New York City Highrises

New York City, the most populous city in the United States, is home to over 7,000 completed high-rise buildings of at least 115 feet (35 m), of which at least 95 are taller than 650 feet (198 m). The tallest building in New York is One World Trade Center, which rises 1,776 feet (541 m). The 104-story[A] skyscraper also stands as the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the seventh-tallest building in the world. At 1,550 feet (472 m), Central Park Tower is the second-tallest completed building in the city. It has the highest roof of any building outside Asia, and is the tallest residential building in the world. The third-tallest completed building in the city is 111 West 57th Street. Rising to 1,428 feet (435 m), it is the world's most slender skyscraper. The fourth-tallest is One Vanderbilt. At 1,401 feet (427 m), it is the tallest office building in Midtown. The fifth-tallest is 432 Park Avenue at 1,397 feet (426 m).

New York SkyScrapers

At 1,250 feet (381 m), the 102-story Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan, which was finished in 1931, stood as the tallest building in the world from its completion until 1970, when construction on the 1,368-foot (417 m) North Tower of the original World Trade Center surpassed it. It is the eighth-tallest building in the United States, and rises to a pinnacle of 1,454 feet (443 m) including its antenna. The North Tower (the original One World Trade Center), along with its twin the South Tower (the first Two World Trade Center), which was six feet shorter, held this title only briefly as they were both surpassed by construction of the 110-story Willis Tower (then, and still colloquially, known as the Sears Tower) in Chicago in 1973. The Twin Towers remained the tallest buildings in New York City until they were destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks, leaving the Empire State Building again as the city's tallest building.

Midtown Tall Buildings

The new One World Trade Center began construction in 2006; in April 2012 it surpassed the Empire State Building to become the city's tallest. Upon its topping out in May 2013, the 1,776-foot (541 m) One World Trade Center surpassed the Willis Tower to become the tallest building in the United States. One World Trade Center is part of the redevelopment of the World Trade Center, which also includes the 1,079-foot (329 m) 3 World Trade Center, the 977-foot (298 m) 4 World Trade Center, the 743-foot (226 m) 7 World Trade Center, the proposed 900-foot (274 m) 5 World Trade Center, and one partly constructed on-hold building: the 1,323-foot (403 m) 2 World Trade Center.

The Empire State Building

The majority of skyscrapers in New York City are concentrated in Midtown and Downtown Manhattan, although other neighborhoods of Manhattan and the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx also contain some high-rises. As of February 2022, there were 300 completed skyscrapers that rose at least 492 feet (150 m) in height, more than any other city in the United States, and third most in the world exceeded only by Hong Kong and Shenzhen; an additional 20 are under construction.

New York Tallest Buildings

The history of skyscrapers in New York City began with the construction of the Equitable Life, Western Union, and Tribune buildings in the early 1870s. These relatively short early skyscrapers, sometimes referred to as "preskyscrapers" or "protoskyscrapers", included features such as a steel frame and elevators—then-new innovations that were used in the city's later skyscrapers. Modern skyscraper construction began with the completion of the World Building in 1890; the structure rose to a pinnacle of 349 feet (106 m).[24] Though not the city's first high-rise, it was the first building to surpass the 284-foot (87 m) spire of Trinity Church.[25] The World Building, which stood as the tallest in the city until 1899,[F] was demolished in 1955 to allow for the construction of an expanded entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge.[26] The Park Row Building, at 391 feet (119 m), was the city's tallest building from 1899 to 1908,[27] and the world's tallest office building during the same time span.[28] By 1900, fifteen skyscrapers in New York City exceeded 250 feet (76 m) in height.

Manhattan Supertall Buildings

New York has played a prominent role in the development of the skyscraper. Since 1890, ten of those built in the city have held the title of world's tallest. New York City went through two very early high-rise construction booms, the first of which spanned the 1890s through the 1910s, and the second from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s. During this period 44 skyscrapers over 492 feet (150 m) were built[31]—including the Singer Building, Met Life Tower, Woolworth Building, 40 Wall Street, the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State Building, each of which was the tallest in the world at the time of its completion, the last remaining so for forty years.

Skyscraper construction resumed in the early 1960s, with construction surges in the early 1970s, late 1980s, and late 2010s. In total, the city has seen the rise of over 100 completed and topped-out structures at least 650 feet (198 m) high, including the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and the current World Trade Center redevelopment.