southwest of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, sometimes considered to be in Midtown,

4928-723: The Waldorf Astoria New York , which became the most expensive hotel ever sold after being purchased by the Anbang Insurance Group, based in China, for US$ 1.95 billion . In the same year, six of the top ten most expensive zip codes in the United States by median housing price were located in Manhattan, underscoring the borough's dominant position in the real estate market. When 450 Park Avenue

5040-476: The 1st centuries of our era, and constitute important elements of Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara . The classical design was often adapted, usually taking a more elongated form, and sometimes being combined with scrolls, generally within the context of Buddhist stupas and temples. Indo-Corinthian capitals also incorporated figures of the Buddha or Bodhisattvas , usually as central figures surrounded, and often in

5152-621: The City University of New York, is located in Midtown South. Mercy College is situated at Herald Square . Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Terminal are the two major railroad stations located in Midtown Manhattan. Penn Station serves Amtrak , NJ Transit , and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), while Grand Central serves the Metro-North Railroad and also serves the LIRR at Grand Central Madison . Penn Station

5264-493: The Classical system had been replaced by a new aesthetic composed of arched vaults springing from columns, the Corinthian capital was still retained. It might be severely plain, as in the typical Cistercian architecture , which encouraged no distraction from liturgy and ascetic contemplation, or in other contexts it could be treated to numerous fanciful variations, even on the capitals of a series of columns or colonettes within

5376-471: The Elder. The temple was erected in the 4th century BC. These capitals, in one of the most-visited sacred sites of Greece, influenced later Hellenistic and Roman designs for the Corinthian order. The concave sides of the abacus meet at a sharp keel edge, easily damaged, which in later and post-Renaissance practice has generally been replaced by a canted corner. Behind the scrolls the spreading cylindrical form of

5488-514: The Farley Building as an event venue. The Moynihan Station Development Corporation awarded a contract to Skylight in September 2012, allowing the latter group to use the building's sorting room and loading area for events. Events staged at the building included fashion shows such as New York Fashion Week , in addition to movie premieres, parties, and product launches. Portions of the James Farley Post Office were adaptively reused and converted to

5600-398: The Farley Building's remaining space that was not being used by the train hall. The developers contemplated marketing the building for use by a biotechnology or pharmaceutical company. In August 2020, Meta Platforms signed a lease for all 730,000 square feet (68,000 m) of the office space in the Farley Building, following a similar acquisition the company had made at nearby Hudson Yards

5712-452: The Farley Building. At the time of the original Penn Station's completion in 1910, these tracks could fit 26 mail cars. There were three subsurface levels provided for mail transport within the building: a basement 18 feet (5.5 m) below street level, the tracks 50 feet (15 m) deep, and a trucking platform 72 feet (22 m) deep. These connected to the mailing level, which was just above street level. Chutes and conveyor belts connected

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5824-685: The General Post Office in 1930. The western part of the block would contain an annex to the main facility, as well as a parcel post station called Morgan Station. McKim, Mead & White were rehired for the expansion. In April 1931, the Treasury Department bought the western half of the block from the Pennsylvania Railroad for $ 2.5 million. The building was expanded between 1932 and 1934 under then-Postmaster General James A. Farley . The work involved installing

5936-400: The Penn Station post office became New York City's general post office. By the early 1920s, the General Post Office had become congested, and a U.S. Congressional report in 1923 recommended that it be expanded westward. The U.S. government announced its intention, in 1927, to buy the plot immediately west of the existing post office building. The Post Office Department announced an expansion of

6048-464: The Penn Station post office was dedicated as the James A. Farley Building, in honor of the former Postmaster General who had expanded the building in the 1930s. Known for being the supreme Democratic Party boss of New York State, Farley was responsible for Franklin D. Roosevelt 's rise to the U.S. presidency. In the early 1990s, U.S. senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan began to champion a plan to rebuild

6160-626: The Port Authority would spend $ 10 billion to expand capacity and modernize the facility. The New York City Subway and MTA Regional Bus Operations each operate several routes that go through Midtown. Additionally, the PATH train to New Jersey terminates at 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue in Midtown. Traffic congestion is common, especially for crosstown traffic. In 2011, a new system of traffic light control, known as "Midtown in Motion"

