185-578: The New York Times Building is a 52-story skyscraper at 620 Eighth Avenue , between 40th and 41st Streets near Times Square , on the west side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City . Its chief tenant is the New York Times Company , publisher of The New York Times . The building is 1,046 ft (318.8 m) tall to its pinnacle, with a roof height of 748 ft (228 m). Designed by Renzo Piano and Fox & Fowle ,
370-548: A Buttressed core . Trussed tube and X-bracing: 7 (New York City Subway service) The 7 Flushing Local and <7> Flushing Express are two rapid transit services in the A Division of the New York City Subway , providing local and express services along the full length of the IRT Flushing Line . Their route emblems, or "bullets", are colored purple, since they serve
555-477: A compressive strength of 6,000 pounds per square inch (41,000 kPa). The building contains a superstructure with 23,500 short tons (21,000 long tons; 21,300 t) of steel. More than 95 percent of the beams are made of recycled steel. Steel was chosen over concrete because it allows flexible office spaces. The superstructure contains box columns measuring 30 by 30 inches (760 by 760 mm) in diameter. The flanges range from 4 inches (100 mm) thick at
740-412: A gross floor area of 1,545,708 square feet (143,601.0 m). It has two major condominiums of office space: a lower section operated by the New York Times Company and an upper section operated by Brookfield Properties , which took over Forest City Ratner's stake in 2019. The Times space on the 2nd to 27th stories covers 800,000 square feet (74,000 m), about 58 percent of the office space, while
925-421: A raised floor structural system, with the finished office floors being above the floor slabs. Conversely, on the upper stories, the finished office floors are the slabs themselves. The superstructure of the tower is braced to the mechanical core, which measures 90 by 65 feet (27 by 20 m). This allows the perimeter of the tower stories to be no more than 42 feet (13 m) from the core. The lower section of
1110-577: A (7) (within a circle) or a <7> (within a diamond) with the word "Express" underneath it. The R62As were displaced by the R188s from January 2014 to March 30, 2018, in preparation for the automation equipment for the Flushing Line . The displaced R62As were returned to the 6 train, from which many R142As were taken and converted to R188s. The first train of R188 cars began operating in passenger service on November 9, 2013. By 2016, most of
1295-455: A 378-seat auditorium for events. The Times Center also includes a 5,000-square-foot (460 m) meeting space. The Times Center and lobby overlook a garden at the center of the podium, which is visible from the lobby but closed to the public. The garden is surrounded by a glass wall measuring 70 feet (21 m) high and 70 feet across on three sides. It contains seven paper birch trees measuring 50 feet (15 m) tall. The garden originally had
1480-454: A ceiling 9 feet 7 inches (2.92 m) high. The ceiling is divided into a grid of tiles measuring 5 by 5 feet (1.5 by 1.5 m), aligned with the vertical mullions of the facade. The Times generally arranges its offices in an open plan . The 2nd through 4th stories contain the Times newsroom , which extends into the podium and overlooks the garden. The podium also accommodated
1665-541: A city consisting entirely of high-rise housing is the 16th-century city of Shibam in Yemen . Shibam was made up of over 500 tower houses, each one rising 5 to 11 stories high, with each floor being an apartment occupied by a single family. The city was built in this way in order to protect it from Bedouin attacks. Shibam still has the tallest mudbrick buildings in the world, with many of them over 30 m (98 ft) high. An early modern example of high-rise housing
1850-446: A control area for the building's mechanical services. The main roof above the 52nd story consists of an asphalt covering, above which are concrete pavers on stone ballast . The steel mast atop the building is about 300 feet (91 m) tall and is made of carbon fiber , allowing it to bend during heavy winds without snapping. It extends from a circular baseplate on the 51st story, where it measures 8 feet (2.4 m) wide, and tapers to
2035-421: A design feature that represents the ideal of journalistic transparency. Instead, the corners contain one- and two-story-high rods, which serve as bracing and are designed in a pattern resembling the letter "X" (see The New York Times Building § Superstructure ). Underneath the site is durable Hartland bedrock. Before the tower was constructed, the contractors made three sets of borings to extract samples of
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#17327724681172220-599: A joint effort between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey , the MTA, and NJ Transit , this extension was considered again in February 2018. In 2008, the MTA started converting the 7 service to accommodate communications-based train control (CBTC). Originally expected to cost $ 585.9 million, the installation of CBTC was intended to allow two additional trains per hour as well as two additional trains for
2405-474: A large podium; Foster proposed a right triangle tapering toward the top; Pelli outlined a glass tower with several chamfers ; and the Gehry/Childs partnership planned a structure with billowing sheets of glass on the facade. The Gehry/Childs partnership was widely speculated in the media to be the front-runner, but Gehry was worried that the integrity of his design would be compromised in later revisions. As
2590-413: A limestone and granite facade, a wide arch with a clock spanning 41st Street, arched entrances on Eighth Avenue, and a set of pavilions with ten pyramids on the roof. The proposal was complicated by the fact that developer Paul Milstein wanted to build a 36-story hotel and office building on the northern half of the site, north of what is now the Times building. Kennedy Enterprises was selected to operate
2775-751: A more classical approach came back to global skyscraper design, that remains popular today. Examples are the Wells Fargo Center , NBC Tower , Parkview Square , 30 Park Place , the Messeturm , the iconic Petronas Towers and Jin Mao Tower . Other contemporary styles and movements in skyscraper design include organic , sustainable , neo-futurist , structuralist , high-tech , deconstructivist , blob , digital , streamline , novelty , critical regionalist , vernacular , Neo Art Deco and neohistorist , also known as revivalist . 3 September
2960-406: A moss glen, but this was replaced in 2010 with ferns and grasses. The birch trees are placed on the northwestern side of the garden, while the mosses were placed on hills in the rest of the space. A walkway made of Ipe wood runs around the garden, and doors lead to the garden from the north and south sides. The walls of the atrium are transparent, resulting in numerous incidents where birds flew into
3145-481: A new 13-story building at the same site , one that remains in use by Pace University with some modifications. In 1905, the paper moved to One Times Square at 42nd Street and Broadway. The area surrounding the new headquarters was renamed from Longacre Square to Times Square . The Times outgrew the slender Times Tower within a decade and, in 1913, moved into the Times Annex at 229 West 43rd Street . By 1999,
3330-696: A nonbinding agreement in June 2000, wherein the Times agreed to pay $ 100 million. The Times was to occupy half of the planned tower, a single unit covering the second through 28th floors. The remainder of the space would be operated by Forest City and leased to office tenants. At the time, other media headquarters were being developed nearby, such as the Hearst Tower on 57th Street and the Condé Nast Building at 4 Times Square . Robert A. M. Stern, his colleague Paul Whalen, and Naresh Kapadia of
3515-399: A particularly small surface area of what are conventionally thought of as walls. Because the walls are not load-bearing most skyscrapers are characterized by surface areas of windows made possible by the concept of steel frame and curtain wall. However, skyscrapers can also have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls and have a small surface area of windows. The concept of a skyscraper is
3700-420: A product of the industrialized age , made possible by cheap fossil fuel derived energy and industrially refined raw materials such as steel and concrete . The construction of skyscrapers was enabled by steel frame construction that surpassed brick and mortar construction starting at the end of the 19th century and finally surpassing it in the 20th century together with reinforced concrete construction as
3885-454: A proto-skyscraper, or to New York's seven-floor Equitable Life Building , built in 1870. Steel skeleton construction has allowed for today's supertall skyscrapers now being built worldwide. The nomination of one structure versus another being the first skyscraper, and why, depends on what factors are stressed. The structural definition of the word skyscraper was refined later by architectural historians, based on engineering developments of
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#17327724681174070-412: A proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exaltation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line. Some structural engineers define a high-rise as any vertical construction for which wind is a more significant load factor than earthquake or weight. Note that this criterion fits not only high-rises but some other tall structures, such as towers . Different organizations from
4255-574: A result, he and Childs withdrew their plan from consideration. Ultimately, the Times selected Piano's proposal in October 2000, and it selected Gensler as the interior architect in February 2001. Piano's plan called for a 776-foot (237 m) structure with a ceramic screen rising to 840 feet (260 m) and a mast rising to 1,142 feet (348 m). Fox & Fowle was selected as Piano's co-architect, focusing on smaller design details and costs. The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) had, since
4440-811: A separate fleet from the rest of the IRT, starting with the Steinway Low-Vs . The Steinways were built between 1915 and 1925 specifically for use in the Steinway Tunnel . They had special gear ratios to climb the steep grades (4.5%) in the Steinway Tunnel, something standard Interborough equipment could not do. In 1938, an order of World's Fair Lo-V cars was placed with the St. Louis Car Company . These cars broke from IRT "tradition" in that they did not have vestibules at each car end. In addition, because
