Manhattan Place
| Manhattan Place | |
|---|---|
 Manhattan Place in October 2022 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Address | 630 First Avenue |
| Town or city | New York City |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 40°44′43″N 73°58′19″W / 40.74528°N 73.97194°W |
| Construction started | 1983[1] |
| Opened | 1984[2] |
| Management | R.E.M. Residential[3] |
| Height | 111 m (364 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 35 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Costas Kondylis |
| Architecture firm | Philip Birnbaum & Associates |
| Developer | The Glick Organization |
| Other designers | Thomas Balsley Associates (landscape architect) |
| Other information | |
| Number of units | 487 |
Manhattan Place is a 35-story apartment building at 630 First Avenue in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1984, it was one of the city's first high-rise condominiums and the first project in the city for which Costas Kondylis received credit as the design architect.
History
[edit]The building, developed by The Glick Organization, is located on the east side of First Avenue between 36th and 37th streets on a 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) site. Previously occupied by a Texaco gas station and a warehouse, the site took three years to acquire and rezone and also included the purchase of air rights from the nearby Bide-A-Wee animal shelter. Negotiations with the New York City Planning Commission and Manhattan Community Board 6 during the planning process resulted in a shifting of the building's orientation so that its street level landscaped plaza would face St. Vartan Park.[1][4][5][6] The developer also agreed to contribute $427,000 to subsidize rents for Bellevue Hospital workers that wish to live in the Kips Bay neighborhood and $900,000 to rehabilitate St. Vartan Park.[7][8] Groundbreaking took place in 1983.[1]
Designed by architect Costas Kondylis of Philip Birnbaum & Associates, Manhattan Place was one of New York City's first high-rise condominiums and also one of the first residential buildings in the city at that time to focus on luxury design.[9] The 35-story structure contains 487 residential units with ground-level retail along the First Avenue frontage. Its residential tower is a triangular-ended rectangle oriented diagonally to face the northeast and southwest, maximizing the building's unobstructed views of the East River and the Manhattan skyline across St. Vartan Park and the entrance to the Queens–Midtown Tunnel. Several sets of bay windows run along the length of the building, which has a façade consisting of horizontal ribbons of glass and brick. Manhattan Place includes a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) rooftop health club with a pool, gym, indoor jogging track, and lounge.[1][6][10] The building's lobby includes a waterfall and has tall windows overlooking the public plaza with views of the Empire State Building.[11][12]
While Manhattan Place was being built, three full-size replicas of apartments were provided in a sales office set up at 664 First Avenue, one block north of the construction site in the former Kips Bay Brewing Company building.[13] Sales of condominium units began in January 1984 and all of the apartments sold out before the end of the year.[14][15] The Glick Organization's marketing program for Manhattan Place won five National Marketing Awards at the National Association of Home Builders convention in January 1985.[16] When asked about the naming of the building as "Manhattan Place", Jeffrey Glick of The Glick Organization said "I wanted 'Manhattan' because Manhattan is the best place to live." He explained that he usually discusses the selection of a building's name with his media and advertising consultants; a building's name can be an important marketing tool.[17]
Manhattan Place was Kondylis' first success story and his first project in New York City for which he received credit as the design architect.[18][19] The building caught the attention of Donald Trump, who partnered with Kondylis on the design of other buildings in Manhattan including the Trump World Tower, Trump International Hotel and Tower, and several buildings in Riverside South.[20][21] Glick partnered again with Kondylis on the design of the Horizon, a 44-story condominium that opened on the block north of Manhattan Place in 1988.[22]
The site includes 16,390 square feet (1,523 m2) of public plaza, most of which is contained within a triangular area at the southwest corner of the block and features a multi-tiered circular fountain located adjacent to the sidewalk along First Avenue.[23][24] The landscaped plaza was designed by Thomas Balsley Associates, the same firm that designed other nearby public spaces including the renovations to St. Vartan Park, the plaza for The Corinthian, and the East River Esplanade Park from 36th to 38th streets.[2][22][25]
In popular culture
[edit]- In the 1984 drama movie Falling in Love, Manhattan Place is shown in several scenes as the construction site that Frank is working at.[26]
- Manhattan Place is depicted as the Rutherford Hotel in the Honor Among Thieves episode in the fourth season of the TV series Person of Interest (originally aired on November 11, 2014).[27]
- The rooftop of Manhattan Place was the filming location for a coffee break taken by Dr. Goodwin and Dr. Sharpe on top of Bellevue Hospital in the Rituals episode in the first season of the TV series New Amsterdam (originally aired on October 2, 2018).[28]
- Manhattan Place is referenced in the song "You Drive, I'll Steer" by Cheap Trick.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Oser, Alan S. (March 11, 1983). "Housing Construction Near East River". The New York Times. p. B7. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ a b White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7., p. 258.