6272-437: The Treasury awarded a $ 696,000 contract to O'Driscoll and Grove Inc. for the renovation of the original portion of the structure. The work was to be performed in phases and completed within 300 days. During the 20th century, the General Post Office hosted Christmas tree-lighting events. The building was made a New York City designated landmark in 1966 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. In 1982,

6384-532: The U.S. Capitol extension. At the Capitol the proportions of architrave to frieze are exactly 1:1. Above that, the profiles of the cornice mouldings are like those of the Ionic order. If the cornice is very deep, it may be supported by brackets or modillions, which are ornamental brackets used in a series under a cornice. The Corinthian column is almost always fluted, and the flutes of a Corinthian column may be enriched. They may be filleted, with rods nestled within

6496-546: The United Nations, and consulates-general accredited to the United States, in Midtown Manhattan. In addition, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office of the Republic of China ( Taiwan ) is in Midtown Manhattan. Corinthian order A Corinthian capital may be seen as an enriched development of the Ionic capital, though one may have to look closely at a Corinthian capital to see the Ionic volutes ("helices"), at

6608-433: The United States achieved completion in Midtown Manhattan, at a selling price of US$ 238 million, for a 24,000 square feet (2,200 m ) penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park at 220 Central Park South . The COVID-19 pandemic and hybrid work models have prompted consideration of commercial-to-residential conversion within the neighborhood's real estate sector. In August 2023, Mayor Eric Adams announced

6720-666: The West Side, and Murray Hill , Kips Bay , Turtle Bay , and Gramercy Park on the East Side. It is sometimes broken into "Midtown East" and "Midtown West", or north and south as in the New York City Police Department 's Midtown North and Midtown South precincts. Neighborhoods in the Midtown area include the following: Midtown is the original district in the United States to bear the name and included historical but now defunct neighborhoods such as

6832-422: The base of the capital, recalling the base of the legendary basket. Most buildings (and most clients) are satisfied with just two orders. When orders are superposed one above another, as they are at the Colosseum , the natural progression is from sturdiest and plainest (Doric) at the bottom, to slenderest and richest (Corinthian) at the top. The Colosseum's topmost tier has an unusual order that came to be known as

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6944-429: The brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District , is a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Sixth Avenue also has the headquarters of three of the four major U.S. television networks . Midtown is part of Manhattan Community District 5 . It is patrolled by the 14th and 18th precincts of the New York City Police Department . Geographically, the northern boundary of Midtown Manhattan

7056-475: The building was leased to Meta in 2020. The building fronts on the west side of Eighth Avenue, across from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden . It is at 421 Eighth Avenue in the New York City borough of Manhattan . The site is bounded by Eighth Avenue to the east, 31st Street to the south, Ninth Avenue to the west, and 33rd Street to the north. The Farley Building occupies two full city blocks, an 8-acre (32,000 m) footprint straddling

7168-417: The building. The Farley Post Office building was sold to the New York state government in 2006 in the hope that Moynihan's vision would be realized. Before the Great Recession in 2009, the Farley Post Office was the only New York City post office that was open 24/7 , but as a result of the recession, its windows started closing at 10:00 p.m. During the 2010s, the event venue operator Skylight Group used

7280-406: The busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere . Midtown Manhattan is the largest central business district in the world, and has been ranked as the densest central business district in the world in terms of employees, at 606,108 per square mile (234,020/km ). Midtown also ranks among the world's most expensive locations for real estate; Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan has commanded

7392-505: The capital has concave sides to conform to the outscrolling corners of the capital, and it may have a rosette at the center of each side. Corinthian columns were erected on the top level of the Roman Colosseum , holding up the least weight, and also having the slenderest ratio of thickness to height. Their height to width ratio is about 10:1. One variant is the Tivoli order, found at the Temple of Vesta, Tivoli. The Tivoli order's Corinthian capital has two rows of acanthus leaves and its abacus