4625-450: A settlement. Skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least 100 meters (330 ft) or 150 meters (490 ft) in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise buildings . Skyscrapers may host offices, hotels, residential spaces, and retail spaces. One common feature of skyscrapers
4810-420: A single 7 train set is more than in any other New York City Subway service. These trains, however, are not the longest in the system , since a train of 11 "A" Division cars is only 565 feet (172 m) long, while a standard B Division train, which consists of ten 60 foot (18 m) cars or eight 75 foot (23 m) cars, is 600 feet (180 m) long. The 7, throughout almost all its history, has maintained
4995-430: A single-stage absorption chiller that is capable of 250 metric tons (280 short tons; 250 long tons). The building also has five electric centrifugal chillers of 1,150 metric tons (1,270 short tons; 1,130 long tons) each, which serve the building's central chilled-water plant. The air from the chillers is delivered from chillers at 68 °F (20 °C). It travels to an underfloor air distribution system under each of
5180-571: A skyscraper today, it was record setting. The building of tall buildings in the 1880s gave the skyscraper its first architectural movement, broadly termed the Chicago School , which developed what has been called the Commercial Style. The architect, Major William Le Baron Jenney , created a load-bearing structural frame. In this building, a steel frame supported the entire weight of the walls, instead of load-bearing walls carrying
5365-417: A small surface area of windows. Modern skyscrapers often have a tubular structure , and are designed to act like a hollow cylinder to resist wind, seismic, and other lateral loads. To appear more slender, allow less wind exposure and transmit more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with setbacks , which in some cases is also structurally required. As of September 2023 , fifteen cities in
5550-502: A smaller mart in 1987. Chemical Bank had considered occupying office space at the mart before withdrawing in 1989. The mart plan was never completed because of a weakened market. By mid-1999, state and city officials were planning a request for proposals for the southern half of the merchandise mart site. The Times 's parent company, the New York Times Company , proposed a 1.3-million-square-foot (120,000 m) headquarters tower, citing its need to enlarge its operations. If this
5735-521: A time, the tallest of which is the 97.2 m (319 ft) high Asinelli Tower. A Florentine law of 1251 decreed that all urban buildings be immediately reduced to less than 26 m. Even medium-sized towns of the era are known to have proliferations of towers, such as the 72 towers that ranged up to 51 m height in San Gimignano . The medieval Egyptian city of Fustat housed many high-rise residential buildings, which Al-Muqaddasi in
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5920-466: A variety of shapes, and it could be riveted, ensuring strong connections. The simplicity of a steel frame eliminated the inefficient part of a shear wall, the central portion, and consolidated support members in a much stronger fashion by allowing both horizontal and vertical supports throughout. Among steel's drawbacks is that as more material must be supported as height increases, the distance between supporting members must decrease, which in turn increases
6105-469: A vertical tube-like structural system capable of resisting lateral forces in any direction by cantilevering from the foundation". Closely spaced interconnected exterior columns form the tube. Horizontal loads (primarily wind) are supported by the structure as a whole. Framed tubes allow fewer interior columns, and so create more usable floor space, and about half the exterior surface is available for windows. Where larger openings like garage doors are required,
6290-425: A width of 8 inches (200 mm) at its pinnacle. The mast is also supported from the roof of the 52nd story. To support the mast, trusses were designed within the floor slabs on the 51st and 52nd stories, and vertical trusses were used to shift the weight of the mast to the columns below. The New York Times Building has a cogeneration plant, which can provide 40 percent of the building's energy requirements. It
6475-408: Is cruciform in plan and has a steel-framed superstructure with a braced mechanical core. It consists of the office tower on the west side of the land lot as well as four-story podium on the east side. Its facade is largely composed of a glass curtain wall , in front of which are ceramic rods that deflect heat and glare. The steel framing and bracing is exposed at the four corner "notches" of
6660-551: Is adjacent to the IRT Flushing Line subway tunnel (used by the 7 and <7> trains) below 41st Street, as well as a pedestrian passageway at a shallower level. The western lot line is adjacent to the IND Eighth Avenue Line subway tunnel (used by the A , C , and E trains) under Eighth Avenue. The foundation had to be capable of supporting 6,000 to 22,500 kilopascals (870 to 3,260 psi) of pressure. Most of
6845-704: Is having a steel frame that supports curtain walls . This idea was invented by Viollet le Duc in his discourses on architecture. These curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of reinforced concrete . Modern skyscraper walls are not load-bearing , and most skyscrapers are characterized by large surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames and curtain walls. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with
7030-406: Is important in most building design, but particularly for skyscrapers since even a small chance of catastrophic failure is unacceptable given the tremendous damage such failure would cause. This presents a paradox to civil engineers : the only way to assure a lack of failure is to test for all modes of failure, in both the laboratory and the real world. But the only way to know of all modes of failure
7215-433: Is largely from the force of the building material itself. In most building designs, the weight of the structure is much larger than the weight of the material that it will support beyond its own weight. In technical terms, the dead load , the load of the structure, is larger than the live load , the weight of things in the structure (people, furniture, vehicles, etc.). As such, the amount of structural material required within
7400-493: Is next to the building's base. Prior to the building's construction, the site was occupied by a mixture of buildings. The site had been proposed for redevelopment since 1981 as the southern half of an unbuilt merchandise mart (see The New York Times Building § Site redevelopment ). At Eighth Avenue and 40th Street was a six-story building erected in 1963, which housed the Taylor Business Institute and
7585-410: Is supported by a Vierendeel truss . The outer girders are connected to the perimeter columns by diagonal beams and to each other by columns. Because the Times 's stories have raised floors, the girders on these stories protrude through the facade in an offset "dogleg". The 51st-story mechanical space contains elevator rooms, air-conditioning, lighting, and telecommunications equipment, as well as
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7770-399: Is the global commemorative day for skyscrapers, called "Skyscraper Day". New York City developers competed among themselves, with successively taller buildings claiming the title of "world's tallest" in the 1920s and early 1930s, culminating with the completion of the 318.9 m (1,046 ft) Chrysler Building in 1930 and the 443.2 m (1,454 ft) Empire State Building in 1931,
7955-419: Is to learn from previous failures. Thus, no engineer can be absolutely sure that a given structure will resist all loadings that could cause failure; instead, one can only have large enough margins of safety such that a failure is acceptably unlikely. When buildings do fail, engineers question whether the failure was due to some lack of foresight or due to some unknowable factor. The load a skyscraper experiences
8140-511: Is variously cited as being capable of 1.4 megawatts (1,900 hp) or 1.5 megawatts (2,000 hp). The plant is in a mechanical room on the top floor of the podium, at the far eastern end. The cogeneration plant is powered by two natural gas -fired engines. The New York Times Building is also connected to the main New York City power grid, which serves as a backup power source. Because of a disagreement with Consolidated Edison (Con Ed),
8325-531: The 7 Subway Extension , providing a 7% increase in capacity. At the former southern terminal, Times Square, service on the 7 was limited to 27 trains per hour as a result of the bumper blocks there. The new southern terminal at 34th Street–Hudson Yards has tail tracks to store rush-hour trains and can increase the service frequency to 29 trains per hour. New CBTC-compatible cars for the A Division (the R188 contract) were delivered from 2013 to 2016. In October 2017,
8510-537: The Redbird cars on the 7. The first R62As entered service on the 7 route on February 19, 2002. On November 3, 2003, the last Redbird train made its final trip on this route, making all stops between Times Square and the then-named Willets Point–Shea Stadium. Several Redbird cars running on this service were decorated with Mets logos and colors during the 2000 World Series against the New York Yankees , as
8695-543: The SAE Institute . The address 260 West 41st Street contained Sussex House, an eight-story, 140-room dormitory, as well as a mural advertising garment store Seely Shoulder Shapes. Behind it was a 16-story office building at 265 West 40th Street. Sex shops , prostitution, and loitering were prevalent on the 41st Street side of the site. Five sex shops had been relocated from the site before the building's development, out of 55 businesses total. The New York Times Building
8880-411: The Times 's stories and to the ceilings of the top 21 stories. The steam for heating the building itself is purchased from Con Ed rather than being generated on-site, since the architects determined on-site heat generation to be more expensive. The cellar and the podium's roof contain air handling units with steam coils that take low-pressure steam. There are over 18,000 lighting fixtures in
