30 Lincoln Plaza Apartments

 building, condominium, apartments

340-foot, 33-story modernist residential building completed in 1980. Designed by Philip Birnbaum, it is clad in cream-colored brick. The massive building has a complex form, as its Broadway façade is divided, above the arcaded, 7-story base, into six rounded piers that provide many bay windows, probably more than on any other residential building in the city except for the Corinthian at First Avenue and 38th Street. The middle of the arcade has a broad entrance to the development's large and attractive mid-block plaza that is lushly landscaped and has a water element; the building wraps around the plaza on the west and south sides. There is another open-air passage to the plaza at the east end of the south facade on 62nd Street. At the east end of the plaza is a ramp from 63rd Street, leading to the entrance/exit of the underground parking garage.

The ground floor of the base is double-height, and lined with storefront along Broadway, recessed under the upper floors, behind the brick piers; the sides of the piers are lined with white stone. Near the center (by the passageway to the plaza) is also the entrance to the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, located below grade. The ground-floor arcade alternates wide and narrow openings between the piers.

The upper six floors of the base have tripartite windows in aluminum frames, spanning 18 bays along Broadway. Each has a black metal air-conditioning vent below it, and those in the bays above the narrow openings at the ground floor has slightly darker brick spandrels. Concrete floor plates run above each window. At the 7th floor, the narrow bays windows are recessed as bay windows with angled sides. The 2-bay groups between these have glass-and-metal railings topping the 7th floor, fronting the small triangular terraces created by the zig-zag pattern of angled sections that make up the tower. At the south end, the corner is chamfered with the windows wrapping around to the south facade, where there is no distinction between the base and upper tower.

Here the double-height storefronts continue along the ground floor, with a 3-bay arcade at the east. The glass-enclosed lobby is set back in the western two of these three bays, with the open-air passage to the plaza leading through the eastern end bay. The upper floors on the south facade span ten bays (four of which have tripartite windows, the others double-windows), as well as the west end bay that wraps around the angled corner. These extend flush up to the 32nd-floor roof line, above which there is a penthouse floor at the west half, lined with a ribbon band of windows.

Along Broadway, the west facade has a rounded bay window at the south corner of each of the six tower sections rising above the base. To the north of each of these are a bay of tripartite windows and a bay of double-windows, angling back from the base. The south-facing sides of each tower section have one bay of double-windows next to the rounded corner bays, with the exception of the northernmost section, which has single-windows instead. The 2nd & 4th sections from the south and the northern section end in setbacks at the 32nd floor, while the other three sections, alternating, continue the ribbon band of windows on the 33rd floor from the south facade, weaving behind the other three sections.

The north facade on 63rd Street has more storefront bays at the ground floor, and the only separation of the base from the upper floors is a small 7-story section at the west end that has no openings above the ground-floor arcade. The upper floors on this facade, above the ground floor, have nine total bays. There are two middle bays of tripartite windows. To the east are two double-windows bays with two single-window bays in between. To the west is are double-window bays flanking one single-window bay. This north section set back above the 32nd floor, with a roof deck on top.

The east facade facing the plaza has more double-height storefronts at the ground floor, continuing onto the angled, north-east facing center wall, which is interrupted by the pedestrian passage onto the plaza from Broadway. The east-facing wall at the north end has two bays of double-windows flanking two bays of tripartite windows. The wider, northeast-facing center section has single-windows at the ends, where it meets the angle of the north and south wings. The eight bays in between have a mix of double- and tripartite windows. The north-facing wall has seven bays of alternating double- and tripartite windows.

The building was converted to a condominium in 2009, with 471 units. It originally contains 609 rental apartments, but some of the units were combined into larger condominiums. The ground floor is occupied by Plaza Cleaners, and Breads Bakery.