70 Pine Apartments (New York City, New York)

952-foot, 66-story Art-Deco residential building completed in 1932 as an office building. Designed by Clinton & Russell with Holton & George as the Cities Services Building for the oil and gas baron Henry Latham Doherty, it was the third tallest building in the world when completed. It was also the tallest building in Downtown Manhattan until the 1970s when the World Trade Center was completed. It has also been known as the American International Building, when Cities Services sold the building to AIG in 1976. It then served as the insurance company's world headquarters until 2008, when it was sold to developers Young & Woo.

The tower has a 4-story base, with the ground floor clad in red and black veined marble, and the 2nd-4th floors in limestone. The tower above is clad in brown and buff-colored brick. The most striking elements of the base are the two main entrances, one on Pine Street and one on Cedar. Each has limestone walls adorned with abstract geometric ornament, metal bands with ornamental geometric patterns of butterflies and flowers, and a 1-story tall limestone model of the tower itself above the entrance. On all three elevations at the first story there are storefronts, windows and secondary entrances with similar metal ornament.

The brick-faced tower is organized vertically, divided by wide uninterrupted brick piers into bays each with a pair or trio of windows -- the windows of each pair or trio separated by narrow uninterrupted brick piers. Spandrels are faced in brick set in geometric patterns. There is a western wing that rises about a third the height of the main tower. At the uppermost part of the tower are a series of setbacks, each with a metal railing in an abstract geometric design. Especially in the upper floors the tower is angled and faceted, suggesting a many-sided polygon in plan. The setbacks create a white-colored top, like a snow cap on a mountain.

The "mountain" had an open-air platform with an enclosed glass observatory above, offering undoubtedly the best views of downtown before being closed from public. The observatory at the top was still used after AIG bought the building, albeit only as an executive oasis during lunch hours. Atop the observatory is a slender steel spire.

The building and its first floor interior by Cliff Parkhurst were designated as official New York City landmark in June of 2011. In 2015, it was converted to residential, with 644 rental apartments and 132 extended-stay suites. In November 2016, Justin Casquejo, serial urban explorer, hung from the tower and was charged with base jumping and trespassing. The current owner is Rose Associates.

70pine.com/
s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2441.pdf
s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2442.pdf

 skyscraperArt Deco (architecture)apartment building1932_constructionhistorical building