9065-474: The Times 's web-based staff. Stairs with red banisters connect the newsroom's stories, while a skylight illuminates the workspaces. Throughout the building, the Times offices mainly contain cherry wood furniture. The desks of the Times offices had gypsum-board accents, which themselves are colored in a scarlet red tone, nicknamed "Renzo Red". Copy writers ' desks are smaller and have laminate desks without partitions. Two red staircases, one on each side of
9250-551: The Times offices. The New York Times , founded in 1851, was first housed in 113 Nassau Street in Lower Manhattan . It moved to 138 Nassau Street, the site of what is now the Potter Building , in 1854. The Times moved to a neighboring five-story edifice at 41 Park Row in 1858. Partially prompted by the development of the neighboring New York Tribune Building , the Times replaced its building in 1889 with
9435-623: The Times operated at six locations in Manhattan and had a printing plant in Queens . The Urban Development Corporation (UDC), an agency of the New York state government, had proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981. Among the UDC's plans was a garment merchandise mart on Eighth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, opposite Port Authority Bus Terminal. The project
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#17327724681179620-477: The Times portion of the building. The upper stories have two data closets and two electric closets each. In addition, the building has emergency generators throughout. There are 32 elevators total: 24 for passengers and eight for freight. The elevators can run as quickly as 1,600 feet per minute (490 m/min). The building's mechanical core contains four banks of elevators with seven shafts each. The lower stories are served by three elevators from each bank, while
9805-643: The " Seven Sisters ", were built between 1947 and 1953; and one, the Main building of Moscow State University , was the tallest building in Europe for nearly four decades (1953–1990). Other skyscrapers in the style of Socialist Classicism were erected in East Germany ( Frankfurter Tor ), Poland ( PKiN ), Ukraine ( Hotel Moscow ), Latvia ( Academy of Sciences ), and other Eastern Bloc countries. Western European countries also began to permit taller skyscrapers during
9990-460: The 10th century described as resembling minarets . Nasir Khusraw in the early 11th century described some of them rising up to 14 stories, with roof gardens on the top floor complete with ox-drawn water wheels for irrigating them. Cairo in the 16th century had high-rise apartment buildings where the two lower floors were for commercial and storage purposes and the multiple stories above them were rented out to tenants . An early example of
10175-465: The 1880s that had enabled construction of tall multi-story buildings. This definition was based on the steel skeleton—as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry , which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicago's Monadnock Building . What is the chief characteristic of the tall office building? It is lofty. It must be tall. The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and pride of exaltation must be in it. It must be every inch
10360-600: The 1960s now use a tube design derived from Khan's structural engineering principles, examples including the construction of the World Trade Center , Aon Center , Petronas Towers , Jin Mao Building , and most other supertall skyscrapers since the 1960s. The strong influence of tube structure design is also evident in the construction of the current tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa , which uses
10545-603: The 1960s, according to the CTBUH, the skyscraper has been reoriented away from a symbol for North American corporate power to instead communicate a city or nation's place in the world. Skyscraper construction entered a three-decades-long era of stagnation in 1930 due to the Great Depression and then World War II . Shortly after the war ended, Russia began construction on a series of skyscrapers in Moscow . Seven, dubbed
10730-568: The 1964–65 New York World's Fair. On June 26, 1999, First Lady Hillary Clinton and U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater designated the 7 route as a National Millennium Trail (under the name "International Express"), along with 15 other routes including the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and the Underground Railroad . The following table shows the line used by the 7 and <7>, with shaded boxes indicating
10915-807: The 26th century BC. It was not surpassed in height for thousands of years, the 160 m (520 ft) Lincoln Cathedral having exceeded it in 1311–1549, before its central spire collapsed. The latter in turn was not surpassed until the 555-foot (169 m) Washington Monument in 1884. However, being uninhabited, none of these structures actually comply with the modern definition of a skyscraper. High-rise apartments flourished in classical antiquity . Ancient Roman insulae in imperial cities reached 10 and more stories. Beginning with Augustus (r. 30 BC-14 AD), several emperors attempted to establish limits of 20–25 m for multi-stories buildings, but were met with only limited success. Lower floors were typically occupied by shops or wealthy families, with
11100-478: The 29th to 52nd stories spans 600,000 square feet (56,000 m), covering the remaining 42 percent. The lobby and the mechanical spaces on the 28th and 51st stories are shared by the building's major operators. The top floor is 721 feet (220 m) high. The Times Building rises 748 feet (228 m) from the street to its roof, while the exterior curtain wall rises to 840 feet (256 m) and its mast rises to 1,046 feet (318.8 m). As of 2018, including its mast,
11285-516: The 42nd Street Development Project created a set of design guidelines in advance of an architectural design competition for the building. They also created a model conforming to ideals set by the chairman of the New York City Planning Commission . The design guidelines were printed in a 48-page program with a statement by Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp . Times Company vice chairman Michael Golden said of
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#173277246811711470-413: The 52-story tower on the western portion of the site and a four-story podium occupying the eastern portion. The tower section covers about 24,500 square feet (2,280 m), with dimensions of 196 by 157 feet (60 by 48 m). The corners of the tower are notched, creating a cruciform layout. The outer columns on the west and east elevations are recessed several feet into the building. The center bays of
11655-690: The 57 m (187 ft) tall 1924 Marx House in Düsseldorf , the 65 m (213 ft) tall Borsigturm in Berlin , built in 1924, the 65 m (213 ft) tall Hansahochhaus in Cologne , Germany, built in 1925; the 61 m (200 ft) Kungstornen (Kings' Towers) in Stockholm , Sweden, which were built 1924–25; the 77 m (253 ft) Ullsteinhaus in Berlin, Germany, built in 1927;
11840-458: The 7. Express trains began running on April 24, 1939, to serve the 1939 New York World's Fair . The first train left Main Street at 6:30 a.m. local time . IRT expresses ran every nine minutes between Main Street and Times Square, with BMT expresses having a similar frequency, running just between Main Street and Queensboro Plaza. The running time between Main Street and Queensboro Plaza
12025-613: The 89 m (292 ft) Edificio Telefónica in Madrid , Spain, built in 1929; the 87.5 m (287 ft) Boerentoren in Antwerp, Belgium, built in 1932; the 66 m (217 ft) Prudential Building in Warsaw , Poland, built in 1934; and the 108 m (354 ft) Torre Piacentini in Genoa , Italy, built in 1940. After an early competition between New York City and Chicago for
12210-668: The Built Environment found the Times Building had significant reductions in annual electricity use, utilized less than half the heating energy, and decreased the peak electric demand compared to similarly sized office buildings. The developers did not wish to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, since that would have required extra expenditures, such as keeping track of construction debris. The Times Building consists of two sections:
12395-461: The CBTC system was activated from Main Street to 74th Street . On November 26, 2018, following numerous delays, CBTC was activated on the remainder of the 7 route. From June 26, 2023, through January 2025, <7> express trains are making all stops between Queensboro Plaza and 74th Street–Broadway due to renovations along the Flushing Line. The 7 operates with 11-car sets; the number of cars in
12580-482: The CBTC-equipped R188 train sets were on the 7, and by March 30, 2018, the last R62A trains were displaced by the R188 cars. The 7 is unofficially nicknamed the "International Express" and the " Orient Express ", in part because it travels through several different ethnic neighborhoods populated by immigrants , especially along Roosevelt Avenue , and also because it was the principal subway route to
12765-503: The CTBUH, is the distance between the highest floor and its architectural top (excluding antennae, flagpole or other functional extensions). Vanity height first appeared in New York City skyscrapers as early as the 1920s and 1930s but supertall buildings have relied on such uninhabitable extensions for on average 30% of their height, raising potential definitional and sustainability issues. The current era of skyscrapers focuses on sustainability , its built and natural environments, including
12950-550: The ESDC first had to offer to buy the land from the owners, using the condemnation process only as a last resort. The Times publicly announced plans for the building on December 13, 2001. Piano had originally intended to include an open piazza at the base, but the revised plans called for a tower rising directly from Eighth Avenue, with the Times newsroom surrounding a garden. The main roof would have its own garden and antenna mast. The tower retained its planned glass curtain wall, but
13135-661: The Flushing Line east of Queensboro Plaza was shared by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) from 1912 to 1949; BMT trains were designated 9, while IRT services were designated 7 on maps only. The IRT routes were given numbered designations in 1948 with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock , which contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service. The Times Square to Flushing route became known as
