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One and Two UN Plaza
One (far left) and Two (far right) United Nations Plaza viewed southwest from across United Nations Plaza Street. The tawny-coloured building between both is the US Mission to the UN.
Former names	United Nations Plaza Hotel, Millennium UN Plaza
Hotel chain	Hilton Hotels
General information
Type	Hotel
Address	1, 2, & 3 United Nations Plaza
Town or city	Manhattan, New York City
Country	United States
Coordinates	40°45′02″N 73°58′09″W
Current tenants	Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza and UNICEF
Completed	1976, 1983, 1987 (1976, 1983, 1987)
Owner	UNDC and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels
Landlord	UNDC & Millennium & Copthorne Hotels
Height
Height	505 ft (154 m)
Architectural	Postmodern
Technical details
Floor count	13
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Kevin Roche & John Dinkeloo for 1 and 2 UN Plaza; Kevin Roche for 3 UN Plaza
Architecture firm	Roche-Dinkeloo
Other information
Number of rooms	439
Facilities	Ambassador Grill Millennium Health and Racquet Club
Website
undc.org
New York City Landmark
Designated	January 17, 2017
Reference no.	2588
Designated entity	Interior: Lobby and Ambassador Grill

One, Two, and Three UN Plaza

One and Two United Nations Plaza in center, dwarfing the US Mission to the UN, viewed from Roosevelt Island. The UN Secretariat is on the left.

One, Two and Three UN Plaza are mixed-use buildings which were designed for the United Nations. All three are located across First Avenue from the UN headquarters in Midtown Manhattan of New York City. The United Nations Development Corporation (UNDC), a quasi-public institution, developed and presently operates all three buildings. UNDC operates and maintains the office space at One and Two UN Plaza, and all of Three UN Plaza. The hotel, part within both One and Two UN Plaza, are operated by the Millennium Hotel Group, and is referred to as Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza even though both One and Two UN Plaza buildings are occupied by the hotel, since One UN Plaza was built first in 1976, then followed by Two UN Plaza in 1983. UNDC’s principal tenants are the United Nations, UN Development Programme, UNICEF, and other missions to the UN. The Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza is a privately owned hotel, occupying the lobby, the upper floors, the swimming pool, and the tennis/racquetball courts.

One UN Plaza (referred to in this article as Tower One, D.C. 1, or “One”) opened in 1975 and is a 39-story mixed-use office building and hotel located at the northwest corner of 44th Street and First Avenue. The building includes approximately 420,000 square feet of office space located on floors 2 through 26, hotel space located on floors 2 and 27 through 39, and separate ground floor office and hotel lobbies.

Two UN Plaza (referred to in this article as Tower Two, D.C. 2, or simply, “Two”) opened in 1983 and is a 40-story mixed-use office building and hotel located between 44th and 45th Streets west of, and adjacent to, One UN Plaza. The building includes approximately 450,000 square feet of office space located on floors 2 through 28, hotel space located on floors 29 through 40, and separate ground floor office and hotel lobbies.

One and Two UN Plaza are also known as “783-793 First Avenue, 335-343 East 44th Street and 323-333 East 44th Street, 322-334 East 45th Street). They are landmark status buildings, known as Landmark Site of the Borough of Manhattan, Tax Map Block 1337, Lots 14 and 7502.”

Three UN Plaza, (referred to in this article as “Three”) which opened in 1987, is a 15-story office building located on the south side of 44th Street between First and Second Avenues, across from One and Two UN Plaza. It is next door to the Beaux-Artes Apartments. The property includes approximately 205,000 square feet of office space, with an adjacent public plaza of approximately 5,000 square feet. Three UN Plaza is leased exclusively to UNICEF as its world headquarters. The properties of One, Two, and Three UN Plaza are located in the east side of Midtown Manhattan along the East River, in an area known as Turtle Bay. One, Two and Three UN Plaza are also adjacent to one of the most important buildings in the world: the United Nations. The buildings are also in the most important part of Manhattan.

Location

"If Manhattan is the center of the city, midtown is the center of the center."

AIA Guide to NYC, p. 179

If Manhattan is the center of the city (of all five boroughs), then Midtown Manhattan is the center of the hub. "Here are most of the elements one expects to find in a city core: the major railroad and bus stations, the vast majority of hotel rooms, the biggest stores, the main public library and post office. All are located in Turtle Bay."

History of Turtle Bay

Main article: Turtle Bay, Manhattan

Turtle Bay was referred to as Turtle Bay Farm by early settlers. The farm was adjacent to the East River and by the mid-eighteenth century, Turtle Bay Farm extended from about 40th to 49th Street and from Third Avenue to the East River. The farm was named after a cove in Turtle Bay. The cove was given its name from the abundance of turtles in the slow-moving brackish water found along the East River. The cove was located off the East River from about 45th to 48th Streets. Turtle Cove was fed by a small stream that originated at approximately Second Avenue and 48th Street. There was such an abundance of turtles in the cove that residents held a "turtle feast.". Filled in for development purposes, the cove is now covered by the gardens of the northern (northeastern half along the East River) border of the United Nations grounds. Eventually, Turtle Bay Farm was replaced by homes (along the northwestern half of Turtle Bay), riverfront industry, and shantytowns beginning from the mid-18th century. Historical records of the "Turtle Bay Gardens Historic District" which is a two-block area along the northwestern half of Turtle Bay (from East 48th to E. 49th Street, between Second and Third Avenues), describe the twenty homes that were built there and mentions Katharine Hepburn (#244 E. 49th St.) and Stephen Sondheim (#246 E. 49th St.) as residents. However, these historical records also describe the not-so-historic homes of Turtle Bay. These outliers became known as “Blood Alley,” as the once pristine Turtle Bay Farm and Turtle Cove had morphed into many slaughterhouses.After renovations in the 1920s, the area underwent a rapid building period.

Land Acquisition

During the 1940s, a real estate developer named William Zeckendorf began actively buying properties in Turtle Bay to construct or develop Turtle Bay. However, Zeckendorf was unsure as to what type of development he would be allowed to build by New York City's Planning Commission or New York's City Council. For that reason, he coined the term, “X City" since he had literally no idea what to build. Both the Planning Commission and New York's City Council are the two powerful organizations that determine the future of building sites in New York City as part of New York's home-rule designation for municipalities. Both are required for a new building, which then needs approval from the at-the-time Board of Estimate, all as important as the mayor's approval, the governor of New York State and New York State's legislature. But it wasn’t until 1946 - after World War II - that a 6-square city block and the slaughterhouse area were razed. Then the Third Avenue el train closed in 1955, which was the last of Manhattan’s el trains, and the 16-acre area known as Turtle Bay or X City was destined to become the UN Plaza, headquartered at the UN Secretariat, its UN General Assembly and associated buildings.

John D. Rockefeller Jr. reached out to Zeckendorf. He proposed a lump sum cash offer of $ 8.5 million to Zeckendorf, who leaped at the opportunity. After a round of last-minute negotiations, Rockefeller then gifted it to the UN after “eleventh-hour negotiations" which enabled New York to win the bid over a consortium of local New York businessmen and the cities of Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, who were all leading contenders for the UN site at that time. The bid — negotiated by Zeckendorf between the Rockefellers and Mayor William O'Dwyer of New York City — was won. The group of New York businessmen (including Zeckendorf), who once planned the Turtle Bay site for their “private development,” lost after Rockefeller announced he would “give to the city of New York the land as a gift.” Mayor O'Dwyer gratefully accepted the gift from the Rockefellers and New York City became the future home of the UN. The Ford Foundation followed and contributed $ 6.2 million for the Dag Hammarskjold Library to be built along the southern border of the proposed UN site, as well as $ 6.5 million for a school chartered by the UN. Thus, the “Turtle Bay” area of land — from 42nd to 46th Streets, from the East River to 2nd Avenue — was destined to become the “Capital of the World.”