7504-489: The cella. This is a mysterious feature, and archaeologists debate what this shows: some state that it is simply an example of a votive column . A few examples of Corinthian columns in Greece during the next century are all used inside temples. A more famous example, and the first documented use of the Corinthian order on the exterior of a structure, is the circular Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, erected c. 334 BC. A Corinthian capital carefully buried in antiquity in

7616-401: The center and with nearby academic, medical, and research institutions. The New York City Economic Development Corporation 's Early Stage Life Sciences Funding Initiative and venture capital partners, including Celgene , General Electric Ventures, and Eli Lilly, committed a minimum of US$ 100 million to help launch 15 to 20 ventures in life sciences and biotechnology. Real estate is

7728-428: The central shaft is plainly visible. Much later, the Roman writer Vitruvius ( c.  75 BC  – c.  15 BC ) related that the Corinthian order had been invented by Callimachus , a Greek architect and sculptor who was inspired by the sight of a votive basket that had been left on the grave of a young girl. A few of her toys were in it, and a square tile had been placed over the basket, to protect them from

7840-411: The citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 92% of high school students in Midtown Manhattan graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%. There are no public elementary or middle schools in Midtown. The New York City Department of Education operates the following public high schools in Midtown, serving grades 9–12: Private schools include The Beekman School , Rebecca School , and

7952-401: The corners, perhaps reduced in size and importance, scrolling out above the two ranks of stylized acanthus leaves and stalks ("cauliculi" or caulicoles ), eight in all, and to notice that smaller volutes scroll inwards to meet each other on each side. The leaves may be quite stiff, schematic and dry, or they may be extravagantly drilled and undercut, naturalistic and spiky. The flat abacus at

8064-427: The curb. The main floor, 22 feet (6.7 m) above ground level, is surrounded by a dry moat , providing light and air to workspaces below. The moats ran along 31st and 33rd Streets and along the corners at Eighth Avenue; they originally featured glass skylights overlooking the tracks. The moats were replaced with concrete slabs by the late 20th century. The moats at the corners at Eighth Avenue were infilled. In 2017,

8176-460: The design, without offending. The texture and outline of Perrault's leaves is dry and tight compared to their 19th-century naturalism at the U.S. Capitol. In Late Antique and Byzantine practice, the leaves may be blown sideways, as if by the wind of Faith. Unlike the Doric and Ionic column capitals, a Corinthian capital has no neck beneath it, just a ring-like astragal molding or a banding that forms

8288-405: The east. The main facade of the Farley Building (over 8th Avenue) features a Corinthian colonnade finishing at a pavilion on each end. The imposing design was meant to match that of the original Pennsylvania Station across the street. An entablature above the colonnade bears the United States Postal Service creed : "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from

8400-557: The former moats became entrances to the West End Concourse of Moynihan Train Hall , underneath the Farley Building. Inside the Eighth Avenue entrance is a two-story-tall gallery that parallels the colonnaded front. The floors of the gallery were originally paved in various colors of marble, while the walls were made of buff marble and white plaster, with various windows along both sides. The painted plaster ceiling of

8512-546: The foundations of the circular tholos at Epidaurus was recovered during modern archaeological campaigns. Its enigmatic presence and preservation have been explained as a sculptor's model for stonemasons to follow in erecting the temple dedicated to Asclepius . The architectural design of the building was credited in antiquity to the sculptor Polykleitos the Younger , son of the Classical Greek sculptor Polykleitos

8624-877: The front reception hall is divided into sections of 28 feet (8.5 m) each. Each ceiling section is decorated with carved national emblems or coats of arms of ten members of the Postal Union at the time of the building's construction: the United States , the United Kingdom , the German Empire , the French Third Republic , the Russian Empire , the Kingdom of Italy , the Kingdom of Spain , Belgium , Austria-Hungary , and

8736-430: The full length of the colonnade, provides access from the street to the main floor. The colonnade is braced at the end by two square pavilions, each capped with a low saucer dome, expressed on the exterior as a low stepped pyramid. An entablature above the colonnade bears the inscription "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds". The sentence

