Metropolitan Tower (New York City, New York)

 office building, skyscraper, condominium, 1987_construction

716-foot, 68-story postmodern mixed-use building completed in 1987. Designed by Schuman, Lichtenstein, Claman & Efron, it consists of a 48-story triangular tower whose longer edge points to Central Park on top of a 20 story rectangular base, both clad in very dark-blue glass. On the north facade, the square base sets back above the 12th floor, and there is a recessed notch at the west end. The north edge of the knife-blade tower slants in just a bit at the very top.

The through-block building has a large, landscaped plaza on 56th Street with landscaping in rectangular brick planters. At the west end is a loading dock ramp and an entrance/exit ramp to the underground parking garage. Closer to the center is an entrance with glass doors to the residential floors, with a long, narrow metal canopy extending out across the plaza to the sidewalk. Farther east is the south entrance to the through-black arcade, and at the east end is a glass storefront, occupied by Milos Cafe. On 57th Street, the entrance to the residential floors is at the west end, at the recessed area, with a long, narrow metal canopy extending from the glass doors out over the sidewalk. To the east is the entrance to the building's West 57th Street by Hilton Club units, a Starbucks coffee, and the north entrance to the through-block arcade.

The Metropolitan Tower is separated from Carnegie Hall Tower by the narrow, low-rise Russian Tea Room, leaving a gap of only 20 feet above. The building has 235 condominium units.