- ^ "Manhattan Place Condominium". BoardPackager. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
- ^ Moritz, Owen (June 20, 1985). "Bide-A-Wee at end of leash". Daily News. New York. p. 12. Retrieved February 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Oser, Alan S. (September 12, 1986). "Zone Shift Spurs Housing on East Side". The New York Times. p. A24. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ a b Oser, Alan S. (December 6, 1985). "Rezoning for Residential: East Side Builder's Tactic". The New York Times. p. B14. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Toscano, John (July 15, 1982). "Apt. builder's gifts lay foundation for success". Daily News. New York. p. 15. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sutton, Larry (November 8, 1984). "Renovated playground open". Daily News. New York. sec. Manhattan, p. 1. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Dykstra, Katherine (April 6, 2006). "NYC's Gold Costas". New York Post. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Mincer, Jilian (December 2, 1984). "Day-Care Lags As Housing Amenity". The New York Times. p. A6. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Berman, Janice (August 22, 1985). "Grand Entrances". Newsday. p. 11. Retrieved June 5, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Hughes, C. J. (January 11, 2022). "Flashy $850M sale of 2 rental towers shines a spotlight on low-key Murray Hill". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
- ^ "Off-Site Models". The New York Times. February 19, 1984. sec. Real Estate, p. 1. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
- ^ Johnson, Kirk (October 28, 1984). "Great Expectations Fuel New York Area Market". The New York Times. sec. Real Estate, p. 30. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
- ^ Johnson, Kirk (December 30, 1984). "Buying an Apartment Before It's Built". The New York Times. sec. Real Estate, p. 1. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
- ^ "Glick gets gold medal". Daily News. New York. March 15, 1985. sec. Real Estate, p. 8. Retrieved June 5, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Wolfe, Lisa (July 8, 1984). "What's In A Name? For Buildings, A Lot". The New York Times. p. A2. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Squat Design (May 2011). Building Stories – Costas Kondylis. Korangy Publishing Inc. p. 7. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022 – via Issuu.
- ^ Calderone, Michael (August 2, 2007). "The World of Costas Kondylis". Haute Living. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Keane, Katharine (August 21, 2018). "Prolific New York Architect Costas Kondylis Has Died". Architect Magazine. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Franklin, Sydney (August 20, 2018). "Costas Kondylis, architect of Trump's New York City towers, dies at 78". The Architect's Newspaper. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ a b Shaman, Diana (April 29, 1988). "2 Blocks of First Avenue Become a Neighborhood". The New York Times. p. B14. Archived from the original on February 16, 2024. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ Stern, Robert A.M.; Fishman, David; Tilove, Jacob (2006). New York 2000: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Bicentennial and the Millennium. New York: Monacelli Press. p. 397. ISBN 9781580931779. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ "630 First Avenue - Manhattan Place". Privately Owned Public Space in New York City. Municipal Art Society. Archived from the original on February 16, 2024. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ "East River Esplanade Park". Landscape Design. No. 15. March 1999. p. 91. Archived from the original on June 24, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ "Falling in Love". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ "Movies Filmed at Manhattan Place". MovieMaps. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Young, Michelle (September 28, 2018). "NYC Filming Locations for New Amsterdam, New Medical Drama on NBC". Untapped New York. Archived from the original on November 11, 2022. Retrieved November 11, 2022.