8848-465: The hollow flutes, or stop-fluted, with the rods rising a third of the way, to where the entasis begins. In French, these are called chandelles and sometimes terminate in carved wisps of flame, or with bellflowers. Alternatively, beading or chains of husks may take the place of the fillets in the fluting, Corinthian being the most flexible of the orders, with more opportunities for variation. Elaborating upon an offhand remark when Vitruvius accounted for

8960-427: The human form, in squared drawings he made of the Corinthian capital overlaid with human heads, to show the proportions common to both. The Corinthian architrave is divided in two or three sections, which may be equal, or may bear interesting proportional relationships, to one with another. Above the plain, unadorned architrave lies the frieze , which may be richly carved with a continuous design or left plain, as at

9072-507: The largest girder in the city's history at the time, a 152-short-ton (136-long-ton; 138 t) girder that stretched 115 feet (35 m) across the railroad tracks. Foundation work was contracted to James Stewart & Co. and was nearly completed by early 1933. The federal government awarded a $ 4.3 million construction contract to James Stewart & Co. in February 1934 after having unsuccessfully advertised for bids on three occasions over

9184-410: The levels. Inside the building is Moynihan Train Hall, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). It consists of 255,000 sq ft (23,700 m) of space underneath a 92 ft (28 m) tall glass skylight . The hall also contains 120,000 sq ft (11,000 m) of retail space. Moynihan Train Hall contains passenger facilities for Amtrak , its primary tenant. These include

9296-635: The lower order of the Basilica Ulpia and the Arch of Trajan at Ancona (both of the reign of Trajan , 98–117 AD), the Column of Phocas (re-erected in Late Antiquity but 2nd century in origin), and the Temple of Bacchus at Baalbek ( c.  150 AD ). Proportion is a defining characteristic of the Corinthian order: the "coherent integration of dimensions and ratios in accordance with

9408-654: The mail platform, when the station officially opened on November 27, 1910. A $ 2.5 million contract to build the Post Office was awarded to the George A. Fuller Company in March 1911. By December 1913, the post office was already processing second, third, and fourth class mail. The New York Times characterized the new post office as "not only the largest, but the finest in the world" of its kind. The original monumental structure officially opened on September 5, 1914. With this,

9520-510: The neighborhood was 64.1% (18,351) White , 4.6% (1,310) African American , 0.1% (34) Native American , 20.8% (5,942) Asian , 0% (8) Pacific Islander , 0.3% (92) from other races , and 2% (569) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 8.1% (2,324) of the population. The entirety of Community District 5, which comprises Midtown Manhattan, had 53,120 inhabitants as of NYC Health 's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 84.8 years. This

9632-720: The offices where they were at the last minute. Global Infrastructure Partners has an office in Midtown Manhattan. Silicon Alley , the common metonym for New York City's high tech sector, is based in Midtown South , specifically the Flatiron District . Prominent Silicon Alley companies in Midtown include AppNexus , Blue Apron , Gilt , Betterment , Oscar , SoFi , Rent the Runway , Warby Parker , and WeWork . The technology sector has been expanding across Midtown Manhattan since 2010. The biotechnology sector

9744-441: The old general post office building, completed in 1914, and its western annex, completed in 1935. The original building was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White , who also designed the adjacent original Pennsylvania Station in the same Beaux-Arts style . William Mitchell Kendall was the lead architect on the design. The firm also designed the annex. The four-story structure consists of granite ashlar cladding around

9856-407: The one is no more than an old copy of the other. Sir William Chambers expressed the conventional comparison with the Doric order: The proportions of the orders were by the ancients formed on those of the human body, and consequently, it could not be their intention to make a Corinthian column, which, as Vitruvius observes, is to represent the delicacy of a young girl, as thick and much taller than

9968-460: The origin of its acanthus capital, it became a commonplace to identify the Corinthian column with the slender figure of a young girl; in this mode the classifying French painter Nicolas Poussin wrote to his friend Fréart de Chantelou in 1642: The beautiful girls whom you will have seen in Nîmes will not, I am sure, have delighted your spirit any less than the beautiful columns of Maison Carrée for

