When I was a kid, I remember being completely fascinated by skyscrapers for a while. Every time that I caught a glimpse of the New York City skyline, it was a source of endless fascination. Of course back then, there were maybe four skyscrapers that dominated the skyline: the Twin Towers (or World Trade Center), which counted as two skyscrapers, the Empire State Building, and the Chrysler Building. Each had their own style. The Twin Towers were not particularly attractive or innovative, but there were two of them, and they were incredibly tall. The Empire State Building most certainly had it's own style, and the architecture reflected a bygone era of skyscrapers that were not merely shiny glass and steel. And the Chrysler Building was, arguably, the most attractive of all, with an elegant spire adorned with modern gargoyles and triangular windows across a rounded, layered top.
Also, there were other distinctive buildings that stood out. The Citicorp Building, with it's distinctive slanted roof, for example. Also, the Pan Am Building, and perhaps some others, the names of which are not immediately coming to mind.
In short, the skyline was attractive. Also, it was world famous. There was an impression that this was (or recently had been) unique the world over, and that many people around the world would dream of simply catching a glance at such a view.
That was then, this is now. Already, other cities at the time were beginning to catch up. Chicago, for example. To some extent Toronto. Tokyo, nearly on the other side of the globe. Hong Kong, perhaps. But since then, a whole bunch of cities seem to have focused on building up their skyline, so that astonishing, vertical landscapes have become much more of the norm, and thus much less unique. Some cities like this are Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Mecca, numerous other Japanese cities other than Tokyo, a number of major Chinese cities, and even cities in India. Hell, there are probably some other cities that I am forgetting about, at that.
Moreover, the New York skyline itself looks entirely different. For a little while after September 11th, there was a halt on new construction of skyscrapers in the city. Presumably, this was for security purposes. But now, that is ended, and there are a whole crop of new skyscrapers prickling the skyline. Some of them are not bad, but some of them are, in my opinion, atrocious, offering very limited aesthetic interest, and even less practical interest.
One such building is the Steinway Tower. This is the tallest residential skyscraper in the world, at least for the moment. Of course, since these days, it seems like the title for "world's tallest skyscraper" gets replaced every couple of years or so, it might hold the title for only a short while, before some other city, likely in some other part of the world, decides to obtain the title for itself. The Steinway Tower is the third tallest building in Manhattan at 1,428 feet, behind only by the Freedom Tower at One World Trade Center (1,776 feet) and Central Park Tower (1,550 feet). Each of those three buildings have been completed in recent years, and none of them have anything resembling the grace or beauty that the old skyscrapers did. The Freedom Tower is the most impressive, both in size and in beauty, of the lot. Yet generally, it is regarded as a disappointment by many, who expected it to match the original designs a bit more closely.
However, it is nowhere near as ugly or devoid of character as the Steinway Tower, which feels like it was built without any thought to style or beauty or even convenience. It was the cheapest very tall tower that money could buy, to attract the privileged few to live there. There are sixty apartments, and not surprisingly, they sell for many millions each. As if Manhattan needed more exclusivity for rich elites, as if it did not have enough of that already. Nonetheless, this building was erected in Manhattan, and it is just awful, virtually ruining the landscape. The Steinway Tower is basically shaped almost like a toothpick. It has no beauty, no grace. It is just a tall, glass and steel tower, with no obvious interest to anyone, other than the rich elites who seem to want to flock to it for the views that it gives of the city. Unfortunately for the rest of us, this tower is a blight on the skyline, and actually detracts from our overall view of the city. It feels like this building is symbolic of a new strand of such buildings which, far from making the New York skyline more impressive, make it feel instead just messy and lacking in grace or dignity. As the Rolling Stones once sang in their song "Shattered" about New York City, "pile it up, pile it high on a platter." Those words are much truer now than when Mick Jagger first sang them.
Where once the Manhattan skyline reflected some history and impressive views of towering buildings betraying New York's traditional economic might, the view now feels cheapened and somehow less impressive, despite having obviously grown taller overall. There are new skyscrapers that, frankly, detract from the view. When I look out on the skyline today, it frankly depresses me. The Empire State Building itself looks impossibly obscured, and you really have to search for a glimpse of the Chrysler Building. More and more, the buildings that seem to dominate, at least from the Jersey side, are depressing and lack the distinctive character of the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building. Not all change is for the better, that's for sure.
What's worse, to me, is that many people seem to go along with it. I heard one newscaster describe the views of the Steinway Building as "beautiful," and the article below describes it at times as almost admirable, although the author, Jane Recker, also mentions some of the less savory things that people are saying about it, including some of the safety concerns that people have for it.
It seems to me that this building, and the others quickly built just like it, are a blight on the Manhattan skyline. Nowadays, far from looking longingly at the mighty New York skyline in admiration, I find myself saddened, and longing for what used to be. Such is life, I guess.
The World’s Skinniest Skyscraper Has a Storied Musical Past by Jane Recker, April 14, 2022:
At 1,428 feet tall and just 60 feet wide, Steinway Tower is so slender that its top floors sway in the wind
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-worlds-skinniest-skyscraper-has-storied-musical-past-manhattan-steinway-tower-180979909/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=socialmedia&fbclid=IwAR2wtH5bcaqUgmm4Dpe55zcKrPEab76-MbJZC9ZgOmW0BD8I1OMHcmPxTGo
Fairly Recent Pictures of the New York City Skyline, as seen in 2018 and 2020. Where once it was second in dominance only to the Empire State Building for central Manhattan, the stately Chrysler Building now is mostly entirely obscured by the new crop of quickly built skyscrapers:
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