One57, 157 West 57th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 157 West 57th Street by Carter Horsley

The mixed-use, mid-block tower known as One57 at 157 West 57th Street was completed in 2014 as the first of several “super-tall” buildings near the south end of Central Park.

It was built by Extell Development and designed by Christian de Portzamparc.

The building is 1,004 feet tall and contains 92 condominium apartments, 65 rental apartments, and a 210-room Park Hyatt Hotel in its base. 

Thomas Juul-Hanson did the interiors for the apartments and Yabu Pushelberg designed the hotel portion of the building.

Bottom Line

A startling sliver that blocks many of the north vistas from the three tall skyscrapers clustered to its south near Carnegie Hall on 57^th and 56^th Streets, the north side of this building, which partially extends to 58^th Street, offers the most central views of Fifth Avenue and Central Park West from the south end of Central Park.

Description

The glass tower is distinguished by its rippled canopies and numerous setbacks on 57^th Street, its mottled fenestration patterns, its curved tops, its extreme verticality and its “scoops” facing the park that recall an ocean liner’s ventilation piping.

The top “scoop” existed only during construction and when the building was finished it was replaced by a protruding and symmetrical, staggered cascade of vertical strips in pairs of 10 descending lengths, a very elegant logo that apparently was not employed elsewhere in the building.

The building relates to nothing on 57^th Street, except perhaps for a glittering sequin evening gown for the world’s tallest and skinniest model at Bergdorf Goodman nearby on Fifth Avenue.

Like many tall, mixed-use towers, its exterior does not indicate where uses change and, more importantly, the numbering of its residential floors is unique as the top floor is called 90 even though it is actually the 75^th floor, or probably the 73^rd floor. (At more than a thousand feet, of course, it could conceivably have an even higher number.)

According to documents on file with the city, the hotel occupies most of the bottom 18 floors and the 19^th floor is mechanical.  The 20^th floor is a fitness center for the hotel and the 21^st floor is a library and fitness center for the residential section of the building. Apartments begin at the 22^nd floor and the 47^th floor is also set aside for mechanical equipment. Floors 48 through 57 have two apartments each and higher floors have one apartment.

The building’s façades are patterned vertically, adding to its domineering presence.  The fenestration patterns, moreover, conjure crossword puzzles and while not random they impart an added sense of motion. 

Imagine, if you will, a moon-bound rocket initially lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

The building is “L”-shaped in plan with a much longer frontage on 57^th Street than 58^th Street.

Viewed from the north, the northern section of the tower rises, indeed soars, straight up without setbacks.

The building’s height is several hundred feet taller than the buildings on Central Park South and a couple of hundred feet above the very tall towers clustered around Carnegie Hall to the south as well as the Time-Warner Center on Columbus Circle to the west.

Amenities

The building has a ballroom and many master bathrooms have glass-enclosed bathtub rooms that are flanked by his and her vanity stations with large windows.

The building has a screening and performance room with 24 very wide and plush leather seats with adjoining tables.

It also has a library and billiard room, 24-hour doormen and concierge, a garage, a bicycle room, a three-story-high pool room with marble walls, catering and room service and housekeeping service, a business center, an arts and crafts atelier room, a “discreet” 58^th Street entrance and a pet-washing room.

Apartments

Apartment 50C is a four-bedroom, four-bathroom unit with a power room and 3,466 square feet.  It has 10-foot-7-inch-high ceilings, a 43-foot-wide grand salon facing Central Park, a 19-foot-wide eat-in kitchen and an 11-foot-long entry foyer.

Apartment A on floors 41 through 55 is a three-bedroom unit with three bathrooms and a powder room and 3,228 square feet.  It has a 19-foot-wide entry foyer, a 39-foot-long living room and a 21-foot-wide eat-in kitchen with an island.

Apartment B on floors 52 through 55 is a five-bedroom unit with five bathrooms and a powder room and 5,475 square feet.  It has an open kitchen.

The 87^th floor apartment has four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a powder room and 6,234 square feet and an open kitchen and a giant walk-in closet.

Apartment A on floors 58 through 66 is a three-bedroom unit with 4 bathrooms and one powder room and 4,483 square feet with a semi-enclosed kitchen with an island.

History

An article by Julie Crewell in the November 2, 2013 edition of The New York Times noted that Gary Barnett, the head of Extell, said he wants the “Oh, wow” factor in his super-tall projects.

According to the same article, the “activist hedge fund king William A. Ackman was reportedly part of an investment group that is paying more than $90 million, or about $6,666 per square foot, for the 13,500-square-foot duplex on the 75^th and 76^th floors, referred to as the “Winter Garden.”

Views

Most of the north-facing apartments have stupendous vistas of Central Park.