Development Chronology of One, Two, and Three UN Plaza

1963

Wallace Harrison of Harrison and Abramovitz, the chief architect chosen for the UN Secretariat and General Assembly, had envisioned luxury apartments for the nearby United Nations Secretariat. He foresaw twin towers at the north end of Zeckendorf’s X City. He proposed this in 1946, which later became known as 860-870 United Nations Plaza, or simply the UN Plaza. The 2.3-acre area of X City became the nation’s largest apartment-commercial office complex at that time and used more aluminum sheathing than any other building in the world. (NYT, Aluminum sheathes tall buildings) It also became the most fashionable place to live in New York City. ( NYT, Murray Schumach, “Presidential Politics yields to privacy at apartments of 3 candidates here” Mar 18 1968) (Sarah Tomerlin Lee, ”Forecast” House Beautiful, 149-159, Sep 1966). Yet, the need for an apartment/building complex steadily rose. In addition to the UN Plaza, the Japan House and Two Dag Hammarskjold Plaza were built.

April 1966

The future of the neighborhood surrounding the United Nations Secretariat Building and General Assembly was planned. U Thant, who was the Secretary General of the UN at that time, requested that a civic group be formed and to take charge of developing the land for the United Nation's use.This took place under the auspices of an organization initially known as the East River-Turtle Bay Fund, named for the area of land adjacent to both the East River and that section of Manhattan where the [[United Nations UN Secretariat Building in Turtle Bay. A few months later is was then renamed, the "Fund for Area Planning and Development."

View of One and Two UN Plaza from across the East River from Gantry Plaza Park in Hunter's Point, Queens, NY. The UN Secretariat Building is on the left, one block south.

December 1966

After the UN Secretariat/General Assembly and the twin commercial/luxury apartments of UN Plaza had been built, it was up to the remainder of Turtle Bay’s X City land to be developed. At the time in 1966, U Thant was Secretary General of the UN. He requested the “drastic need” for office space which had been rented from nearby offices, and for a hotel, from the United Nations. He raised concerns that the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Development Fund were severely affected by the shortage of office space and had been renting offices nearby.

As a result, a cooperative agreement was formed in 1966, between the City of New York, the United States Government, and the United Nations. The linchpin was financial support from the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which became known as the “East River-Turtle Bay Fund, Inc.” It was established to specifically plan the land surrounding Turtle Bay and the United Nations in order to provide for: 1) office space; 2), a hotel and apartment complex for supporting the UN and its world-wide activities.

The East River-Turtle Bay Fund, Inc. (or simply, East River-Turtle Bay Fund), was a combined civic and city cooperative organization which acted on behalf of the local Turtle Bay neighborhoods and of the United Nations. the fund was first headed by Schwarz. Schwarz was not knew to this line of work. He had headed the building and planning commission for the Ford Foundation's headquarters building completed a year earlier. Since X City’s land north of the UN had been already assigned for use, the fund's specific duty was charged with developing this three-acre area of land just south of the UN. The UN had deemed it ideal for extra office space and for a United Nations hotel. The fund offered to pay for architectural and engineering expenses incurred. The recently-elected New York mayor, John Lindsey, quickly endorsed the project.

The first proposal planned for construction platforms to be built over the FDR Drive and the FDR’s car exit at 42nd Street, as well as land which was then occupied by a seven-story Consolidated Edison-owned combined garage/office building. This irregular, U-shaped 3-acre lot ran east from First Avenue to the East River, and south to 41st street. The land was valued at that time between $12-million and $13-million. The parcel of land did not include Consolidated Edison’s power plant south of 41st street. Comparatively, the five-times larger (16-acres ) parcel of land destined to become the United Nations Headquarters, just north of the proposed building/hotel/office-complex, was gifted to the UN twenty-years earlier for $8.5-million (1946). The open end of the U-shaped lot faced west towards First Avenue, as it encompassed a large ventilation shaft for the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Its massive size and fixed nature precluded any attempt of relocating the ventilation shaft and that the proposed building/hotel/office-complex would need to be built around it. Vehicular traffic was projected to pass below the office building/hotel complex, built on massive platforms. This proposal would include parks, tennis courts, and pedestrian walks extending to the East River.

At first, the East River-Turtle Bay Fund could not commit to this grand scheme. At that point, other well-known New York endowments jumped in. The Carnegie Foundation, the City Planning Commission of New York City, and the United States Mission to the United Nations joined the Rockefeller Brothers and Ford Foundations to ensure that the sale of Consolidated Edison’s office building on the proposed site would go ahead.

After hearing of the grand scheme on the U-shaped lot, U Thant’s initial proposal for a 20-story office building at the northern end of the UN headquarters, where a row of Japanese trees existed, was tabled in favor of the proposal by the East River-Turtle Bay Fund of a building/hotel/office-complex on the U-shaped parcel of land just south of the UN’s Headquarters.

Although the exact site for the proposed building/hotel/office-complex was not chosen, projects like this one where buildings were constructed on platforms over existing structures had already been done in New York City. Robert Ashley, who was the secretary of the East River-Turtle Bay Fund, said that city permits required for such a grand undertaking were daunting, and the city had assured him that they would help in any way possible to expedite the proposed plan. (NYT “Civic Group”-Teltsch) Arthur Goldberg, the United States’ ambassador to the UN, U Thant, and Mayor Lindsay had already stressed the need for such an undertaking.

April 1968 — 1st Plan

A proposal was filed in 1968 in New York's capital, Albany, for a joint venture between New York City and New York State as overseers to the United Nations and the responsibility to that organization.

Mayor John Lindsay of New York City and Governor Nelson D. Rockefeller of New York State jointly announced the plan for the UN expansion. As Mayor Lindsay had explained, he believed the City of New York had an inherent responsibility as host city for the United Nations. At that time, the United Nations membership had increased from the original 55-members to 123-members, along with their associated organizations and tourists visiting the UN. To plan for this expansion, the East River-Turtle Bay Fund changed its name to the “Fund for Area Planning and Development, Inc.,” a non-profit organization, and released a plan for the area to accommodate a proposed building/hotel/office-complex. The fund was headed by Ralph Schwarz, who had overseen the building and planning for the Ford Foundation’s own headquarters, completed in 1967. There were nine members comprising the Fund for Area Planning and Development, Inc., or simply the Fund for Area Planning and Development: two appointed by the Governor Rockefeller; five by Mayor Lindsay; and two, the city’s administrator for Housing and Development and the chairman for the city’s Planning Commission as ex-officio members. Mayor Lindsay stressed that the corporation will be privately funded, and that no New York bonds would be floated for the building project. The proposal called for twin building/hotel/office-complexes with a “monumental stairway” on Second Avenue at 44th Street, and would set aside most of the area fro 43rd Street to 45th Street between First and Second Avenues, with a walkway connecting Hammarskjold Plaza at 47th Street. Schwarz said that there would be a concourse running from 41st to 47th Street, thereby allowing pedestrians, even from Tudor City (just to the south, which will not be affected by the proposal) or tourists to walk the distance without crossing any street and alleviating the traffic congestion.

UN ENCLAVE PROPOSAL IN APRIL, 1968. Proposed removal of 44th Street, depicting the two towers, a visitors center, and the walkway across First Avenue to the UN Secretariat.

The grand plan proposed four sub-projects: a linear park along the East River, a United Nations office building, a mixed-use building with hotel and an apartment complex for UN delegates, a UN-chartered school, and a visitor’s center. The plan would transform the neighborhood, from the mostly commercial warehouse buildings, garages, and lofts into a campus of parks and an office/hotel complex. There would be a dramatic twin-tower complex encompassing the land from 43rd Street to 45th Street, from First to Second Avenue, thereby eliminating 44th Street. UNDC called for the creation of a superblock, or a self-contained enclave bounded by First and Second Avenue, Forty-third and Forty-fifth Streets. The superblock would need to remove the existing landmark twin Beaux-Arts Apartments at 307 and 310 East Forty-fourth Street, except for the United States Mission to the UN on First Avenue. There would be twin forty-story towers on the same street, Forty-fourth Street, with a ring of eleven- to nineteen-story structures around the edge of the superblock. Each tower would be square in its footprint, but rotated 45 degrees off the street grid, to provide two millions square feet of space and one million square feet of office/apartment/hotel use.