10080-648: The post office incorporating some 165,000 cubic feet (4,700 m) of pink granite, 18,000 tons of steel, and 7 million bricks. The construction of the Penn Station post office spurred the opening of printing businesses in the vicinity. The post office was known as the Pennsylvania Terminal when it opened; at the time, the city's general post office was still the City Hall Post Office in Lower Manhattan . Effective July 1, 1918,

10192-484: The post office the same year. By then, steelwork for the tracks and platforms was already under construction. The initial appropriation for the post office building was $ 2.5 million, but in April 1910, Congress allocated another $ 1 million for construction. The construction of Pennsylvania Station across the street was progressing more quickly. The as-yet-incomplete Penn Station post office saw its first mail, delivered through

10304-583: The previous year. The lease came during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City , when most Manhattan office workers were remote workers , and was seen at the time as a major positive for Manhattan's office market. Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan , serving as the city's primary central business district . Midtown

10416-814: The previous years. During the construction of the annex, Farley's building supply firm, the General Builders Supply Corporation, had received a federal contract under the Hoover administration to provide building materials. Farley was accused by U.S. senator Huey Long of receiving preferential treatment from the Roosevelt administration , but the Senate cleared him of any wrongdoing, in what would be known as "The Long-Farley Affair of 1935". The annex opened in December 1935. In February 1938,

10528-529: The principles of symmetria " are noted by Mark Wilson Jones, who finds that the ratio of total column height to column-shaft height is in a 6:5 ratio, so that, secondarily, the full height of column with capital is often a multiple of 6 Roman feet while the column height itself is a multiple of 5. In its proportions, the Corinthian column is similar to the Ionic column , though it is more slender, and stands apart by its distinctive carved capital. The abacus upon

10640-453: The same system. During the 16th century, a sequence of engravings of the orders in architectural treatises helped standardize their details within rigid limits: Sebastiano Serlio; the Regola delli cinque ordini of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1507–1573); I quattro libri dell'architettura of Andrea Palladio , and Vincenzo Scamozzi's L'idea dell'architettura universale , were followed in

10752-556: The shade, of the luxurious foliage of Corinthian designs. Though the term "Corinthian" is reserved for columns and capitals that adhere fairly closely to one of the classical versions, vegetal decoration to capitals continued to be extremely common in Byzantine architecture and the various styles of the European Middle Ages , from Carolingian architecture to Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture . There

10864-696: The site in January 1907, with an easement for the PRR allowing trains to use the tracks and platforms underneath. The architect was selected under the Tarsney Act of 1893, which permitted the Supervisory Architect to hold an architectural design competition for U.S. government facilities. Several prominent firms and architects were invited to submit plans in early 1908. Supervisory architect James Knox Taylor selected McKim, Mead & White for

10976-481: The station. In February 1903, the U.S. government accepted the PRR's proposal and made plans to construct what would become the Farley Building. A deed was prepared and submitted in 1905 to George B. Cortelyou , the Postmaster General of the United States . The PRR would construct the tracks and supporting columns under the post office as part of the plan. The site faced opposition from several members of

11088-403: The swift completion of their appointed rounds." The colonnade's inner ceiling is decorated with the crests or emblems of ten major nations that existed at the building's completion. The remaining three facades have a similar but simpler design. The James A. Farley Building was known as the Pennsylvania Terminal until 1918, when it was renamed the General Post Office Building. The building was made

11200-668: The top of the capital has a concave curve on each face, and usually a single flower ("rosette") projecting from the leaves below overlaps it on each face. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance , two more orders were added to the canon : the Tuscan order and the Composite order , known in Roman times, but regarded as a grand imperial variant of the Corinthian. The Corinthian has fluted columns and elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls. There are many variations. The name Corinthian

11312-463: The tops of the end pavilions, names of various figures have been carved, such as Cardinal Richelieu , who were deemed important to the history of postal delivery in the Western world. The facades along 31st and 33rd Streets contain colonnades with flat pilasters . These sides are divided into seven sections: a tripartite central pavilion with archways, flanked on either side by a row of pilasters and

