685 First Avenue

 condominium, apartment building

460-foot, 43-story modernist residential building completed in 2019. Designed by Richard Meier & Partners Architects, it is clad in a curtain wall of dark-tinted glass, incised with modular subdivisions articulated with selective metal panel elements in the form of balconies, canopies and corners. A distinguishing feature is an architectural cut-out at the 27th and 28th floors, visible from across the East River delineating the change from rental units to condominiums. The building is comprised of 408 luxury rentals on the lower 27 floors and 148 fully automated one-to-four bedroom condominiums on the top 16 floors.

A triple-height base of clearer glass projects slightly to the north and east from the rest of the tower slab. Its south half along First Avenue has a black metal canopy. The west facade has a projecting middle section of glass curtain wall, with balconies with glass railings at both the north and south ends extending most of the height of the tower. Those on the south side are enclosed by a narrow, vertical projecting band of glass along the south edge. The west facade has a horizontal cutout at the 40th floor, topping the uppermost balcony and extending most of the way across the facade. The 27th-27th-floor cutout from the east facade also wraps around and continues on the south facade as well.