CitySpire

Manhattan, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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CitySpire is a 75-story mixed-use skyscraper at 150 West 56th Street in Midtown Manhattan, designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects and completed in 1990. At 248 meters tall, it was the second-tallest concrete tower in the United States when finished. The building features an octagonal plan with a distinctive dome inspired by the adjacent New York City Center theater, whose unused air rights were acquired as part of the development. Its facade combines stone and glass, with notable setbacks at the 46th and 62nd floors. The lowest 22 stories house commercial space, while the upper floors contain luxury apartments that increase in size toward the top. The tower's development, led by Ian Bruce Eichner, began in 1985 and was topped out by June 1987, though the building controversially exceeded its approved height—a dispute eventually settled by a proposed addition of dance studios that was never constructed. The building soon encountered financial difficulties and experienced a persistent whistling noise from its roof in the years following its 1989 opening.