13320-779: The Flushing Line ended, and the Flushing Line became the responsibility of the IRT. After the end of BMT/IRT dual service, the New York City Board of Transportation announced that the Flushing Line platforms would be lengthened to 11 IRT car lengths, and the BMT Astoria Line platforms extended to 10 BMT car lengths. The project, to start in 1950, would cost US$ 3,850,000 (equivalent to $ 48,800,000 in 2023). The platforms were only able to fit nine 51-foot-long IRT cars, or seven 60-foot-long BMT cars beforehand. On March 12, 1953, two 9-car super express trains began operating from Flushing–Main Street to Times Square in
13505-504: The Flushing Line opened. Since 1927, the 7 has held largely the same route, except for a one-stop western extension from Times Square to Hudson Yards on September 13, 2015. On June 13, 1915, the first test train on the IRT Flushing Line ran between Grand Central and Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue , followed by the start of revenue service on June 22. The Flushing Line was extended one stop from Vernon–Jackson Avenue to Hunters Point Avenue on February 15, 1916. On November 5, 1916,
13690-416: The Flushing Line runs adjacent to Citi Field and the former location of Shea Stadium . By 2008, all R62As on the 7 were upgraded with LED lighted signs to distinguish between express and local trains. These signs are located on the rollsigns that are found on the side of each car. The local is a green circle around the 7 bullet while the express is a red diamond. Previously, the rollsigns showed either
13875-573: The Flushing Line was extended two more stops east to the Queensboro Plaza station . The line was opened from Queensboro Plaza to Alburtis Avenue (now 103rd Street–Corona Plaza ) on April 21, 1917. Service to 111th Street was inaugurated on October 13, 1925, with shuttle service running between 111th Street, and the previous terminal at Alburtis Avenue on the Manhattan-bound track. On March 22, 1926, Flushing Line service
14060-554: The Flushing Line. 7 trains operate at all times between Main Street in Flushing, Queens and 34th Street–Hudson Yards in Chelsea, Manhattan . Local service, denoted by a (7) in a circular bullet, operates at all times, while express service, denoted by a <7> in a diamond-shaped bullet, runs only during rush hours and early evenings in the peak direction and during special events. The 7 route started running in 1915 when
14245-514: The IRT ran ten-car trains without a second conductor. In 1964, picture window R33S and R36 cars replaced the older R12s, R14s, R15s, and R17s in time for the 1964 New York World's Fair. Early in 1965, the NYCTA placed a strip map indicating all the stations and transfer points for the line in each of the line's 430 cars, helping World's Fair visitors. This innovation was not used for other services and as they shared rolling stock with each other; it
14430-762: The IRT ran ten-car trains without a second conductor. With the 1964–1965 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in April 1964, trains were lengthened to eleven cars. The Flushing Line received 430 new R33 and R36 "World's Fair" cars for this enhanced service. From May 13, 1985, to August 21, 1989, the IRT Flushing Line was overhauled for improvements, including the installation of new track, repair of station structures and to improve line infrastructure. The project cost $ 70 million. Temporary platforms were built at local stations along
14615-467: The IRT was bankrupt at the time, the cars were built as single ended cars, with train controls for the motorman on one side and door controls for the conductor on the other. Starting in 1948, R12s , R14s , and R15s were delivered to the 7. On November 1, 1962, fifty R17s (6500–6549) were transferred from the Mainline IRT to the 7, allowing for ten-car operation. This was the first time that
14800-786: The NYCTA did not have. During the construction project, the NYCTA operated 25 trains per hour on the local track, three fewer than the 28 trains per hour split between the local and express beforehand. Running times on the 7 were lengthened by ten minutes during the project. The project was completed in June 1989, six months ahead of its scheduled completion of December 1989. The NYCTA held a public hearing on June 29, 1989, concerning its proposed reinstatement of express service. The NYCTA proposed implementing express service in July 1989 to coincide with changes in regular A Division schedules. It began to plan options to reinstate express service in 1988. Options were presented to local community boards, including
14985-634: The New York Times Building is the twelfth-tallest building in the city , tied with the Chrysler Building . The Times Building was designed as a green building . During the building's construction, the architects created a 4,500-square-foot (420 m) mockup of a portion of the building to test out its environmental features. A yearlong study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Center for
15170-438: The New York Times Company offered to develop its new headquarters on the mart's site. Piano and Fox & Fowle were selected following an architectural design competition , and the land was acquired in 2003 following disputes with existing landowners. The building was completed in 2007 for over $ 1 billion. The Times Company's space was operated by W. P. Carey from 2009 to 2019; meanwhile, Forest City bought out ING's interest and
15355-493: The New York Times Company owned the remaining 58 percent. In mid-2003, Forest City announced it would request $ 400 million in tax-free Liberty bonds, allocated for September 11 recovery efforts, to finance the building's construction. Forest City claimed it could not finance its portion of the tower. This request, along with a similar one for the Bank of America Tower three blocks northeast, received public criticism. By October 2003,
15540-470: The United States and Europe define skyscrapers as buildings at least 150 m (490 ft) in height or taller, with " supertall " skyscrapers for buildings higher than 300 m (984 ft) and " megatall " skyscrapers for those taller than 600 m (1,969 ft). The tallest structure in ancient times was the 146 m (479 ft) Great Pyramid of Giza in ancient Egypt , built in
15725-497: The amount of material that must be supported. This becomes inefficient and uneconomic for buildings above 40 stories tall as usable floor spaces are reduced for supporting column and due to more usage of steel. A new structural system of framed tubes was developed by Fazlur Rahman Khan in 1963. The framed tube structure is defined as "a three dimensional space structure composed of three, four, or possibly more frames, braced frames, or shear walls, joined at or near their edges to form
15910-474: The base to 2 inches (51 mm) thick at the top stories, giving a lighter appearance. The beams are covered with intumescent coatings for fireproofing. The floor slabs are a composite consisting of 2.5 inches (64 mm) of concrete on a 3-inch (76 mm) metal deck. They are designed to carry live loads of 50 pounds per square foot (2.4 kPa), as well as partitions weighing up to 20 pounds per square foot (0.96 kPa). The Times 's stories contain
16095-474: The building was developed by the New York Times Company, Forest City Ratner , and ING Real Estate . The interiors are divided into separate ownership units, with the Times Company operating the lower office floors and Brookfield Properties operating the upper floors. As of 2023, the New York Times Building is tied with the Chrysler Building as the twelfth-tallest building in the city . The building
16280-413: The building, connect the Times offices. There is also a double-height cafeteria in the Times 's section of the building. To encourage interactions between staffers, the offices were generally not assigned to specific workers, and various furniture was scattered throughout; even the staircases are designed as wide-open spaces. The Times space is decorated with about 560 black-and-white prints from
16465-545: The building. Other companies involved with the project included structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti , wind consultant RWDI , sealant supplier Dow Corning Corporation , and steel supplier ArcelorMittal . The mechanical, electrical, and plumbing system was designed by Flack + Kurtz. Officially, the New York City Economic Development Corporation owns the site. The Times Building is 52 stories tall with one basement, covering
16650-403: The building. The New York Times Building is designed as a green building . The lower stories have a lobby, retail space, and the Times newsroom surrounding an enclosed garden. The other stories are used as office space. During the 1980s and 1990s, the city and state governments of New York proposed a merchandise mart for the site as part of a wide-ranging redevelopment of Times Square. In 1999,
16835-424: The classical designs of the early skyscrapers , instead embracing the uniform international style ; many older skyscrapers were redesigned to suit contemporary tastes or even demolished—such as New York's Singer Building , once the world's tallest skyscraper. German -American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became one of the world's most renowned architects in the second half of the 20th century. He conceived
17020-403: The cogeneration plant is not connected to the grid. The plant runs at 85 or 89 percent efficiency. Heat is generated as a byproduct of the cogeneration plant's operation and is used to provide hot water. The recovered hot water is used in the building's perimeter heating system during the winter, while it is fed into the building's chillers during the summer. The New York Times Building contains
17205-416: The composition of the ground. Directly underneath the tower portion of the site, the samples generally contained poor-quality weathered and decomposed rock at a depth of up to 70 feet (21 m). The borings on other parts of the site and underneath the surrounding sidewalk generally contained competent rock at a shallow depth, which increased in quality at greater depths. Furthermore, the northern lot line
17390-563: The construction of the headquarters had been delayed by a year. Forest City had not been able to secure an anchor tenant for its portion of the building, and the Liberty-bond negotiations between Forest City and the state and city governments had stalled. By that time, Forest City had reduced its request to $ 150 million. ESDC head Charles A. Gargano reportedly held an unfavorable view of Forest City's application for bonds. If financing could not be obtained before construction started in 2004,
