Helmsley Building

Located at 230 Park Avenue the Helmsley Building is a 35-story building straddling Park Avenue. Before the erection of the Pan Am Building, now the MetLife Building, this building was the city's dowager queen, lording over the city's second most prestigious avenue and marking the elegant heart of the city as it was the tallest structure in the great "Terminal City" complex around Grand Central Terminal designed by Warren & Wetmore cite web|url=http://www.thecityreview.com/helmsley.html|title=The Helmsley Building|accessdate=2006-05-17] White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot; "AIA Guide to New York City", 4th Edition; New York Chapter, American Institute of Architects; Crown Publishers/Random House. 2000. ISBN 0-8129-31069-8; ISBN 0-8129-3107-6. p.277.] . The building was designated a New York City Landmark in 1987Dolkart, Matthew A. & Postal, Matthew A.: "Guide to New York City Landmarks; Third Edition": The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2004. ISBN 0471-36900-4. P.118.] .

History

New York Central Building

Before the electrification of the New York Central Railroad in 1912-1913, the neighborhood north of Grand Central Terminal was one of open-air railway yards and tracks used by steam locomotives. The electrification and subsequent covering of the yards enabled the continuation of Park Avenue to the north and the construction of new buildings (with curious foundations). Among them was the New York Central Building..

In 1929 the New York Central Railroad Company built their 34-story headquarters at 230 Park Ave., New York City, New York. In 1913 New York Central bore a concept for a visual termination point in the city. Although the original plan was to have this termination point be over New York Central's Grand Central Terminal, the concept was instead realized in the form of The New York Central Building just across the street to the north.

Exterior

The building is a typical slab-sided skyscraper between East 45th and East 46th Street, with a distinctive design that includes a means of transporting Park Avenue from street level to the divided aerial highway that passes through the building, and then around Grand Central Terminal to 42nd Street, and then back to street level. The top of the building is pyramidal, and capped by an ornate cupola.

Interior

“The impressive lobby, planned as a corridor connecting 45th and 46th Streets, echoes the magnificence of the exterior. The design and ornamentation celebrate the prowess of the New York Central Railroad, which had its headquarters on the premises. A sense of imperial grandeur is created by marble walls and bronze detail, which includes extensive use of the railroad’s initials. The Chinese Red elevator doors open into cabs with red walls, wood moldings, gift domes, and painted cloudscapes".

New York General Building

When New York Central sold the building, General Tire & Rubber Company renamed the building the New York General Building. The building was easily renamed as the "C" and "T" in Central were masterfully chiseled into "G" and "E" respectively.

The Helmsley Building

Later, when General Tire & Rubber Company sold the building to Helmsley-Spear, Leona Helmsley once again renamed the building The Helmsley Building in what may be the final name for this grand building. The deal in which the ownership of this convert|2300000|sqft|m2|abbr=on building, which was owned by the Helmsley-Spear Management until August 1998, changed hands stipulated that the building would only be sold under the condition that the building would officially remain as a Helmsley namesake. The building was purchased by Max Capital for $253 million, but in 2006 was sold again to Istithmar, an investment firm owned by the royal family of Dubai, for $705 million. It was later sold to Goldman Sachs in 2007 for over $1 billion. [ [http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=114271 Emporis: 230 Park Avenue] ]

Use in Popular Culture

One of the promotional posters for the 2008 film The Dark Knight shows the building with an explosion the shape of the Batman emblem on its upper floors.

Miscellanea

On September 10, 1931, capo de tutti capi Salvatore Maranzano was murdered in his ninth-floor office here by hitmen sent by Lucky Luciano and Vito Genovese, ambitious underlings whom Maranzano had hired Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll to kill. [cite web|url=http://home.nyc.rr.com/jkn/nysonglines/4av.htm|title=4th Avenue: New York Songlines|accessdate=2006-05-17]

References