Top 10 tallest buildings in New York City
Top 10 tallest buildings in New York City

Skyscrapers have long been one of mankind’s most prolific triumphs to society.

There are over 6,400 high-rise buildings in New York.

Though other boroughs have some high-rise buildings (like the Hub in Downtown Brooklyn or YIMBY in Queens), Manhattan has constructed some of the world’s tallest buildings since 1890.

The majority are located in Midtown and Lower Manhattan due to the area’s solid surface bedrock and its ability to provide the structural integrity for these buildings.

Most of the tallest buildings include business, residential and commercial centers. Here is the top ten list of the tallest buildings in the country’s most populated city.

The list of top 10 tallest buildings in New York

10. 9 Dekalb

9. 3 World Trade Center

8. Bank of America Tower

7. Empire State Building

6. 30 Hudson Yards

5. 432 Park Avenue

4. One Vanderbilt

3. 111 West 57th Street

2. Central Park Tower

1. One World Trade Center

What are the tallest buildings in New York?

10. 9 Dekalb

Photo: Dezeen
Photo: Dezeen

9 DeKalb Avenue (originally referred to as 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension) is an under-construction supertall mixed-use (primarily residential) skyscraper in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City by Michael Stern's JDS Development Group. When completed it will become the tallest structure in New York City outside Manhattan, as well as the first supertall building in Brooklyn.

The structure will be in Downtown Brooklyn and within several blocks of the former tallest buildings in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Point and 11 Hoyt. Both were surpassed by 9 DeKalb Avenue in July 2021 when its height reached 721 feet. The building is adjacent to other tall mixed-use developments, such as the three towers of City Point.

9 DeKalb Avenue's tower is clad in stone, bronze, and stainless steel. The designer, SHoP Architects, has stated that the firm took inspiration from the design of the Dime Savings Bank Building, with the building's vertical features mirroring the bank's columns. Gregg Pasquarelli, a principal at SHoP, has referred to the design as both "badass" and "quite elegant".

9. 3 World Trade Center

Photo: Curbed NY
Photo: Curbed NY

Designed by Pritzker-prize winning architect Richard Rogers and his firm Rogers Stirk Harbor + Partners, 3 World Trade Center enlivens and seamlessly integrates into Downtown’s streetscape, with a major concentration of retail – both at the street-level and in underground pedestrian concourses that lead directly to 12 subway lines and the PATH trains.

In June 2018, developer Silverstein Properties completed financing and construction of 3 World Trade Center at 175 Greenwich Street. In August 2019, the developer unveiled the largest office terrace in the city. With notable tenants such as Uber and GroupM, the tower is home to 15 industry-leading companies and employs over 13,000 office workers.

3 World Trade Center is a model of transparency and sustainability. The tower consists of a reinforced concrete core with steel structure outside the core, and is clad in an external structural steel frame. The building features floor-to-ceiling glass, and all four corners and each floor plate of the tower are column-free to create an open workspace environment—key for attracting cutting-edge companies in brainpower-driven businesses like technology, advertising and branding, as well as law and financial service firms. 3 World Trade Center is a LEED-certified Gold office tower.

8. Bank of America Tower

Photo: Skyscraper Centre
Photo: Skyscraper Centre

The Bank of America Tower, also known as 1 Bryant Park, is a 55-story skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is located at 1111 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) between 42nd and 43rd Streets, diagonally opposite Bryant Park. The building was designed by Cookfox and Adamson Associates, and it was developed by the Durst Organization for Bank of America. With a height of 1,200 feet (370 m), the Bank of America Tower is the eighth tallest building in New York City and the tenth tallest building in the United States as of 2021.

The Bank of America Tower has 2.1 million square feet (200,000 m2) of office space, much of which is occupied by Bank of America. The building consists of a seven-story base that occupies the entire plot, above which rises the tower. Its facade is largely composed of a curtain wall made of insulated glass panels. The building's base incorporates the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, a New York City designated landmark, as well as several retail spaces and a pedestrian atrium. The Bank of America Tower received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum green building certification upon its opening. However, because of its high energy use, the building has scored a "C" on a citywide energy-efficiency ranking system.

Top 10 Tallest Buildings In The World Today Top 10 Tallest Buildings In The World Today

To learn more about the list of top 10 tallest and most beautiful buildings in the world, keep reading the article below.