17575-648: The creation of a significant number of early skyscrapers, though none of these were steel reinforced and few remain today. Height limits and fire restrictions were later introduced. In the late 1800s, London builders found building heights limited due to issues with existing buildings. High-rise development in London is restricted at certain sites if it would obstruct protected views of St Paul's Cathedral and other historic buildings. This policy, 'St Paul's Heights', has officially been in operation since 1927. Concerns about aesthetics and fire safety had likewise hampered
17760-516: The crowded Queens Boulevard Line. The elimination of Woodside as an express stop was done in part because trains at the station would be held up by passengers transferring between the local and the express, which led to delays at the 33rd Street merge, negating the time savings. On July 28, 1989, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board approved the change by a vote of 5–3. <7> express service
17945-402: The curtain wall and are carried on aluminum "combs". The rods are made of aluminum silicate, a ceramic chosen for its durability and cost-effectiveness. The rods are intended to deflect heat and glare even if the glass panes were not tinted, and they can change color with the sun and weather. The rod spacing increases from the base to the top, adding transparency for the top 300 feet (91 m) of
18130-543: The curtain wall. The facade was made by Benson Global, while the rods were subcontracted to a German sewer-pipe manufacturer. In designing the building, Piano said he was influenced by the massing of the Seagram Building , also in Midtown. There are about 186,000 ceramic rods in the building. The rods, measuring 1 + 5 ⁄ 8 inches (41 mm) in diameter, are mounted about 2 feet (0.61 m) in front of
18315-405: The design: "We need to contribute to the skyline of New York. We don't want to have people say, 'Gee, The New York Times built a four-story brick warehouse in Manhattan. ' " In September 2000, four architects submitted bids for the new tower's design: Renzo Piano, Norman Foster , César Pelli , and the partnership of Frank Gehry and David Childs . Piano called for a rectangular tower rising from
18500-458: The developer for its Eighth Avenue tower in February 2000. The following month, the Times began negotiating with the city and state. The Times wanted to pay $ 75 million and a two-thirds deduction in real estate taxes, but the state wanted $ 125 million for the site and the city wanted the Times to pay full taxes. Some commentators wrote about how the Times had opposed corporate tax relief despite seeking such relief for itself. The parties signed
18685-651: The development of skyscrapers across continental Europe for the first half of the 20th century. By 1940, there were around 100 high-rise buildings in Europe ( List of early skyscrapers ). Some examples of these are the 43 m (141 ft) tall 1898 Witte Huis (White House) in Rotterdam ; the 51.5 m (169 ft) tall PAST Building (1906–1908) in Warsaw ; the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool, completed in 1911 and 90 m (300 ft) high;
18870-402: The early 1960s Bangladeshi-American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan , considered the "father of tubular designs " for high-rises, discovered that the dominating rigid steel frame structure was not the only system apt for tall buildings, marking a new era of skyscraper construction in terms of multiple structural systems . His central innovation in skyscraper design and construction
19055-663: The east, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the west. The site is directly bounded on two sides by New York City Subway tunnels. An entrance to the New York City Subway's 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal station, served by the 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , <7> , A , C , E , N , Q , R , W , and S trains,
19240-416: The environment and loaded structures with decorative elements and extravagant finishes. This approach to design was opposed by Fazlur Khan and he considered the designs to be whimsical rather than rational. Moreover, he considered the work to be a waste of precious natural resources. Khan's work promoted structures integrated with architecture and the least use of material resulting in the smallest impact on
19425-454: The environment. The next era of skyscrapers will focus on the environment including performance of structures, types of material, construction practices, absolute minimal use of materials/natural resources, embodied energy within the structures, and more importantly, a holistically integrated building systems approach. Modern building practices regarding supertall structures have led to the study of "vanity height". Vanity height, according to
19610-401: The evening rush hour. Super express service was discontinued in the morning rush and evening rush, on January 13, 1956, and December 14, 1956, respectively. Holiday and Saturday express service was discontinued on March 20, 1954. On November 1, 1962, fifty R17s (numbers 6500–6549) were transferred from the Mainline IRT to the 7, allowing for ten-car operation. This was the first time that
19795-534: The express track in the four intermediate stations. The work began on April 5, 1993. When the viaduct reconstruction finished on March 31, 1997, ahead of schedule, full <7> express service was reinstated. Throughout this entire period, ridership grew steadily. The 7 Subway Extension, which travels west and south to 34th Street and 11th Avenue, near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Hudson Yards ,
19980-408: The expresses that arrived two minutes afterward. With the elimination of express service and the unreliable merge at 33rd Street , service reliability had increased, with on-time performance often exceeding 95%. Keeping local-only service was dismissed as it would not have saved times for the large number of riders boarding east of Junction Boulevard heading to Manhattan, because it did not provide for
20165-528: The first building in the world to feature a metal-framed glass curtain wall , a design element which creates light, airy interiors and has since been used the world over as a defining feature of skyscrapers". Further developments led to what many individuals and organizations consider the world's first skyscraper, the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago, built in 1884–1885. While its original height of 42.1 m (138 ft) does not even qualify as
20350-401: The floor slab, but they can support a raised floor of up to 6 inches (150 mm). The minimum height of the office space is 9 feet 7 inches (2.92 m), though some parts of the ceiling can be up to 10 feet (3.0 m) high. The upper floors were generally marketed to law firms. The spaces were, for the most part, also designed by Gensler. Since law firms generally did not require
20535-590: The foundation is on intermediate- or high-quality rock and uses spread footings capable of 20 to 40 short tons per square foot (195 to 391 t/m). Caissons with rock sockets are installed under the southeast corner of the tower section, where the weakest rock exists. There are forty-two caissons with a diameter of 22 inches (560 mm), which extend between 31 and 89 feet (9.4 and 27.1 m) deep. They are reinforced with steel bars and could hold 850 to 1,250 short tons (760 to 1,120 long tons; 770 to 1,130 t) of vertical pressure. They are filled with concrete with
20720-452: The foundation was finished that July. Work was slightly delayed during the middle of that year due to a labor strike among ironworkers. The steelwork had reached a height of 400 feet by October 2005. By then, ten of the eleven former landowners were requesting that the city and state governments give them additional compensation, as they alleged their land had been seized at well below market value. The eleventh landowner had been satisfied with
20905-413: The glass façade skyscraper and, along with Norwegian Fred Severud , designed the Seagram Building in 1958, a skyscraper that is often regarded as the pinnacle of modernist high-rise architecture. Skyscraper construction surged throughout the 1960s. The impetus behind the upswing was a series of transformative innovations which made it possible for people to live and work in "cities in the sky". In
21090-473: The hundred-story John Hancock Center and the massive 442 m (1,450 ft) Willis Tower . Other pioneers of this field include Hal Iyengar , William LeMessurier , and Minoru Yamasaki , the architect of the World Trade Center . Many buildings designed in the 70s lacked a particular style and recalled ornamentation from earlier buildings designed before the 50s. These design plans ignored
21275-478: The late 1990s, tried to condemn ten lots on the site through eminent domain , but some existing landlords had sued to stop the condemnation. A state court rejected the landlords' claim and, in February 2001, the New York Court of Appeals denied an appeal. The Times and Forest City Ratner negotiated terms of the project, in which the Times would receive $ 26.1 million in tax breaks. The company would lease
21460-535: The line when track work was being performed on local track in station areas to provide access to trains. The major element was the replacement of rails on the Queens Boulevard viaduct. This was necessitated because the subway was allowed to deteriorate during the 1970s and 1980s to the point that there were widespread "Code Red" defects on the Flushing Line, and there were some pillars holding elevated structures that were so shaky that trains would not run if
21645-451: The line's capacity of 30 trains per hour under other service patterns for express service. The NYCTA created a service plan with the goals of maintaining existing levels of reliability, having local service run at existing levels or higher than the pre-1985 level, and providing faster running times. The NYCTA proposed the reintroduction of express service, running to Manhattan between 6:30 and 10 a.m. (changed to 6:30 to 9:45 a.m. at
21830-418: The lobby's two walls, or 560 total. The screens on each wall are arranged in a grid measuring 53 by 5 feet (16.2 by 1.5 m), with forty columns and seven rows. They display fragments from both the Times 's archives and current news stories. The lobby is supported by exposed intumescent beams and contains oak floors and full-height glass windows. Also inside the podium is The Times Center, which includes
