Metropolitan Transportation Authority Headquarters (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, movie / film / TV location, 1959_construction

421-foot, 32-story office building completed in 1959. Designed by Emery Roth & Sons, it was one of the first modernist office towers in Downtown Manhattan. It replaced the Produce Exchange Building (arch. George B. Post of the New York World Building, 1884) as an "acceptable" sacrifice to get the Downtown development on the way.

The building occupies most of its large plot, rising in triple setbacks, with only the western portion of the building, facing Bowling Green, rising to the full height of 33 floors. The facade originally was a '50s grey checkerboard pattern, having a similar overall appearance as the glass-walled facades of the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building. In 1999, the building was reclad and remodeled to a new curtain wall designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. It has blue-green glass and aluminum framing, with black spandrels panels in the center sections, and silver-grey spandrels at the wings. This curtain wall rises over a 2-story base of black polished granite and glass. The center four bays on Broadway are recessed and contain the main entrances. Above the doorways are colorful tile mosaics in blue, black, red and yellow.

On the south side of the building is a short angled wing of eight stories. The main bulk of the tower has a major setback above the 18th floor, and another minor setback on the north and south facades above the 25th floor. The rear of the building extends further back into the block and has several minor setbacks. The rest of the tower rises up vertically, fronting Broadway, and ends in a flat roof. The top three floors house mechanical equipment, and the window panes are filled with black-tinted glass, matching the black spandrels of the center section.

The ground floor is occupied by Municipal Credit Union, GNC, Loft apparel, Nine West apparel, Starbucks coffee, Aerosoles shoes, and Chipotle Mexican Grill. There is an underground parking garage accessed from the far east side of the building on Stone Street. The exterior was featured prominently throughout the 1960 classic film "The Apartment" as the building in which all of the main characters work. It is now used as the headquarters for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.