Both the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations each gave $100,000 to initiate the planning. The initial planning called for creating an unbroken park between 43rd and 45th Streets, “radically changing the existing traffic patterns along First Avenue. Virtually all through traffic would be eliminated in order to accomplish the joining of property on the west side of First Avenue with the United Nations enclave” and removing 44th Street from the map.

The envisioned proposal planned for three "platform levels." The top-most, 1st level would be a grand, majestically-landscaped park, accessed by a stairway or "gateway" on Second Avenue side as well as from the UN side. The middle 2nd, or concourse level would be accessed from Second Avenue at the present sidewalk level, lined with restaurants and retail shops. The lowermost, 3rd level, would have 1,200 parking spaces for visitors to the UN and the new UN Visitor's Center, a city bus stop and terminal for the many chartered buses travelling to the UN daily. First Avenue buses would be rerouted through a passageway below the Visitor's Center with a local bus stop there. All other through-traffic would be rerouted through the existing tunnel with an entrance to the FDR Drive.

June 1968

Governor Rockefeller signs a bill for the UN expansion project. The twin-tower idea with three- platformed levels was encouraged.

November 1968

Finally, the UN body itself — the delegation of the UN General Assembly — was sent a proposal by the Fund for Planning and Development, upon which the 155-member delegation would vote on the proposal. The addition of a park on pilings or piers eighty-five feet wide and stretching from north five blocks from 38th Street would include tennis courts, jogging and bicycling paths, a hockey/ice skating rink, and bocci courts. The park would be directly accessed from the UN. Also added to the proposal was the UN's International School, from the present location of a loft and an old, leased building, to a site on First Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets.

January 1969 — UNDC Formed

In January, 1969, Rockefeller's promised UN expansion project was slowing coming to fruition. As part of the previous bill passed in June of 1968 in Albany, a 9-member board was formed with jointly- appointed members by Rockefeller and Mayor Lindsay. The UNDC was given powers to assemble land and "issue tax-free bonds to create an overall plan and development scheme for the UN expansion project." David McCloy was to head and organise the building project, once the head of the World Bank. This was the beginning of the United Nations Development Corporation. Also appointed was Arthur J. Goldberg, the previous US ambassador to the UN under President Johnson; an [[ Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Associate Supreme Court justice]] and Secretary of Labor under President John F. Kennedy; and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Goldberg served during World War II as a captain in the United States Army and the Office of Strategic Services. The non-profit corporation also included a list of prominent bankers, realtors, attorneys, and city planners. One such city planner was Donald H. Elliott, Chairman of the City Planning Commission. Preliminary plans for the UN expansion project state that the Ford Foundation had begun the financing with a grant of $400,000 to the fund for Area Development and Planning. The Ford foundation "began many months ago to quietly purchase properties in the two-block area to avoid sending prices soaring through speculation. the properties in turn were to be sold to the city at cost, to the corporation's planning." Under the same bill signed by Rockefeller, the corporation had the power to secure private financing by issuing bonds. The final proposal needed unanimous approval by the City Planning Commission, the New York City Housing Authority, and the now-defunct New York City Board of Estimate.

February 1969

Initially planned was a seven-story building, to be designed by Harrison and Abramovitz, that would incorporate the Midtown Tunnel's ventilation shaft, which would provide 693,946 square feet of space. It was proposed to be attached to the UN Secretariat Building, connecting with other levels to unify the space. The planned office building was to be completed within three to five years at a cost of $50 million.

April 1969

Opposition from the City Council, and Turtle Bay citizens complained that the secrecy of the the project, with "two high towers, landscaped parks, offices, luxury apartments, a hotel and a United Nations Visitors Center" was hidden from the Turtle Bay Civic Association and Tudor City civic groups. The Methodist Church at the Church Center of the UN voiced concerns that its secrecy only fostered more opposition. The opposition was opposed especially by residents of the Tudor City neighborhood. In order to allay the fears of the Tudor City residents, directly to the south of the proposed UN expansion project, the city Planning Commission passed a new zoning change, ruling that the Tudor city residents. With backing from the Turtle Bay Civic Association and community residents, the city had been flooded with outcries from Tudor City and the surrounding apartments complexes (see below under "Opposition and Controversy").

November 1969 — Revised 2nd Plan

By November of 1969, of the four initial four sub-projects, the last component was to go forward, and proved the most interesting and controversial. At first, a preliminary proposal was put up by the architectural firm of Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo, who had just completed the Ford Foundations’ building.

After the first proposal by Architects Kevin Roche-John Dinkeloo Associates was rejected, it then had been supplanted with another unveiled in November of 1969. In the same two-block area immediately to the west of the General Assembly building, between 43rd and 45th Streets and First and Second Avenues, would rise four buildings. One of these buildings would be an apartment-hotel; the other three buildings or towers would be interconnected with the apartment-hotel. These three towers would be used for office space for the U.N. and related international organizations. These three towers, each 40 stories high, would splay out in three directions like the hands on a clock: 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, and 9 o'clock. The towers would brach out from a 40-story glass-enclosed, domed "arcade" which would have some balconies connecting upper floors of the three structures. All three towers would be sheathed in a mirror-like glass similar to those adjacent to them, thereby reflecting nearby buildings and the UN Secretariat. A rotunda at the base of the glassed-in arcade would lead to three levels, all devoted primarily to visitors' facilities. The top-most level would enclose a park with trees and a swimming pool.

Acquisition of the land was to begin in late I970, with construction of the $300-million center to begin in 1972.

Second revision of UN Plaza view northwest

This plan, by Roche-Dinkeloo was developed under the UNDC. Roche-Dinkeloo's proposed three immense faceted towers were all to be joined with a hotel wing. Ada Louise Huxtable, architectural critic for the New York Times, said that if the plan went to completion, the "building is a tour-de-force, a giant trick with mirrors." Roche-Dinkeloo planned for a central rotunda and concourses "topped by an awe-inspiring 40-story, 540-foot-high domed court." The first plan submitted for review in April, 1968 with the three-platform levels, and removing 44th Street was revised to allow it to be "more financially self-supporting," even though the first plan "was more successful in the resolution of the tie-up between the United Nations buildings and their environs, to create what could truly be called a UN District."

Second revision of UN Plaza

The $300-million complex, which called for four forty-story towers to be sheathed in a glass facade, that had never been used before in New York City, and was planned to be a massive crystalline superstructure. In essence, everything from 43rd St to 45th Street, between First and Second Avenues would be enclosed in glass. There would be three buildings containing 3-million square feet of office space, with a fourth building on First Avenue containing a 700-room hotel. The three-office building complex was to surround a glass-roofed 540-foot-high atrium, also forty-stories tall enclosing a visitor’s center. This proposal all but eliminated earlier proposals of a large green campus, parks and two office towers for the UN. (NYT “Massive Complex proposed for the UN, K Teltsch Nov 12, 1969) This proposal did not need to demolish the relatively recently-erected Church Center for the United Nations or the Boys Club, both on First Avenue, nor did it need to shut off First Avenue as proposed in the earlier recommendations. However, Forty-fourth Street would need to be closed off. The second, revised plan, which called for a massive 540-foot-tall rotunda, would eliminate the earlier green, college-like campus proposed a year-and-a half ago. The Church Center for the UN and the Boys club would not have to be raised. But it raised questions by Ada Louise Huxtable as far as the real purpose behind the structure. "The question being asked is whether the (UNDC) with its quasi-public status, tax-free bonds and substantial city tax abatement, is (completing) the master plan for which it was created, or putting up some elegantly speculative real estate." Of the proposed 4.2 million square-feet of office space, half would be rentals at the going market rate. the second, revised plan called for increasing the floor area ratio from 12 to 18 (Floor area ratio (FAR) is the measurement of a building's floor area in relation to the size of the lot/parcel that the building is located on). The three-buildings would unite at a central glassed-in court also 40-stories high. The 700-room hotel for UN visitors and permanent residents would also include a shopping arcade, theatres, 280 housing units, and an enclosed public park. The Center will contain extensive tourist facilities, including bus docking, information centers and restaurants, to ease the burden of the 2-million yearly visitors. There are three forty-story towers for the use of the UN missions and international organizations, bordering a glassed-in court. The buildings will be sheathed in the highly reflective glass first used by Eero Saarinen & Associates' Bell Laboratories building, Holmdel, New Jersey (Architectural Record, October 1962). Glass awnings will help unify the stores with the street, and glass-roofed entrance plazas would bring the life of the city into the new center.

