The Tower at 15 Central Park West (New York City, New York)

 skyscraper, condominiums, 2008_construction

550-foot, 37-story Art-Deco/postmodern residential building completed in 2008. Designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects with SLCE Architects for Zeckendorf Development, 15 Central Park West consists of two separate limestone buildings joined by a small, 1-story connecting wing across an open courtyard -- the 20-story House and this building, the 37-story Tower.

The building is considered by some to be one of New York's most prestigious residential addresses. The location, described as "the most expensive site in Manhattan," (worth $401 million in 2004) comprises an entire, albeit small, city block on Central Park West, formerly occupied by the somewhat dilapidated Mayflower Hotel (a 1926 Neo-Renaissance building designed by the architect Emery Roth) and a vacant lot.

The Tower, unlike the House, is asymmetrical, and has a 5-story base that fills the angled shape of the block, extending to a point in the northwest corner. The upper floors rise flush at the east end, and are set back above the base on the other three sides, remaining aligned with the regular street grid. The entrance to the Tower is through the cobblestone courtyard, in the 1-story section that spans across between the two buildings. Also clad in limestone, it has an oval entrance pavilion with a copper domed roof, with a lighthouse-like, round stone extension breaking the center of the dome, ringed with 2-over-3 windows, and itself crowned by a smaller stone dome. The south wall of the pavilion has three openings with notched upper corners and glass infill. The center one has a glass revolving door and is covered by a fan-shaped glass-and-metal canopy. On 61st Street, the courtyard space has a turnaround driveway, or "motor court," with motorized sliding gates of black iron than retract into the limestone walls framing the entry. There is a small fountain at the center of the motor court. On 62nd Street, the space is walled but has grills to let pedestrians look into it. This northern space has a reflecting pool that serves as a skylight for a swimming pool underneath in the project's fitness center.

On the south facade, the base has two high floors of retail space in two bays at the west end, with large tripartite windows in grey-brown metal framing; green glass spandrels separate the two levels, and at the top is a row of small, square vents alternating with vertically-ribbed square metal panels, surmounted by small metal cornices. To the right is a set of black metal service doors in a molded stone surround. Above are two levels of metal louvers; the lower one has a rectangular opening with a bracketed sill and iron grille across the base. The upper one has a square opening with the louvers arranged in a tripartite configuration. The projecting stone band course that sets off the upper three floors of the base jogs downward to the left of the louvers and then continues across between the two. The west facade of the base runs at an angle to follow Broadway. It has a south end bay like those on 61st Street, wrapping around the corner, but with a set of slightly-recessed double-doors at the ground floor. To the north is a very wide bay with doors at its north end, a medium bay with doors, a wider bay with doors, two medium bays (the northern one with doors), and an end bay that wraps around the corner to the north side. The north facade on 62nd Street has three similar bays at the west end. Farther east there are three bays with low-set, small square windows in molded surrounds. Above them are tall windows comprising two square panes stacked atop each other and surrounds on all sides by narrower panes, with white metal framing. A band course sets off shorter openings on top that have metal louvers. At the east end are two loading docks with roll-down metal-and-glass gates. Above them are four bays of short metal louvers, separated by the band course from taller vents on top.

The 1-story wall linking The Tower and The House has a service entrance with metal doors in molded stone surrounds at each end. In between are two round-arched openings filled by iron fencing, and a central circular opening at the same level as the tops of the arches, with a grille of vertical bars similar to the fencing in the arches. The wall is flat in the middle but dips down and then flares upward at the ends.

