Paramount Tower Apartments

 skyscraper, apartment building

567-foot, 51-story postmodern residential building completed in 1998. Designed by Costas Kondylis & Partners, it is clad in light-brown brick and dark-tinted glass. The tower sits on 39th Street, with a 1-story wing extending through to 38th and the Tunnel Exit Street. The slab form of the tower is nicely modulated with projected bays and its mass is somewhat minimized by the high ratio of windows on the facades.

The north facade on 39th is set behind a driveway that is lined by landscaping, a long fountain, and a fence with granite and limestone posts topped by lanterns. The center of the ground floor here is clad in stone and deeply recessed behind stone columns with chamfered corners. The main entrance is set in a large, glass segmental-arch with a revolving door.

The tower rising above has bays of tripartite and double-windows with chamfered corners, allowing many angled panes across each facade. The plan of the tower is in a rough L-shape.

The 1-story base that extends through the block is topped by landscaping, and has commercial space. There is a commercial entrance on 38th Street, occupied by New England Orthotic & Prosthetic Systems, and Gymboree directly south of the tower. Closer to the Tunnel Exit Street is a parking garage entrance/exit, and more commercial space, occupied by Midtown Ophthalmology, and Everbook Academy of Manhattan. The building contains 466 apartments.