December 1969 — 3rd plan

A month after the second revised Roche-Dinkeloo plan was submitted, the UN voted 62-10, to authorise approval of another 3rd plan on a 16-acre bloc from 41st to 42nd Street between First Avenue and the East River. It would be the first major building project to the UN enclave since the UN was built.

Planned park to be built along the East River on pilings, and new building for the UN, December, 1969

This called for an $80-million project earmarked by the UN. Its Budgetary Committee agreed to stimulate the project with $25-million. Another 20-million was anticipated from the US delegation to the UN and agreed to ask Congress for the funds. Mayor Lindsay then promised he would ask New York City to match the 20-million, and to donate the land for the building site, valued at $10-million. The $15-million deficit would come from the UNDC's private funds and channels. Also voted on was the construction of a park to be built on platforms, and resting on pilings on the East River from 38th Street to 43rd Street.

This new block proposal already contained a park infrequently used by the community, and the massive ventilations shaft of the Queens Midtown Tunnel. A new 8-story building would be built to accommodate the much-needed office space by the UN. The new 3-acre park to be built over the East River would accommodate both the public and UN personnel.

Although the United States voted for the expansion project, it also voted to abstain from the Budgetary Committee's approval of a change in the text of the resolution introduced by France at the last minute. This change called for distributing UN activities between New York and Geneva, Switzerland (or some other city). The French proposal was viewed by the United States as an attempt to weaken the UN complex in New York City. The French maintained that if New York City was unable to meet the demands of the UN, then the UN should look elsewhere for expansion. Critics of this French proposal saw it as a further effort to undermine the united UN enclave in New York City by transferring economic and social activities overseas — possibly France. The proposal would come up for approval by the General Assembly, and the United States hoped to delete it before it went further. The US Missions warned that the French proposal would fragment the United Nations activities. Privately they hinted that it would be more difficult to secure congressional funding if Congress thought there might be a fragmenting of the US-based complex. The prospects of enlarging the UN enclave in the United States brought praise and blame for New York City as host. Soviet-backed countries (Bulgaria and Cuba) accused the CIA of eavesdropping on their telephone conversations, while Arab countries (Syria) accused pro-Israeli demonstrators of blocking their premises. As it appeared that voting appeared politically motivated, Western bloc countries such as Norway and Great Britain praised the efforts of private citizens (Rockefeller, Ford) and investors for their unifying,altruistic motives for engendering a truly "United Nations" enclave. Zenon Rossides of Cyprus went further and addressed the UN over maintaining a unified UN, arguing that "New York City is a dynamic city — the center of the world."

February, 1970

Noted architecture experts, which included Ada Louise Huxtable, an architecture critic for the New York Times, wrote that "only a super scrooge" would vote against a grand scheme of three large towers connected to a fourth UN hotel which solved the UN's office, visitors center and hotel problems in one fell swoop." Huxtable recounts the controversial 4-to-3 decision by the City Planning Commission, which still needed a final go-ahead by the Board of Estimate on March 12th, 1970. Huxtable did describe an apparent quid pro quo decision for the UNDC to fund "Waterside," a mixed-income housing project which was the UNDC's plan to relocate the residents and businesses for the UN enclave by using their tax-free bonds, so that a vote against the UNDC's massive complex would also be a vote against Waterside. But Huxtable stressed that the fully-enclosed park by the massive tower complex plan did not have the full backing of the community, although it had received a slim 4-to-3 approval by the Planning Commission. At least the first plans in 1967 of two slender diamond-shaped towers surrounded by four smaller buildings, arising from within a mid-block park, had community approval. Huxtable questioned the city's affordability of a $300-million project, versus practicality for the UN to fulfill its needs and pointed, out that the city did not need to build a massive "megalomaniacal" building only to fill half the rooms with UN personnel, while the other half are rented for prime real estate dollars. She states how ironic it would be that New Yorkers would be subsidising the structure but were offered no other option but the one presented by the UNDC. The city had been placed in an awkward position to accept the entire grand scheme, from beginning to end, or not at all. Huxtable states that the UNDC plan was misleading, and as stated by Huxtable, "a poor substitute for a large outdoor park: one enclosed by glass." Moreover, the changing of its zoning laws for the structure from R10 to R18 would set a precedent not seen anywhere else in New York City and at a time when it could not underwrite its own basic needs in housing.

August 1972

By this time, the large $ 300-million plan was scrapped for a leaner, one-building model. The UNDC who announced the start of the first phase of the project expected that the $30‐million building would be opened by the spring of 1975. The 38‐story skyscraper included a hotel with 280 rooms, an enclosed rooftop tennis court, a 40‐foot pool, sauna, lounges, and a restaurant and meeting rooms for diplomats. The second floor would be taken up by a visitors center for the 2 million visitors annually who come to the United Nations. The street floor would have space for stores and a coffee shop, and open to visitors. A skyscraper to be constructed overlooking the United Nations will allow tenants to work. confer, live, eat shop, and swim without stepping outside the premises. Plans called for the construction of an enclosed bridge or crosswalk spanning First Avenue, which would connect the new building on the west side of the avenue with the United Nations property on the east side. The bridge was planned partly for convenience but mainly for a security feature.

Opposition and Controversy

New York City Council

In 1968 was led by a Speaker, elected by City Council members of many Committees that introduced and voted on legislation with all aspects of city life, and reviewed all land use.

New York City Council

New York City Department of City Planning

In 1968, seven members comprised City Planning and were appointed by the Mayor. The Chair served at the Mayor's pleasure.

City Planning Commission

An article appeared in the New York Times on April 12, 1968, that had taken many in the city and its government by surprise. Although there were mixed feelings over the Turtle Bay-UN expansion up to this time, it developed into bitter opposition to the proposal. The Community Board 6 of the City Council of New York, responsible for Turtle Bay, felt that there was general agreement to the plan from local citizenry, according to its Vice-Chairman, Peter Detmold. However, Detmold stated that he thought the plans for the upcoming project needed to be kept confidential, so as not to promote speculative land-buying. However, this secrecy backfired, and only fueled more opposition to the plan from local civic groups. In May, 1968, after the project was announced, a brochure was printed describing the project and released to New Yorkers, apparently anticipating the fallout of public opposition. The majority leader of the City Council of New York and particularly residents of Tudor City feared that the Ford Foundation and the Rockefellers were intending to buy their apartment complex in order to use the land for the UN expansion. The brochure which surfaced, and whose origin has been disputed, was purportedly published by the Fund for Area Planning and Development. "Few of the property owners in the area had even heard of the Fund for Area Planning and Development which had taken a small suite on 44th St. No name plate is visible from the street." The brochure illustrated the extensive redevelopment plans set for the Turtle Bay community: withheld from the public. Both the majority leader of the City Council's State Legislation Committee and its President — David Ross and Frank D. O'Connor, respectively — adamantly refused acknowledging any endorsement of the plan listed in the brochure, even though both were named in the brochure as de-facto endorsement of the UN expansion project.