22015-494: The logo consists of the Times 's name in the Fraktur font at a 10,116- point size. The logo itself is made of 959 custom aluminum sleeves measuring about 3 inches (76 mm) in diameter; these are wrapped around the ceramic rods. Metal halide lamps are also mounted on the facade in front of the rods. They are painted yellow to resemble the taxis of New York City . The ceramic rods have attracted climbers, in part because
22200-454: The lower levels of a skyscraper will be much larger than the material required within higher levels. This is not always visually apparent. The Empire State Building 's setbacks are actually a result of the building code at the time ( 1916 Zoning Resolution ), and were not structurally required. On the other hand, John Hancock Center 's shape is uniquely the result of how it supports loads. Vertical supports can come in several types, among which
22385-401: The mid-1990s, the MTA discovered that the Queens Boulevard viaduct structure was unstable, as rocks that were used to support the tracks as ballast became loose due to poor drainage, which, in turn, affected the integrity of the concrete structure overall. <7> express service was suspended again between 61st Street–Woodside and Queensboro Plaza; temporary platforms were installed to access
22570-490: The morning rush hour. The super expresses stopped at Willets Point before skipping all stops to Queensboro Plaza, bypassing the Woodside and Junction Boulevard express stops. The running time was cut down to 23 minutes from 25 minutes. Beginning August 12, 1955, four super expresses operated during the morning rush hour. On September 10, 1953, two express trains from Times Square were converted to super express trains in
22755-674: The most common for skyscrapers can be categorized as steel frames, concrete cores, tube within tube design, and shear walls. The wind loading on a skyscraper is also considerable. In fact, the lateral wind load imposed on supertall structures is generally the governing factor in the structural design. Wind pressure increases with height, so for very tall buildings, the loads associated with wind are larger than dead or live loads. Other vertical and horizontal loading factors come from varied, unpredictable sources, such as earthquakes. By 1895, steel had replaced cast iron as skyscrapers' structural material. Its malleability allowed it to be formed into
22940-435: The most complex encountered given the balances required between economics , engineering , and construction management. One common feature of skyscrapers is a steel framework from which curtain walls are suspended, rather than load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Most skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables them to be built taller than typical load-bearing walls of reinforced concrete. Skyscrapers usually have
23125-415: The most efficient use of subway cars, and because it did not provide an attractive alternative to the overcrowded Queens Boulevard Line . Super express service was dismissed as the demand for local service would require two or three locals for every express, replicating the problem of the pre-1985 service pattern. Skip-stop service was dismissed for limiting the capacity of the line to 24 trains per hour, from
23310-457: The new Times building in late 2004, after financing had been secured. Civetta Cousins Joint Venture was hired as the foundation contractor, and work started in August or September 2004. Forest City's executive vice president MaryAnne Gilmartin said the development would conclude a revitalization of the western extremities of Midtown Manhattan. The first steel was erected starting in April 2005, and
23495-456: The new Times headquarters, citing the loss of office space that had been caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center during the attacks. The existing property owners opposed the condemnation, saying that the block was no longer legally a blighted area. That December, the ESDC was authorized to condemn the properties on the site. If the acquisition cost exceeded $ 85.6 million, the additional cost would be covered by taxpayer funds. By law,
23680-479: The north and south elevations are cantilevered slightly past the outermost columns to the north and south. The podium measures 197 by 240 feet (60 by 73 m). The building contains a single basement level underneath the entire site, extending 15 feet (4.6 m) below grade. There are three office entrances, one each on Eighth Avenue, 40th Street, and 41st Street. The facade consists of a glass curtain wall , with ceramic rods mounted on aluminum frames in front of
23865-495: The offices, all of which can be dimmed. The electrical ballast in each fixture contains a computer chip, which adjusts the lighting based on natural light levels and on whether the office is occupied. There are also automatic shades, which change automatically based on the sun's position, sunlight glare, and interior heat gain. The shades can also be manually overridden. The movable shades reduce energy consumption by about 13 percent and reduce solar heat gain by 30 percent in
24050-520: The open-plan layouts that the Times used, Gensler modified the upper stories' floor-plate dimensions to accommodate more attorneys in the same space. According to the firm's managing principal Robin Klehr Avia, this was done "so you don't have a lot of support areas without enough windows". Some tenants did not use the 5-foot-wide modules that the Times used. Gensler designed several tenants' offices with furniture and color schemes similar to those in
24235-465: The paper planned to remain at that building for the time being. This prompted criticism from some of the site's former landowners, and The Village Voice said the proceeds from the sale "wiped out the need for much, if not all, of the taxpayer money the Times asked for". According to the Voice , the Times had predicted that its 43rd Street building would have sold for $ 45 million in 1999. Work began on
24420-471: The paper's archive. The conference rooms are named after notable figures, supplement by images from the Times archive. There are about 750 distinct photographs, which illustrate not only the conference rooms but also spaces such as mechanical rooms, electrical closets, and restrooms. The elevator lobbies on each story have different pieces of contemporary furniture, as well as a set of ten video screens that display images from that day's newspaper. Lessees within
24605-400: The partnership in August 1983. The state and city reached a compromise on the development team that October, wherein the mart would be developed by Tishman Speyer , operated by Trammell Crow , and funded by Equitable Life Assurance . Kohn Pedersen Fox designed a 20-story structure with 2.4 million square feet (220,000 m) for apparel and computer showrooms. The building would have
24790-406: The performance of structures, types of materials, construction practices, absolute minimal use of materials and natural resources, energy within the structure, and a holistically integrated building systems approach. LEED is a current green building standard. Architecturally, with the movements of Postmodernism , New Urbanism and New Classical Architecture , that established since the 1980s,
24975-728: The price of steel decreased and labor costs increased. The steel frames become inefficient and uneconomic for supertall buildings as usable floor space is reduced for progressively larger supporting columns. Since about 1960, tubular designs have been used for high rises. This reduces the usage of material (more efficient in economic terms – Willis Tower uses a third less steel than the Empire State Building) yet allows greater height. It allows fewer interior columns, and so creates more usable floor space. It further enables buildings to take on various shapes. Elevators are characteristic to skyscrapers. In 1852 Elisha Otis introduced
25160-431: The project would have to be canceled. After failing to secure Liberty bonds, the developers applied to GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation for financing. GMAC provided $ 320 million in construction funding for the project in July 2004. Times officials predicted that work would start in the middle of that year. That November, the Times sold its old 229 West 43rd Street building to Tishman Speyer for $ 175 million, though
25345-404: The raised floors. Air enters most of the office spaces through diffusers near each workstation, and perforated floor tiles are used in the Times 's conference rooms. The Times offices can also use outdoor air for ventilation, and the air is generally ventilated through the ceiling. The perimeter of each Times story has a ceiling 10.5 feet (3.2 m) high, but most of the office space has
25530-478: The rods were originally spaced closely together. Shortly after completion, in mid-2008, three men illegally and independently climbed the ceramic rods on the facade. On June 5, 2008, professional climber Alain Robert climbed the north elevation to protest global warming; a second climber (Rey Clarke) scaled the west elevation later that day. The third climber, a Connecticut man, scaled the building on July 9 to protest
25715-761: The route at the specified times: <7> trains typically run express east of Queensboro Plaza. As of June 2023 , due to structural renovations on the IRT Flushing Line, <7> trains only run express east of 74th Street–Broadway. In addition to regular local and rush-hour express services, "Super Express" service to Manhattan is also provided after New York Mets games weeknights and weekends at Citi Field , as well as after US Open tennis matches: starting at Mets–Willets Point and operating express to Manhattan, also bypassing Junction Boulevard , Hunters Point Avenue and Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue . As of 2023, Super Express trains only bypass Hunters Point Avenue and Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue due to work on
25900-484: The safety elevator at the E. V. Haughwout Building in New York City, allowing convenient and safe transport to buildings' upper floors. Otis later introduced the first commercial passenger elevators to the Equitable Life Building in 1870, considered by some architectural historians to be the first skyscraper. Another crucial development was the use of a steel frame instead of stone or brick, otherwise
