Trump International Hotel & Tower New York (New York City, New York)

 hotel, skyscraper, condominiums, 1971_construction, movie / film / TV location

1 Central Park West
New York, NY 10023
(212) 299-1000
www.trumphotels.com/central-park/

583-foot, 44-story International-style/modernist hotel/residential building originally completed as an office building in 1971. Designed by Thomas E. Stanley for the Gulf & Western Company, it was later altered by Phillip Johnson for Donald Trump, reopening in 1997 with 168 hotel rooms and 158 condominium units. The hotel occupies the lower 17 floors.

Between 1995 and 1997, the building was guttted to its skeleton, and given a completely new glass facade. Burgess Steel fabricated the additional structural steel required to reduce the sway of the building in strong winds. The building's new appearance was designed by Philip Johnson and Costas Kondylis, with dark bronze-tinted windows and gold-colored glass spandrels. Angled, V-shaped, projecting glass piers give the building a serrated look, dividing the west and east facades into six narrow middle bays, and wider outer bays, with an additional, recessed, wide bay at the south end. The north facade has four narrow middle bays with wide end bays, and the south facade also has four narrow middle bays, with both wide end bays recessed. At the top, the columns are topped by stainless steel strips. On the east facade, there are black metal vents at the middle six bays on two of the 16th &17th floors, and at the middle four bays at the top floor.

The building sits on a triangular lot, with a small grove of trees at the northwest corner, and a plaza at the southern point of the triangle, where it meets Columbus Circle. A 30-foot-wide silver globe of the Earth was installed here in front of the building during its conversion. The main entrances are centered on the east facade facing Central Park West. Three large bays have glass doors with shiny bronze framing; a large bronze canopy extends out over these bays and the three wide but short sets of stairs that lead up to them, interrupting a grey-brown granite retaining wall in front of the tower that has landscaping to either side. The wall and landscaping continues around the north side on 61st Street at the east half of the tower. The west half has a loading dock and an entrance and exit to the underground parking garage.

The building is used as the setting of the 2011 comedy crime film Tower Heist.