Home-Rule

"New York State provides that counties, cities, towns and villages are “general purpose” units of local government and are granted broad home rule powers to regulate the quality of life in communities and to provide direct services to the people."

NY.gov

Home-Rule Message

"A request by New York's City Council for specific legislation from the New York State Legislature regarding Manhattan."

NY.gov

The Planning Commission Chairman, Donald Elliott, accused the City Council initially of supporting the plan, and then backing out, even going further to state the City Council's secretaries had signed off on the cost of the brochure, thus making them directly linked to the project. Councilman J. Raymond Jones, the Committee Chairman for State Legislation of the city Council refused to hear anything further on the matter and the discussion was tabled until he had heard from the New York State Legislature under New York's home-rule laws.

In June, 1968, Rockefeller weighed in, and authorized a bill earmarking the UN expansion project. Rockefeller contended that although the City Council had not exercised their home-rule municipal rights under New York's home-rule laws by not sending a "home-rule message," Rockefeller deemed it unnecessary. Home rule powers available to New York's City Council are necessary for building on any property in Manhattan, yet Rockefeller contended that the extent of home-rule powers (self-government which has limited autonomy in internal affairs) is still a dependent political unit and makes New York's City Council a full partner with New York State and the shared responsibility for providing services to the United Nations. An aide to Governor Rockefeller stated in the New York Times on June 4, 1968, that a "home-rule message" was not required, and that he as governor superseded any home-rule message.

After opposition arose from with the City Council, citizens and neighbors in the area openly complained that the secrecy of the the project which included "high towers, landscaped parks, offices, luxury apartments, a hotel and a United Nations Visitors Center" was "conveniently" hidden from the Turtle Bay Civic Association. The Rev. Dudley Ward of the Methodist Church at the Church Center of the UN voiced concern that its secrecy only fostered more opposition, and although there were mixed outcries from the Turtle Bay Civic groups, most objected to its building. This opposition was followed closely by U.S. Congressmen from New York City, and residents of New York City in general, particularly the Tudor City neighborhood to the south of the proposed project.

(rudy johnson, "Tenants near U.N. fight expansion," NYT Dec 8 1968)

Outcry over the $300-million complex, which called for four forty-story towers to be sheathed in a glass facade, that had never been used before in New York City, and was planned to be a massive crystalline superstructure. In effect, it would be three buildings containing 3-million square feet of office space, with a fourth building on First Avenue containing a 700-room hotel. The three-office building complex was to surround a glass-roofed 540-foot-high atrium, also forty-stories tall enclosing a visitor’s center. This proposal all but eliminated earlier proposals of a large green campus, parks and two office towers for the UN. (NYT “Massive Complex proposed for the UN, K Teltsch Nov 12, 1969) This proposal did not need to demolish the relatively recently-erected Church Center for the United Nations or the Boys Club, both on First Avenue, nor did it need to shut off First Avenue as proposed in the earlier recommendations. However, Forty-fourth Street would need to be closed off. The second, revised plan, which called for a massive 540-foot-tall rotunda, raised questions by Ada Louise Huxtable as far as the real purpose behind the structure. "The question being asked is whether the (UNDC) with its quasi-public status, tax-free bonds and substantial city tax abatement, is (completing) the master plan for which it was created, or putting up some elegantly speculative real estate." Of the proposed 4.2 million square-feet of office space, half would be rentals at the going market rate. the second, revised plan called for increasing the floor area ratio from 12 to 18 (Floor area ratio (FAR) is the measurement of a building's floor area in relation to the size of the lot/parcel that the building is located on).

In November, 1969, there was official criticism by New York City's politicians for the four 40-story buildings in the area bounded by First and Second Avenues and 43rd and 45th Streets. Congressman Ed Koch, City Councilwoman Carol Greitzer, and Councilman-elect Carter Burden unanimously voiced disapproval. Koch thought it was "a bonanza for commercial speculative landlords:" Councilwoman Greitzer from Turtle Bay said the "residents were not adequately consulted:" Councilman-elect Burden said he thought the plan was "railroaded through."

In December 1969, the residents of Turtle Bay mounted a broad opposition to the massive UN expansion plan which was presented earlier to the City Planning Commission. Protesters contended that since half the planned office space of 4.2-million sq. ft. in the four towers was to be used by the UN, it was a "land grab by real estate interests." The City Council stressed the demand by the UN for much-needed room to grow, so that it remained for New York City for quell the fears of possibly moving to another country. Amid these fears they cited the support of some Turtle Bay Civic Association members on the earlier proposals. Those earlier plans called for smaller buildings on the same site across First Avenue from most of 43rd to 45th Streets, and two small parcels in each of two blocks directly to the north. The earlier version would have produced buildings with a total floor area twelve times the lot size, which was the present zoning limit. The present proposal envisioned a ration of 18-times the lot size, according to Roche-Dinkeloo. The residents also complained bitterly that Donald H. Elliott, chairman of the city Planning Commission maintained a dual-role, thus constituting a conflict of interest. To counter this criticism Elliott would demand from New York authorities that he would secure a ruling by the City's Corporation Counsel allowing for his dual interest. Turtle Bay residents also complained that the high-density nature of the project would encourage future private real estate ventures to request similar zoning changes, thus increasing pressure on the local communities comprised of brownstones and smaller residential buildings to be overshadowed. . Many complained sharply that it would set a zoning precedent for future building of similar-sized edifices in New York City. A decision for the go-ahead by New York City for "some type" of building was approved nonetheless by a narrow vote of 4 votes to 3 votes, as the Planning commission's President, Gerald R. Coleman, apparently broke ranks and voted in favor of the plan. After postponing the meeting for a week, he voted yes after hearing testimonies from the Turtle Bay Civic Association and the other six members.

Mayor John Lindsay and City Planning Commission chairman Donald H. Elliott were enthusiastic about the plan, although laden with problems from the get-go. The Housing and Development Administration needed first approval of the plan, to be seconded by the City Planning Commission of New York who would make recommendations to the Board of Estimate of New York City. Most of the public sided with the outspoken critics and bitter opposition to the plan, especially by Congressional representative Edward Koch (future mayor of New York City). Congressman Koch questioned the bulk and density of the building, from 12 to 18 floor-area ratio (FAR), which would have set a precedent in New York.

The most outspoken critic against the UN expansion was a native New Yorker and one of New York City's most-beloved journalists for the New York Post, Pete Hamill. His column in the New York Post became the voice of the unheard Turtle Bay resident. He was most blunt in his now-notorious article where he wrote, “the assumption that it carries about this town, that these free-loading diplomats assigned to the UN have some blessed right to live across the street from their job, while the rest of us have to come screaming into Manhattan on subway cages, is beyond me.” State Assemblyman Andrew Stein (future Borough President and City Council President) reverberated what Hamill had already suggested. He callously proposed that the UN development be moved to Welfare Island — once used for hospitals and city prisons,renamed Welfare Island in 1921 (present-day Roosevelt Island), summing up his and his constituents’ resentment succinctly. “You can read the UN Charter from end to end, and you will find nothing that guarantees, to its personnel and officials the privilege of rolling out of bed, and directly going into their offices.” Donald Elliott had come under intense scrutiny since he was a member of both the UNDC and the Planning Commission, an obvious conflict of interest, which became the focus of Pete Hamill’s articles. Elliott denied the charges of a conflict of interest. He followed that up with a response to Hamill and Koch by producing a letter from the UNDC, which stated that the Chairman of the Planning commission must be a member of the UNDC, and as such, has approval of the city for his dual role. This temporarily stopped his critics.

In January 1970, the Planning Commission narrowly approved the vote, with Donald R. Coleman likely casting the deciding vote in favor for the expansion project. Coleman was eventually convinced by UNDC officials, Mayor Lindsay, and Arthur Goldberg to reconsider and pass the UN-proposed building/s.

