Quik Park Parking Garage

 parking garage  Add category

13-story parking garage completed in 1968 as an office building. Designed by Emery Roth, the facade has brown brick end piers, and beige brick spandrels between the floors with ribbon bands of glass. The ground floor has a storefront at the east end, and a wide double opening for vehicles at the west. The 2nd-4th floors have operable windows that swing open at the bottom. There is a large setback above the 8th floor, with the top floors matching those below. The ground floor is occupied by H&S Custom Art Framing.

The exposed front part of the east elevation, clad in brown brick, has a billboard-sized digital sign mounted at the 4th floor, continuously updating the amount of the national debt. The so-called National Debt Clock shows the current United States gross national debt and each American family's share of the debt. The idea for the clock came from New York real estate developer Seymour Durst, who wanted to highlight the rising national debt. In 1989, he sponsored the installation of the first clock, which was originally placed on Sixth Avenue—between 42nd Street and 43rd Street—one block away from Times Square. In 2004, the original clock was dismantled and replaced by the current clock at the new location one block away. In 2008, the U.S. national debt exceeded $10 trillion for the first time, leading to press reports that the clock had run out of digits.