Olympic Tower

 office building, skyscraper, condominium, 1976_construction, International style architecture

620-foot, 51-story International-style multi-use building completed in 1976 for Aristotle Onassis. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it contains high-end retail space on the first floor, office space on floors 2-21, and 225 condominiums on floors 22-51. It was the first tower in New York to combine retail, offices, and residential. There is a separate entrance to the residential portion from 51st Street.

The whole facade is clad in a curtain wall of brown-tinted glass which gives the building a solid, almost black, and highly reflective surface. The office and retail floors have a steel frame and the residential floors are reinforced concrete. The tower is situated at the south end of the block, oriented east-west, and there is a low, 3-story wing extending through to 52nd Street, which has a secondary office entrance and a loading dock. The main office entrance is at the east end of the south facade on 51st, spanning two triple-height bays that have more transparent glass, breaking the continuity of the rest of the curtain wall. Both entry bays are covered at the ground floor by a stainless-steel canopy, and there is a small 4-story connecting section of black metal paneling (with a service door at the ground level) adjoining the older, smaller buildings to the east. To the west of the main office entrances, there is a single storefront bay, and then the residential entrance, followed by four more bays of storefront. The residential entrance is slightly recessed, with glass double-doors under a black metal canopy. The storefront between the entrances is stainless-steel and glass, with glass double-doors, and signage at the 2nd floor. The four storefront at the west end have large plate-glass show-windows framed in black metal and stainless-steel, with 2-story signboards above. Along the avenue at the west facade, the triple-height storefronts have varied surfaces and entrances, including ribbed stainless-steel, brass paneling, and patterned glass. The northern storefront occupies a 3-story extension, behind which there is a smaller, narrow slab projecting from the north elevation of the tower; this section sets back above the 23rd floor.

The ground floor is occupied by Jimmy Choo shoes, Armani Exchange, H. Stern jewelry, Furla leather goods, and Longchamp leather goods. Tenants include the National Basketball Assoc., Richemont North America, and MSD Capital.

www.theolympictower.com/