Due to a general recession and community opposition, the large-scale plans for a complex of office, hotel, and conference space was tabled.

Planning

Despite early criticism, journalistic mockery, and public objections, the project was eventually approved by a five-to-four majority of the city Planning Commission in January 1970 for only a combination office and hotel building on the corner of 44th Street and First Avenue. This was quickly followed by an approval by the Board of Estimate in April 1970. At this point, UNDC, having failed earlier to obtain the financing required, turned to New York State’s legislature. An agreement was finally reached but with some compromises. Koch’s continual questioning of the FAR enabled an agreement to be reached where reduction of the FAR from 18 to 15 was made. A $75-million limit on the state’s guaranteed bonds was reached. The estimated construction cost of the building was approximately $31.5 million. John J. McCloy, chairman of the UNDC noted that the building would be virtually completely rented at the time of its scheduled opening. McCloy had also said that the building was made possible largely by an initial grant of $3 million in “seed money” from the Ford Foundation.” Mayor Abraham Beame said the UNDC would pay New York City $450,000 a year in rent for the land, which he said was more than four times the property taxes obtained from the previous structures. This was crucial since at this time New York city was in the midst of one of the worst financial crises of its history.

The UNDC was able to sell $55.2 million in bonds, enough to finance the first phase of the Roche-Dinkeloo development: One United Nations Plaza. (NYT “Office Building-Hotel for U.N. is opened” Tomasson, Robert E., Nov 21, 1975 https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/21/archives/office-buildinghotel-for-un-is-opened.html)

One UN Plaza

One UN Plaza viewed southwest from the East River.

One UN Plaza viewed west almost neck-and neck on the East River, by approximately 39th St. The UN Secretariat appears to be on the left of One Un Plaza at this point.

UN Plaza viewed west from the East River by approximately 48th St.

North on the East River, One (left) & Two (right) UN Plaza viewed southwest by approximately 58nd St. The UN Secretariat is not seen. United States Mission to the UN is the slightly smaller building with light-colored facade.

Architecture

Construction

One United Nations Plaza is a post-Modernist, thirty-nine-story building with a 505-foot-tall slab and 360,000 feet of office space on the first 26 floors; and a 292-room hotel on the top thirteen floors. At 505 feet in height, the building is three feet shorter than the Secretariat, in line with zoning restrictions for the district, and is the first building in New York City to be both an office building and a hotel. (M) The building was designed by Kevin Roche-John Dinkeloo and Associates. The builder was the Turner Construction Company. It was formally opened on November 20, 1975. The building was the newest addition to the United Nations, located to the east across the street on First Avenue.

Opening Ceremony

An opening ceremony dedicating One United Nations Plaza on November 20, 1975, was attended by a group from New York City’s political landscape that included Mayor Abraham Beame; the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Daniel Patrick Moynihan; the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim; and the chairman of the UNDC, John J. McCloy.

Form and facade

Building architectural design

“Svelte of build and spiffily draped in a toga of reflective blue-green glass, the 39-story One United Nations Plaza … is a friendly neighborhood skyscraper which, leaving a lot to the imagination, has a lot going on inside its 586,000-square-foot bulk,” according to William Marlin. The Roche-Dinkeloo architects designed One as an architectural complement to the UN Secretariat Building, situated diagonally across the street on First Avenue of the typical “postmodernist” (Postmodern architecture) design (M). It is basically the same height as the UN Secretariat — minus three feet. One's 505 ft (154 m) height could not be taller according to New York City’s zoning laws. Therefore, visually and architecturally it was designed with the same visual enthusiasm as the Secretariat building and became an aesthetic complement to rival the equally-impressive UN headquarters. With its glass and aluminum facade similar to its grand neighbor, albeit with some differences discussed below, One UN Plaza became an instant success. “[The building] is an intelligent counterpoint to the U.N.’s Secretariat Building—the color … the materials, and the odd shape … provides an interesting rhythm to play against the Secretariat’s even slab.”

Unlike the Secretariat, which is oblong, One UN Plaza is basically a bulky, L-shape-d building. Its footprint is hexagonal from the top-down. There are some interesting setbacks in order to carefully integrate New York's zoning regulations: three architectural indentations which are not happenstance. By accommodating the specific zoning laws of New York City, the end result became an instant success. New York City’s zoning laws stated that if the northern face were all windows— as initially planned — they had to be 30 feet from its next-door neighbor, the U.S. Mission to the UN — up to the height of its facade.

However, as the plan evolved, only 50 per cent of the facade had functioning windows, placing it conveniently in a different zoning category. Therefore, the required setback was proportionally reduced to 15 feet. It has been logically assumed that Roche-Dinkeloo changed their design “mid-stream” to favorably use these laws and rationalized the placing of the lower slant-back exactly at the point where the 15-foot rule no longer applied, “pitching the resultant plane up to that point where the 30-foot rule would have been” applied. (M) Following this same logic, the higher 28th-floor slant-back is exactly at the point where the next setback rule would have been applied, “pitched to a point that marks the overall width of two typical hotel rooms plus a corridor, or roughly 60 feet.”

1 UN Plaza view southwest, and west

One UN Plaza's chamfer seen on the southeast corner, and the first of two northern setbacks — at the 12th floor — is visualised.

The 28th story setback seen from atop the US Missions to the UN Building next door, view northeast.

These slant-backs, or lean-to’s, on the northside face do so for approximately the eastern one-third of the building. The western two-thirds of the building juts out at approximately 45 degrees to increase its square footage for about a third of the total length of the northern face, then returns parallel to conform to the southern face’s configuration. On the northern side of the building, the upper stories were made to indent, as already mentioned. These two “atypical” (M) setbacks or”slantbacks” sheathed in glass are laid at 45 degree angles. The setbacks are angled from the 12th floor and again, from the 28th floor up to 45-degrees. The slantbacks form a “lean-to” or “shed-like" appearance so much that the building appears “continuously wrapped” or flowing in aluminum and glass.(S) The setbacks are placed above the office stories which have a larger floor area. The third setback, on the southeast corner of the building, is architecturally opposite to the northern face's slant back: a “slant-out” or chamfer. The slant-out angles up to the 12th floor, below which the corner of the building appears to have been sliced off. (M)

One UN Plaza view northwest, from the southeast.

The southeast corner of One UN Plaza.

Also, it is no coincidence that the slant-out occurs at exactly the same height as the Church Center for the UN: the 12-story building directly across the street on 44th Street. Roche's attention to its surroundings rationalized the logical aesthetic look to “deflect one's attention across 44th Street and to the visual panoply of the UN” as one drives north up the UN Plaza street or walks south (note: UN Plaza is only a one-way street and runs only northbound, as First Avenue was diverted underground and parallels the UN Plaza street to reduce traffic). (M) The building is skirted by a second-story facade which slopes outward, thus creating a canopy above the ground floor.

A surprising outcome of this unique building was the construction costs: $32 million. (Goldberger: NYT https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/06/08/75616547.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0) A device they resorted to is the “simple old trade-off; cut corners where they don't show, and save the quality materials for visual impact.” Construction costs were kept down by staying up with the materials market to know when and where to buy steel— by using the Wall Street Journal. As a result, Roche-Dinkeloo was able to pre-purchase steel at that time, for the “unheard of" price of $485 per ton, even though the steel arrived before the money did from the UNDC. Stephens https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1974-09.PDF) Initially, One UN Plaza housed the hotel, the offices of the United Nations Development Program, the liaison offices for the International Monetary Fund, and the Food and Agriculture Organization. It was financed by a $55.2 million bond issue in 1973. (WAGING PEACE IN THE UNITED NATIONS David Newell, NYT 1983)

One UN Plaza's southeast corner chamfer (lower left corner of photo), identifying the 12th floor level. The two northern face setbacks seen on the opposite side of the building, identifying the 12th and 28th floors.