26085-643: The safety elevator, allowing convenient and safe passenger movement to upper floors. Another crucial development was the use of a steel frame instead of stone or brick, otherwise the walls on the lower floors on a tall building would be too thick to be practical. Today major manufacturers of elevators include Otis , ThyssenKrupp , Schindler , and KONE . Advances in construction techniques have allowed skyscrapers to narrow in width, while increasing in height. Some of these new techniques include mass dampers to reduce vibrations and swaying, and gaps to allow air to pass through, reducing wind shear. Good structural design
26270-688: The service across the Hudson River to the Secaucus Junction train station in New Jersey. Though the project was supported by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Jersey governor Chris Christie , MTA chairman Joseph Lhota announced in 2013 that the New Jersey extension would not be pursued, in favor of the Gateway Tunnel project , which entails a new tunnel to Manhattan for Amtrak and NJ Transit trains. As part of
26455-417: The service pattern in place before May 1985, the continuation of all-local service, Super Express service running nonstop between Willets Point and Queensboro Plaza and Skip-Stop Express service. Before May 1985, express service operated to Manhattan from 6:30 to 9:45 a.m. and to Main Street from 3:15 to 7:30 p.m. Expresses ran every three minutes on average and locals ran every six minutes; due to
26640-439: The shortening of columns. The braces are built in pairs, rather than as single rods, which would have required larger diameters. On the north and south elevations, the center bays are cantilevered about 20 feet (6.1 m) past the perimeter columns. The floor girders of the cantilevered sections are arranged into three framing lines: two at the outer ends of the cantilevers and one at the center. The central girder on each floor
26825-506: The site from the state for $ 85.6 million over 99 years, considerably below market value. Its payment in lieu of taxes was equivalent to the site's full property tax assessments. In September 2001, the ESDC scheduled a public hearing for the project. Following the September 11 attacks , which occurred in the meantime, the Times reaffirmed its commitment to a new headquarters. At the hearing, many large landlords expressed their support for
27010-411: The site. The Times itself reported that the state had only provided modest compensation to displaced property owners. The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear a challenge brought by the landowners in February 2003. That September, the state had assembled the site and the developers started razing existing buildings. Forest City and ING Real Estate held a 42 percent leasehold stake while
27195-409: The south. Nevertheless, as architect Robert A. M. Stern wrote, the New York Times Company likely perceived the site's fringe location as a beneficial attribute. The new site was not commonly considered to be part of Times Square, leading Paul Goldberger of The New Yorker to say that the plan "has implications that go beyond the sentimental". The Times selected Forest City Ratner Companies as
27380-495: The structural system was strengthened. Paul Goldberger wrote that the building, the largest New York City development proposed since the September 11 attacks, "would have drawn plenty of attention even if it had been just another corporate box". Gary Barnett of Intell Development , one of the landowners on the site, filed a lawsuit that December, alleging that the Times had engaged in "fraud, bad faith, and collusion against
27565-434: The taxpayers of the city" by taking tax breaks. Barnett was joined by five other owners who wanted to build their own structure on the land. During the lawsuit, The Village Voice reported that taxpayer funds would need to cover an additional $ 79 million of the Times site's cost. A New York state judge ruled against Barnett and his co-plaintiffs in August 2002. Over the following year, the state evicted some 55 businesses on
27750-538: The terrorist group Al-Qaeda . As a result of these incidents, some of the ceramic rods were removed, particularly on the north and south elevations, and glass panels were installed to deter climbing. People still climbed the building in later years, including in 2012 and in 2020. The glass curtain wall is composed of double-glazed low emissivity panels that extend from the floor to the ceiling of each story. The panels generally measure 5 feet (1.5 m) wide and 13.5 feet (4.1 m) tall. The use of floor-to-ceiling glass
27935-484: The time of implementation) and to Flushing between 3:15 and 8:15 p.m.. Express service would bypass 61st Street–Woodside , allowing one express train to run for every local, with expresses and locals both running every four minutes. The operation of expresses and locals at even frequencies was expected to aid in the even spacing of trains arriving at 33rd Street. The fast express service was expected to discourage riders boarding north of Junction Boulevard to transfer to
28120-438: The title for six years. The design and construction of skyscrapers involves creating safe, habitable spaces in very tall buildings. The buildings must support their weight, resist wind and earthquakes, and protect occupants from fire. Yet they must also be conveniently accessible, even on the upper floors, and provide utilities and a comfortable climate for the occupants. The problems posed in skyscraper design are considered among
28305-498: The tower, containing the Times 's offices, contains two sets of bracing frames that surround the core from north to south. The top 21 stories contain a single bracing line extends from north to south. There are outriggers at the mechanical floors on the 28th and 51st stories. X-shaped braces are used at the tower's corners because the elevator core limits the extent to which west-east bracing lines could be used. The "X"-braces were pre- tensioned during construction to compensate for
28490-715: The tube frame must be interrupted, with transfer girders used to maintain structural integrity. Tube structures cut down costs, at the same time allowing buildings to reach greater heights. Concrete tube-frame construction was first used in the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building , completed in Chicago in 1963, and soon after in the John Hancock Center and World Trade Center . The tubular systems are fundamental to tall building design. Most buildings over 40 stories constructed since
28675-482: The tube structure was the Chestnut De-Witt apartment building, considered to be a major development in modern architecture. These new designs opened an economic door for contractors, engineers, architects, and investors, providing vast amounts of real estate space on minimal plots of land. Over the next fifteen years, many towers were built by Fazlur Rahman Khan and the " Second Chicago School ", including
28860-406: The uneven split in service, in practice one express train would be followed two minutes later by another express train, and then an additional four minutes would elapse until the next express train arrived. This split between expresses and locals was in place due to high demand for express trains. Express trains that arrived four minutes after the previous trip had carried twice as many passengers than
29045-481: The upper portion of the Times space, such as law firms Goodwin Procter and Seyfarth Shaw , decorated their offices with more ornate finishes to attract clients. The top 21 stories were designed to be leased to tenants. The rental office floors generally use chilled-water air handlers and receive both cooling and ventilation from the ceiling. On the 29th through 50th stories, the core girders are not depressed below
29230-478: The upper rented to the lower classes. Surviving Oxyrhynchus Papyri indicate that seven-stories buildings existed in provincial towns such as in 3rd century AD Hermopolis in Roman Egypt . The skylines of many important medieval cities had large numbers of high-rise urban towers, built by the wealthy for defense and status. The residential Towers of 12th century Bologna numbered between 80 and 100 at
29415-576: The upper stories are served by four elevators from each bank. The elevators contain a destination dispatch system, wherein passengers request their desired floor before entering the cab. Stairways on the tower's western and eastern sides also connect each of the tower stories. When the New York Times Building was built, the ground floor was designed with a lobby, stores, auditorium, and central garden. Two restaurant spaces were also placed on Eighth Avenue. The retail space covers 21,000 square feet (2,000 m) or 22,000 square feet (2,000 m) of retail and
29600-534: The usable space. At each story, the rods contain a slight gap at eye level. The rods extend about 73 feet (22 m) above the primary roof. On the north and south elevations, the screens extend slightly past the notched corners. The ceramic rods also rise to 840 feet (260 m), above the main roof. On the Eighth Avenue elevation is a sign with the logo of The New York Times , designed by Michael Bierut of Pentagram . Measuring 110 feet (34 m) long,
29785-465: The walls on the lower floors on a tall building would be too thick to be practical. An early development in this area was Oriel Chambers in Liverpool , England, built in 1864. It was only five floors high. The Royal Academy of Arts states, "critics at the time were horrified by its 'large agglomerations of protruding plate glass bubbles'. In fact, it was a precursor to Modernist architecture, being
29970-418: The walls. The Times owned the 2nd to 27th stories but leased out the top six stories of that space before the building's opening. Within the Times section of the building, the structural floor slabs are 16 inches (410 mm) below the finished office floors. The girders at the building's core, as well as utilities and mechanical systems, are placed beneath the raised floors. Air is delivered from under
30155-617: The weight of the building. This development led to the "Chicago skeleton" form of construction. In addition to the steel frame, the Home Insurance Building also utilized fireproofing, elevators, and electrical wiring, key elements in most skyscrapers today. Burnham and Root 's 45 m (148 ft) Rand McNally Building in Chicago, 1889, was the first all-steel framed skyscraper, while Louis Sullivan 's 41 m (135 ft) Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri, 1891,
