Trump World Tower

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The Trump World Tower was built 1999-2001 to the East River waterfront as the world's tallest residential tower (it lost it's title). The building replaced the Modernist, 20-storey Engineering Societies Center (1961, Shreve, Lamb & Harmon) which had its tower offset from the base, leading to its perimeter wall columns doubling as pilotis on the south side.

The developer Donald Trump made a financing deal in which the South Korean Daewoo corporation provided $58.5 million against Trump's $6.5 million to get a $295 million loan from a German bank. As the earnings come in, Trump can expect to gain 50 percent of all profits above their investment.

The 262.5 m tall building has 72 high-ceilinged floors wrapped within facades of dark, bronze-tinted glass. Facing the river, the longer side of the slab unusually straddles the short front of the street block, at 44 meters making the east-west elevation staggeringly six times taller than its width.

The building has a concrete frame that was built exceptionally fast utilizing methods and equipment that allowed the two-day rotation of floor forming. The frame also forms the wind bracing in the form of shear walls and perimeter support bands.

There are a total of 374 luxury apartments featuring floor-to-ceiling windows, marble bathroom decor and maple floors. The top houses a duplex penthouse of 1,860 m² with 6-meter ceilings. The facilities within the 83,400 m² building include a first-class restaurant, health club and a swimming pool.

The immense height of the building was made possible by the acquisition of air rights from the nearby plot owners. The resulting design led to intense campaigning against the tall building, as it was seen to block views from other residential towers in the area, as well as violating the ruling of new high-rises not exceeding the height of the nearby United Nations Secretariat. Despite the opposition, the building was topped out on August 3, 2000 and completed the next year according to the original design. The controversy was, however, a catalyst for the (eventually ill-fated) Unified Bulk Program Zoning Amendment that was aimed at reducing the height of new construction in the city.

2 years ago