Curtain walls Roche-Dinkeloo used a glass curtain wall made of blue-green glass. This blue-green glass curtain wall was “griddled in a pattern that denied any sense of the building’s true scale.” (S 1995) There are 4’7”-by-2' 71⁄2” rectangles of reflective double-glazed windows and panels similar to those of the sheathing used at the Lehman Pavilion of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. These metallized double-glazed green tinted panels are laid horizontally, and are not related to the floor space behind them, but divide the typical vertical unit into four, equally-sized panels. The glass panels give off a bluish cast that wrap around the steel frame of One United Nations Plaza. “The glass covers everything like a great shining blanket, and its pattern offers no hint as to the goings‐on inside,” according to Goldberger (1976). The arrangement of the windows differed depending where you were, either on the upper or lower stories. Interior features Kevin Roche was put in charge of One’s interior design, which was not the usual practice of interior decorating for buildings. Most of the office styles were usual and typical for offices at the time. But as for the interior designing, Roche was anything but usual or typical. He made use of metal and mirrors to enhance or increase the visualised spaces. When the building first opened, the hotel lobby was entered directly off of 44th Street, while the office lobby was put into place by Roche. An interesting key security feature of the hotel was the ability to enter the hotel or lobby not only from the main floor, from Forty-fourth Street, but from a through-block driveway. Both the lobby and the driveway were specifically designed for such a purpose. A dignitary or UN official could enter without being seen publicly or from any heightened security need should it arise.

1 (left) and 2 (right) United Nations Plaza, viewed from across street — United Nations Plaza — in front of the General Assembly Building.

Offices and Hotel

The first 26 floors, located on the northwest corner of 44th Street next to the United States Mission to the United Nations, has offices for the United Nations and for its delegations. The top 13 floors were the hotel, with 292 rooms and suites; a swimming pool and gymnasium, on the 27th floor; and an air‐conditioned tennis court on the top floor. (Kevin Roche: architecture as an environment, Pelkonen, Eeva-Liisa. Foreword Stern, Robert A. M., Yale University Press, New Haven CT, 2011.) It was initially operated by Hyatt International Hotels. Hyatt Hotels stated that the hotel would be available by priority to heads of state, dignitaries, representatives of foreign governments and others participating in programs related to the United Nations,” and followed by the public, according to the UNDC. Although the hotel did not open on the building’s opening day, One United Nations Plaza’s offices were ready for occupancy, while the hotel was slated to open the following year. United Nations personnel were informed to move into the glass tower two weeks after the grand opening. The hotel underwent a name-change to the “United Nations Plaza Hotel,” scheduled for opening in March, 1976.

The floors of the small hotel lobby were made of Italian greenish-black marble that continued up the wall as wainscoting where it met a chrome rail. Within the chrome rail was hidden indirect lighting, which eliminated the need for tables and lamps, and which shone “iridescently.” (S 1976) Above the chrome rail was a velvet-textured fabric on the wall panels. Down the corridor was a black‐and‐white marble checkerboard floor that flanked a simple reception desk and elevator bank. This similar design continued to the upstairs corridors and rooms in typical modernism style. Down the corridor and up a few stairs was the Ambassador Grill and Restaurant. The combined structural and decorative columns in the hotel were four-sided and mirrored on all sides (the columns in Tower Two were eight-sided, Dean) The hotel’s rooms were not large except for the suites. Most of the suites are duplexes with spiral staircases and share the “shed” or “slant-back section of the curtain wall. As a result, the suites are the few parts of One UN Plaza that express the building's exterior into the rooms, besides the 27th‐floor canopied swimming pool, walled-in by glass and an expansive view of New York City and the East River. (See article for hotel information at Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza)

Two Un Plaza

Due to increased demand by the UN delegation after One UN Plaza was built, the combined office/hotel building needed another companion building due to the unanticipated commercial and financial success of Tower One. A few years after One was built, the long anticipated building, Two UN Plaza, was finished in 1983, just west of One. Though not a part of the original design, it was both commissioned by UNDC and designed by Roche-Dinkeloo as a 40-story “sister” building to One UN Plaza, “poured from the same mold.” (S, 2006) Andrea Dean stated it was “of a different design from the original plan but following the same formula as that of the [Tower One].” Both

buildings are 44 stories high with offices on the lower floors and residential space above; the new tower has 115 rental apartments plus five suites, while the hotel has 289 guest rooms. Two Un Plaza is situated perpendicular to 44th Street, and separated from One UN Plaza by thirty feet.

Tower Two's large chamfer on the southeast corner and its western setback, viewed from Tudor City (to the south).

There is a large chamfer seen on the southeast corner of the building, with a sloping setback, and blue-green glass wrapping 26-stories of office space and thirteen-stories of luxury apartments for UN delegation employees. A lobby and two bridges join the towers. Bridges are connecting both One and Two at the third and eleventh floors.

Planning

To harmonize with the surrounding buildings, Roche made use of similar sloping setbacks on the northern face, next to Uganda’s mission to the UN, and the western face. A deep chamfer is seen on the southeast corner of the tower. According to Dean, the building was planned to extend to 45th Street. Both towers have a tight, gridded facade “without window

expression” — the grids do not conform to respective floors. Both towers are linked at street level with a wrap-around, shed-style canopy or porte-cochere — which is made to look like a continuation of the curtain wall above. Thus, the porte-cochere gives cars protection from the elements,

East 44th Street hotel lobby entrance. Note sharp chamfer on southeast face of Tower Two, and shed-style canopy or porte-cochere providing shelter from rain.

providing a shelter at the street level with an overhead glass apron that appears to form a continuous glass curtain wall. Both towers have cants or chamfers to make the transition between the larger office floors and the smaller hotel or residential ones. Most striking is the sharp chamfer Roche put on the southeast face of Tower Two. By doing this, Roche gave views of the river and street instead of peering into neighboring offices or residential kitchens, since only 30 feet separates the two buildings. “It is these carefully calculated angles and shifts in elevational directions and dimension that create constantly changing sculptural relationships between the two buildings as you move around them and allow the shapes of the second to play off the first so as to enliven the forms of both structures.” A

Two UN Plaza view southeast from the northwest

Two (left) and One (right) UN Plaza view northeast, showing Two's western and southeastern setbacks.

Paul Goldberger: Quote

“One and Two Un Plaza transformed the vocabulary of Modernism into something more eccentric and picturesque, even sensual … arguably the best glass buildings in Manhattan since the Seagrams Building.” (Stein 2006)

The estimated cost initially was slated to be $50 million, through corporation bonds, and turned over to the city as was accomplished with One UN Plaza, for which over $1 million in rentals would be realized upon completion. It was estimated that an additional 350,000 square feet of total space would be realised with the new building, of which 225,000 would be for hotel use.

Only a minimal amount of resistance was met by the neighborhood, voicing complaints of blockage of sunlight. The unoccupied building that existed on the site just north of One UN Plaza, by the Bishop family, was litigated and obtained for use for the site. Once the Bishop family’s site was available and purchased, did the plans go forward for constructing Tower Two. One UN hotel’s original lobby was T-shaped, and was significantly smaller than the updated lobby which now incorporates part of the old lobby where it was located in 1 United Nations Plaza and the east elevators, and now joining the steps to the Ambassador Grill.