30340-585: The west and 400 feet (120 m) on both 40th Street to the south and 41st Street to the north. The site takes up the western portion of its city block , which is bounded by Seventh Avenue to the east. The topography of the site generally slopes down from east to west. The New York Times Building is near Eleven Times Square and the Empire Theatre to the north, the City University of New York 's Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism to
30525-505: The wind exceeded 65 mph (105 km/h). <7> express service was suspended for the duration of the project; however, extra 7 service was provided for Mets games and Flushing Meadows Park events. During the project, delays of up to 10 minutes on weekdays, and 20 minutes on weekends were expected. The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) had considered running express bus service to replace <7> express service, but decided against it as it would require hundreds of buses, which
30710-814: The world have more than 100 skyscrapers that are 150 m (492 ft) or taller: Hong Kong with 552 skyscrapers; Shenzhen , China with 373 skyscrapers; New York City , US with 314 skyscrapers; Dubai , UAE with 252 skyscrapers; Guangzhou , China with 188 skyscrapers; Shanghai , China with 183 skyscrapers; Tokyo , Japan with 168 skyscrapers; Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia with 156 skyscrapers; Wuhan , China with 149 skyscrapers; Chongqing , China, with 144 skyscrapers; Chicago , US, with 137 skyscrapers; Chengdu , China with 117 skyscrapers; Jakarta , Indonesia , with 112 skyscrapers; Bangkok , Thailand , with 111 skyscrapers, and Mumbai , India with 102. As of 2024, there are over 7 thousand skyscrapers over 150 m (492 ft) in height worldwide. The term "skyscraper"
30895-664: The world's tallest building for forty years. The first completed 417 m (1,368 ft) tall World Trade Center tower became the world's tallest building in 1972. However, it was overtaken by the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower ) in Chicago within two years. The 442 m (1,450 ft) tall Sears Tower stood as the world's tallest building for 24 years, from 1974 until 1998, until it was edged out by 452 m (1,483 ft) Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which held
31080-432: The world's tallest building, New York took the lead by 1895 with the completion of the 103 m (338 ft) tall American Surety Building , leaving New York with the title of the world's tallest building for many years. Modern skyscrapers are built with steel or reinforced concrete frameworks and curtain walls of glass or polished stone . They use mechanical equipment such as water pumps and elevators . Since
31265-476: The world, although only partially iron framed, is The Flaxmill in Shrewsbury , England. Built in 1797, it is seen as the "grandfather of skyscrapers", since its fireproof combination of cast iron columns and cast iron beams developed into the modern steel frame that made modern skyscrapers possible. In 2013 funding was confirmed to convert the derelict building into offices. In 1857, Elisha Otis introduced
31450-671: The years immediately following World War II. Early examples include Edificio España (Spain) and Torre Breda (Italy). From the 1930s onward, skyscrapers began to appear in various cities in East and Southeast Asia as well as in Latin America . Finally, they also began to be constructed in cities in Africa , the Middle East , South Asia , and Oceania from the late 1950s. Skyscraper projects after World War II typically rejected
31635-452: Was 15 minutes and the running time between Main Street and Times Square was 27 minutes. Express service to Manhattan operated in the morning rush between 6:30 and 10:43 a.m. Express service to Main Street began from Times Square for the IRT at 10:50 a.m. and the BMT from Queensboro Plaza at 11:09 a.m., continuing until 8 p.m. On October 17, 1949, the joint BMT/IRT operation of
31820-470: Was delayed five times. The 34th Street–Hudson Yards station , originally scheduled to open in December 2013, then pushed to May 2014. And then pushed again to September 13, 2015, and has been serving passengers ever since. However, the overall station construction project was not completed until early September 2018. In 2010, New York City officials announced they were considering a further extension of
32005-419: Was designed by Renzo Piano and Fox & Fowle and was developed by the New York Times Company , Forest City Ratner , and ING Real Estate . It was Piano's first design in New York City. Gensler designed the interior under the supervision of Margo Grant Walsh . AMEC was the main contractor for the core and shell, while Turner Construction was the contractor for the Times space in the lower section of
32190-504: Was extended one stop westward from Grand Central to Fifth Avenue , when that portion of the Flushing Line was opened. The line was extended to Times Square almost exactly a year later, on March 14, 1927. Though an eastward extension to Willets Point Boulevard opened on May 7 of the same year, service was provided by shuttle trains for the first week, until through service was inaugurated. The eastern extension to Flushing–Main Street opened on January 21, 1928. The service on
32375-621: Was first applied to buildings of steel-framed construction of at least 10 stories in the late 19th century, a result of public amazement at the tall buildings being built in major American cities like New York City , Philadelphia , Boston , Chicago , Detroit , and St. Louis . The first steel-frame skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building , originally 10 stories with a height of 42 m or 138 ft, in Chicago in 1885; two additional stories were added. Some point to Philadelphia's 10-story Jayne Building (1849–50) as
32560-424: Was in 17th-century Edinburgh , Scotland, where a defensive city wall defined the boundaries of the city. Due to the restricted land area available for development, the houses increased in height instead. Buildings of 11 stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as 14 stories. Many of the stone-built structures can still be seen today in the old town of Edinburgh. The oldest iron framed building in
32745-469: Was meant to signify the transparency of the media. It also maximizes natural light and the physical transparency of the facade. The window panes are generally protected by the ceramic rods. Since the rods contain a small gap at each story, the glass panels contain a small ceramic frit near these gaps. At ground level, there are glass storefronts, which allows pedestrians outside to see into the lobby. The notched corners contain exposed steel and lack screens,
32930-570: Was not possible, the company would keep its headquarters at 43rd Street but move some jobs to New Jersey. In October 1999, the Times reported that its parent company was negotiating for the site. Though the site was highly visible due to the low stature of the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the west, it was also at the extreme corner of both the traditional Times Square area to the north and the Garment District to
33115-736: Was originally operated by Forest City Ratner. Under the building's lease agreement, space could not be leased to any fast-food or discount stores; educational centers; or any firm that could attract visitors "without appointment", including medical offices, employment agencies, welfare agencies, or court uses. Furthermore, the United Nations and most governmental agencies of any kind were banned if they could attract visitors "without appointment". The ground-floor lobby includes an art installation called Moveable Type, created by artist Ben Rubin and statistics professor Mark Hansen. The work consists of 280 small electronic screens arranged on either of
33300-556: Was possible for cars to have the wrong strip maps. The 7 was the last service to run using " Redbird " cars, and the 7 ' s fleet consisted entirely of R33S/R36 Redbird trains until February 2002. In 2001, with the arrival of the R142 / R142A cars, the Transit Authority announced the retirement of all Redbird cars. From January 2002 to November 2003, Bombardier -built R62A cars from other routes gradually replaced all of
33485-470: Was restored on August 21, 1989, pushed back from July. Express service saved six minutes from Main Street to Manhattan and four minutes from Junction Boulevard. In September 1989, 200 riders and Republican Mayoral candidate Rudolph Giuliani rallied at the 61st Street station to protest the elimination of express service. Express service resumed stopping at Woodside on a six-week test basis on February 10, 1992, after pressure from community opposition. In
33670-454: Was the concept of the "tube" structural system , including the "framed tube", "trussed tube", and "bundled tube". His "tube concept", using all the exterior wall perimeter structure of a building to simulate a thin-walled tube, revolutionized tall building design. These systems allow greater economic efficiency, and also allow skyscrapers to take on various shapes, no longer needing to be rectangular and box-shaped. The first building to employ
33855-613: Was the first steel-framed building with soaring vertical bands to emphasize the height of the building and is therefore considered to be the first early skyscraper. In 1889, the Mole Antonelliana in Italy was 197 m (549 ft) tall. Most early skyscrapers emerged in the land-strapped areas of New York City and Chicago toward the end of the 19th century. A land boom in Melbourne , Australia between 1888 and 1891 spurred
34040-497: Was then acquired by Brookfield Properties in 2018. The New York Times Building is at 620 Eighth Avenue , occupying the eastern side of the avenue between 40th Street and 41st Street, one block west of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . The land lot is rectangular and covers 79,000 sq ft (7,300 m). It has a frontage of 197.5 ft (60.2 m) on Eighth Avenue to
34225-496: Was to be completed by the Times Square Redevelopment Corporation, comprising members of the New York state and city governments. David Morse and Richard Reinis were selected in April 1982 to develop the mart, but they were removed from the project that November due to funding issues. Subsequently, the state and city disputed over the replacement development team, leading the city to withdraw from
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