The base ends at the top of the 2nd floor at the east end of the north facade, topped by a glass-and-metal railing. At the western bays it extends up to the 5th floor, above the stone cornice. Here there are end bays of tripartite windows with metal spandrels between the 3d & 4th floors. The center bay has double-windows and the two flanking it have single-windows. A smaller cornice sets off the 5th floor, with the same window arrangement, except that the end bays open onto very shallow balconies with glass-and-metal railings. There is a roof deck with landscaping and trees atop the base. The west facade along Broadway has four tripartite bays at the north end (the outer ones slightly larger), a recessed 3-bay section to the south, and eight bays at the south end. The end bays in the north and south sections have metal spandrels between the 3rd & 4th floors, and shallow balconies at the 5th floor. The recessed section has a projecting window bay at the 3rd & 4th floors with angled sides, set in white metal framing. The south facade of the base has four bays above the storefronts - a wide tripartite bay with 5th-floor balcony, a single-window bay, a slightly-narrower tripartite bay with balcony, and another single-window bay. To the east there is another tripartite bay with shallow stone balconies, supported by brackets at the 3rd floor. There is one east-facing bay of tripartite windows on the base, facing the gated entry to the courtyard. The 2nd-floor windows are narrower and this style continues across this floor for the rest of the east facade.

Rising from the base, the tower's east facade has end bays with projecting bay windows with angled sides (actually beginning at the 3rd floor). These columns are interrupted at the 13th-15th floors, where there is a flush double-height window (13th-14th) and a much smaller triple-window at the 15th floor. In between are eight bays of tripartite windows; the middle two with white metal spandrels of alternating styles. A narrow balcony spanning the middle four bays below the 22nd floor signals the change in the center two bays to paired windows. A band course tops the 34th floor, with the projecting south end bay setting back one floor below, and the north end bay setting back at the 36th floor. The middle four bays also set back above the 34th floor, with tripartite windows at the 35th-36th floors. A 2-story section to the south has a tripartite window flanked by single-windows; all the south bays set back above the 36th floor. The section to the north has the same configuration at the 35th & 36th floors, but continuing up with the tripartite window projecting out at the 37th-38th floors, and then the this section condensing to a single, large, double-height window opening divided into various sized panes at the top two floors. The middle four bays become three recessed tripartite bays at the 37th floor, with a single 4-window bay to the south. The middle of the 38th-39th floors also have three large 4-window bays, recessed behind the north section; to the south the 38th floor has a bay with a double-window, and the 38th has a tripartite window. At the south end, there is a set-back 2-story section at the 37th-38th floor in the form of a half-octagon, with paired windows in the west- and east-facing sides and tripartite windows in the other three facets. The 39th floor has a similar but smaller section set further back, with open-air single-openings instead of windows. The asymmetrical top of the tower building has a variety of elements including an arch reminiscent of one atop 1040 Fifth Avenue, open colonnades and a pergola-like structure. The central colonnades frame some of the rooftop mechanical equipment, with the rest in stone-clad housings at the north and south. The north end has a double-height open round-arch above the 38th floor, with the framing stone sweeping upward and toward the north mechanical penthouse, which has grids of small, square window openings.

The west facade rising above the base has six middle bays that project out from the rest of the facade. The center four have regular tripartite windows (the middle two grouped closer together) and the ends have projecting bay windows, except for at the 13th-15th floors, which match the east facade. There is a shallow balcony at the 22nd floor across the two middle bays, where they change to paired windows, and another balcony at the 33rd floor. The three north bays have double-windows, with the northern two changing to a wider triple-window bay at the 18th-20th floors, and then continuing as a narrower tripartite window. The south end has two bays - a double-window, and a more-recessed end bay with tripartite windows. The band course continues around the 34th floor, with the south half of the facade setting back at multiple levels.

The north facade has, from east to west, two bays of double-windows (the second bay having only single-windows until the 19th floor), a wide projecting bay of five panes (a larger center pane and narrow, angled end panes), two bays of single-windows that become double-windows above the 22nd floor, and a tripartite bay at the west. The wide bay does not project at the 11th, 19th, & 26th floors, as well as above the 34th. The south facade has two bays of large single-windows at the west, followed by a bay of projecting tripartite windows (except at the 13th, 18th, & 22nd floors, and above the 33rd), and three more bays of large single-windows (evenly spaced up to the 22nd floor, and then with two grouped closer to the center).

15 Central Park West contains a total of 202 condominium units. The retail spaces along Broadway are occupied by Chase Private Client, IT'SUGAR candy store, West Elm home furnishings, and Best Buy, with the latter two also occupying the 2nd level.

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