11424-697: The tracks of the Northeast Corridor and the Farley Corridor (sub-district B) in western Midtown Manhattan . The building occupies a land lot measuring 455 feet (139 m) along Eighth and Ninth Avenues, and 800 feet (240 m) along 31st and 33rd Streets. According to the New York City Department of City Planning , it has a lot area of 364,000 square feet (33,800 m) and a gross floor area of 1,378,125 square feet (128,032.0 m). The Farley Building consists of

11536-551: The weather. An acanthus plant had grown through the woven basket, mixing its spiny, deeply cut leaves with the weave of the basket. Claude Perrault incorporated a vignette epitomizing the Callimachus tale in his illustration of the Corinthian order for his translation of Vitruvius, published in Paris, 1684. Perrault demonstrates in his engraving how the proportions of the carved capital could be adjusted according to demands of

11648-509: The world's highest retail rents and is the most expensive shopping street in the world. Midtown Manhattan is the country's largest commercial, entertainment , and media center, and is also a growing financial and fintech center. Many of New York City's skyscrapers , including its tallest hotels and apartment towers , are located in Midtown Manhattan. The neighborhood hosts commuters and residents working in its offices, hotels, and retail establishments, tourists and students. Times Square,

11760-403: Was $ 101,981, though the median income in Midtown individually was $ 120,854. In 2018, an estimated 11% of Midtown Manhattan residents lived in poverty, compared to 14% in all of Manhattan and 20% in all of New York City. One in twenty residents (5%) were unemployed, compared to 7% in Manhattan and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent,

11872-515: Was announced, with the aim of reducing traffic congestion. Approximately 750,000 vehicles enter Midtown Manhattan on a fall business day. According to the 2011 Traffic Data Report for New York State, 777,527 vehicles a day went through select toll facilities into Manhattan. The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division , First Department, is located at the Appellate Division Courthouse at 25th Street and Madison Avenue

11984-602: Was completed in 1900 by architect James Brown Lord , who used a third of the construction budget to decorate the building with statues and murals. The Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration operates its New York office on the 22nd floor at 135 West 50th Street . Several countries, including Algeria , Argentina , The Bahamas , China , Costa Rica , Germany , Ireland , Israel , Jamaica , Japan , Luxembourg , Mexico , Morocco , Saudi Arabia , Singapore , South Africa , South Korea , United Kingdom , and Ukraine , have Permanent Missions accredited to

12096-639: Was considerable freedom in the details and the relationship between column (generally not fluted) and capital. Many types of plant were represented, sometimes realistically, as in the capitals in the chapter house at Southwell Minster in England. During the first flush of the Italian Renaissance , the Florentine architectural theorist Francesco di Giorgio expressed the human analogies that writers who followed Vitruvius often associated with

12208-673: Was instrumental to maintaining service levels in the New York metropolitan area following the September 11 attacks in 2001, when it served as a backup to operations for the Church Street Station Post Office opposite the World Trade Center complex. By October 2002, the New York state government had arranged to buy the Farley Building from the USPS for $ 230 million, with the USPS vacating much of

12320-523: Was moving its North American headquarters from Midtown to Melville , New York , in Suffolk County on Long Island . Based on data from the 2010 United States Census , the population of Midtown Manhattan was 28,630, a change of 2,823 (9.9%) from the 25,807 counted in 2000 . Covering an area of 692.81 acres (280.37 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 41.3 inhabitants per acre (26,400/sq mi; 10,200/km ). The racial makeup of

12432-541: Was open to the adytum . The Corinthian was probably devised to solve the awkwardness the Ionic capital created at corners by having clear and distinct front or back and side-on faces, a problem only finally solved by Vincenzo Scamozzi in the 16th century. A simplified late version of the Greek Corinthian capital is often known as the "Tower of the Winds Corinthian" after its use on the porches of

12544-408: Was sold on July 2, 2007, for US$ 510 million, about US$ 1,589 per square foot (US$ 17,104/m ), it broke the barely month-old record for an American office building of US$ 1,476 per square foot (US$ 15,887/m ) based on the sale of 660 Madison Avenue . In 2014, Manhattan was home to six of the top ten zip codes in the United States by median housing price. In 2019, the most expensive home sale ever in

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