The two towers stand side by side on East 44th Street and are separated by exactly 30 feet to conform to New York’s building and zoning regulations, but are connected by a lobby walkthrough and skywalks at the 3rd and 11th floors between the office areas. Both towers are owned by the city and leased on a long-term basis to the UNDC. Two UN Plaza cost $69.5 million and was financed by a $75 million loan from Chemical Bank and refinanced with a “sale of $75 million in commercial paper.” It was expected to run 3 percent over the initial cost estimate as planned. New York City benefits as well. Although the nonprofit corporation pays no real-estate tax, a provision of the agreement signed by UNDC and New York City increases the city's share of the surplus as the surplus grows. The surplus amounted to $3.5 million in 1981 and $2.3 million in 1982. (Stein 2006)

Today's lobby joining both One and Two UN Plaza

“By skillfully relating two simple geometric shapes, each fairly mute in itself, Kevin Roche has hereforged a complex, eloquent work of art. Andrea Oppenheimer Dean, Executive Editor, Architecture, Journal of the AIA, May 1984,

Interior features First, and perhaps the most striking element of Two UN Plaza, is that the lobby is similar to Tower One, allowing for mirrored octagonal columns and skylights on the ceilings to bounce light in many directions. As Kevin Roche was put in charge of interior design for Tower One, he therefore echoed the same style of mirrors and alternating dark marble encompassing different geometric shapes. This produced what Stein referred to a “kaleidoscopic effect,” as light played off the columns and ceilings, which were similarly clad in geometrically-shaped mirrors and dark marble. However, Dean states that the visual devices Roche used in Tower One “are multiplied and exaggerated to the point of fragmenting space and create too rich a mix of shapes, materials, and illusions.” This is seen with the “the canopy-like, overhead glass trellises in the elegant Ambassador lounge, [with its] mirrored surfaces throughout alternating with chrome plus dot-like patterns of lights, checkerboard-and diamond-shaped flooring.” (Dean) Secondly, the luxury apartments on the top 13 floors have exceptional views of the UN Secretariat, the East River, and the Manhattan skyline. Both Towers One and Two offer quick access to the United Nations. At the time of the opening, Tower Two’s annual rents ranged from $34,000 for a 385-square-foot studio to $144,000 for a two-bedroom duplex.

The principal entry to both buildings has been moved from the original tower to the new tower on 44th Street, which connects via a hypostyle, ramped hall to the 1976 structure. New ground level public spaces consist, from left to right as you enter, of the apartment lobby, hotel reception area, the Wisteria Lounge across from the main entry, a formal seating area with windows overlooking the street and paralleling a ramped hall. There is a little Wisteria room, which borrowed the motifs from the wisteria trellis in Central Park with white lattice work. Dean states negatively that where Roche is more lavish, overcrowding small spaces, it becomes too busy for the eye. (D)

Just over the main lobby is a pyramidal-shaped square skylight, composed of multi-faceted clear glass and mirrors, gradually stepping upward in four layers or steps edged in chrome and small lights. A similar skylight with twice as many sides, facets, and steps occurs just a few feet away over the lobby’s front desk and registration area. On the lobby floors are numerous types of marble-veined green, black tiles, all patterned with square and diamond shapes. Walls are faced with mirror, clear glass, chrome, and marble, while overhead yellow and silver metals, reflective and plain glass, chamfered fixtures, sky- lights, and decorative incandescent light points are present. Dean stated negatively that Roche's effect was to lower perceived ceiling heights rather than raise them as Roche intended. And where columns in the original lobby were simple, four-sided and mirrored, those in the new lobby have eight alternating mirror and marble faces, and are banded in chrome and double-chamfered at the top to form capitals, single chamfered at the bottom to create bases. Roche made use of the old registration front desk within one side of his hypostyle or columned hall. At the end of the hypostyle-corridor is an eight-sided, faceted mirror which resembles a stop sign, with multiple reflections of a flower arrangement in front of it. The quieter lobby of the 1976 hotel is on one side of the hypostyle corridor.

Roche was interested in saving money, so chamfering and bevelling the new tower’s eight-sided columns with reflective materials with alternating marble and patterned colors and shapes were an alternative to the costly painted panels and fabrics and expensive elaborate moldings by traditional interior decorators. However, Dean suggests that “the careful proportions, simplicity, hierarchy of forms and shapes that are hallmarks of classicism are sorely missed here. And the sense of firm conviction about design so evident in the towers' exteriors seems somewhat shaken once one comes in from outdoors.”

Tower Two's staff members spoke 30 languages, and early on, staff members and guests complained about erratic heating and cooling systems that were resolved. Early complaints about Tower Two revolved around the impersonal nature of the building which did not deter occupants of the rental units. However, there are 1,000 pieces of delicately hand-crafted needlework obtained from thirty-seven countries world-wide that adorn the walls which help to convey a sense of warmth.

Yearly revenue surpluses from Tower 1 provided part of the financing needed to build Tower 2. In return, Tower 1 and Tower 2 yearly revenue stream enabled UNDC to construct the 15-story residential building across the street: UN PLaza 3. Tower ine and Two contain office space, meeting rooms, a hotel, restaurant, health club and apartments for a total area of 925,000 square feet. A single hotel lobby serves both towers and each office portion has a separate office entrance (see above "photo East 44th Street lobby entrance"). (UNDC)

upright=1.5Garden_at_the_United_Nations_Headquarters,_New_York_City_-_panoramio_-_Colin_W

Three Un Plaza

3 UN Plaza, or UNICEF Headquarters on 44th Street, New York City.

(M., Stern Robert A, et al. New York 2000: Architecture and Urbanism between the Bicentennial and the Millenium. Vol. 5, pgs 403-405, Monacelli Press, 2006.)

The UNDC commissioned Roche-Dinkeloo to construct Three UN Plaza in 1987, the last of the three major buildings in the UN Plaza complex of buildings. Kevin Roche now headed Roche-Dinkeloo, as John Dinkeloo had died in 1981. It was built to provide office space, a conference room and headquarters for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, or UNICEF. It was built on the south side of 44th Street, across the street from One and Two UN Plaza. It stands in out-and-out contrast to both One and Two, as well as both of its westerly neighbors, the Beaux-Arts Apartments. These neighbors are paired towers at 307 and 310 East 44th Street respectively, designed by Raymond Hood and Kenneth Murchison. Directly across the street on E. 44th Street are Towers one and Two and the hotel's lobby entrance.

Front entrance of 3 UN Plaza on the left, and One and Two UN Plaza hotel's lobby entrance on the right. Note overhanging port-cochere surrounding Towers 1 and 2.

Form and facade Three UN Plaza has a massive-appearing two-story stone base, which is lined by columns. On top of this is a thirteen-story-high facade that complements the Beaux-Arts Apartments. On top of that are two stories within its mansard roof. Within both floors under the mansard roof, the 14th and 15th, are twenty-nine UN apartments. The facade consists of striped granite slabs horizontally-placed, which alternated with light and dark granite (bands of pink and green granite) with windows of the same green reflective glass used for the Towers I and II. (https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/united-nations-plaza-unicef-headquarters-office-and-residences_o)

Three UN Plaza's northern, front entrance.

The granite slabs were cut to varying thicknesses in order to complement the alternating bands of brick-and-glass on the Beaux-Arts Apartments. Three UN Plaza is separated from the Beaux-Arts via a one-hundred-foot-wide courtyard which is lined with columns. The courtyard is entered beneath a skylight-capped double colonnade. Roche ensured that people would not mistake this building for another architect by framing the windows and cladding the roof with a pale greenish-blue metal to complement One and Two UN Plaza across the street. A twenty-foot high colonnade runs the full length of the site and knits the park and base of the building together. Tables, chairs, benches, trees, a stone wall and waterfall provide a quiet, relaxing atmosphere in Midtown Manhattan.

Goldberger had stated that Roche was now reverting to basic architecture, or backwards-architecting, in that his use of metal and glass on Towers I and II. Roche countered by saying that new developments in granite and stone had made it possible to consider that the cost was lower than metal and glass and was merely adapting to the times. (https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/united-nations-plaza-unicef-headquarters-office-and-residences_o)

The property includes approximately 205,000 square feet of office space, with an adjacent public plaza of approximately 5,000 square feet. Three UN Plaza is leased exclusively to UNICEF as its world headquarters. (https://www.krjda.com/projects/unicef-headquarters)