7. Empire State Building

Photo: Wikipedia
Photo: Wikipedia

Empire State Building, steel-framed skyscraper rising 102 stories that was completed in New York City in 1931 and was the tallest building in the world until 1971. The Empire State Building is located in Midtown Manhattan, on Fifth Avenue at 34th Street. It remains one of the most distinctive and famous buildings in the United States and is one of the best examples of Modernist Art Deco design.

At the time of its construction, there was fierce competition to win the title of tallest building in the world. The Chrysler Building claimed the title in 1929, and the Empire State Building seized it in 1931, its height being 1,250 feet (381 metres) courtesy of its iconic spire, which was originally intended to serve as a mooring station for airships. A 222-foot (68-metre) antenna was added in 1950, increasing the building’s total height to 1,472 feet (449 metres), but the height was reduced to 1,454 feet (443 metres) in 1985 when the antenna was replaced. (By that time One World Trade Center, officially opened in 1972, had become the tallest building in the world.)

6. 30 Hudson Yards

Photo: KPF
Photo: KPF

30 Hudson Yards (also the North Tower) is a super-tall skyscraper in the West Side area of Manhattan. Located near Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, and the Penn Station area, the building is part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, a plan to redevelop the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's West Side Yard. It is the sixth-tallest building in New York City.

The building has a triangular observation deck jutting out from the 100th floor, with a bar and event space on the 101st floor. This observation deck, at 1,100 feet, opened in March 2020 and is the second highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere, after Toronto's CN Tower Outdoor SkyTerrace (342m or 1,122 feet). (New York’s One World Trade Center has an observation deck on floors 100-102, at 1,268 feet and Chicago's Willis Tower has an observation deck on its 103rd floor, at 1,354 feet; however, they are both enclosed.) It offers new skyline views to the south and east of Manhattan, the surrounding boroughs, and New Jersey.

5. 432 Park Avenue

Photo: Wikipedia
Photo: Wikipedia

432 Park Avenue is a residential skyscraper at 57th Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, overlooking Central Park. The 1,396-foot-tall (425.5 m) tower was developed by CIM Group and Harry B. Macklowe and designed by Rafael Viñoly. A part of Billionaires' Row, 432 Park Avenue has some of the most expensive residences in the city, with the median unit selling for tens of millions of dollars. At the time of its completion, 432 Park Avenue was the third-tallest building in the United States and the tallest residential building in the world. As of 2020, it is the sixth-tallest building in the United States, the fifth-tallest building in New York City, and the third-tallest residential building in the world.

432 Park Avenue has 85 stories above ground: a mezzanine and 84 numbered stories. The tower's exterior is a lattice of poured-in-place concrete made from white Portland cement. The tower is segmented into 12-story blocks separated by open double-story mechanical spaces that allow wind gusts to pass through the building. It features 125 condominiums and amenities such as a private restaurant for residents. The skyscraper has received mixed reviews from both professionals and the public, with commentary about both its slenderness and its symbolism as a residence for the ultra-wealthy.

4. One Vanderbilt

Photo: Bloomberg
Photo: Bloomberg

The tallest office tower in Midtown, One Vanderbilt connects directly to the city’s transportation network, blending private enterprise and the public realm.

Along with the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building, One Vanderbilt is one of three landmarks that define Manhattan’s skyline. The project transforms the civic experience of the Grand Central District, introducing cutting-edge office space and new accessible pathways to one of the city’s largest transportation hubs.

The base of the building joins the spatial sequence of Grand Central and forms a doorstep to the city, greeting thousands of commuters daily. An integrated complex of below-grade conditions offers connections to the terminal and an active, 14,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza on Vanderbilt Avenue. By 2022, the tower will fully support the new plan for East Side Access, which extends Long Island Railroad (LIRR) service to Grand Central.

Formally, the building’s massing comprises four interlocking and tapering volumes that spiral toward the sky, an elegant shape in sympathetic proportion to the nearby Chrysler Building. At the base, a series of angled cuts organizes a visual procession to Grand Central, revealing the Vanderbilt corner of the terminal’s magnificent cornice: a view that has been obstructed for nearly a century.

3. 111 West 57th Street

Photo: Hugh Ferriss
Photo: Hugh Ferriss

111 West 57th Street, also known as Steinway Tower, is a supertall residential skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Developed by JDS Development Group and Property Markets Group, it is situated along Billionaires' Row on the north side of 57th Street near Sixth Avenue. The main portion of the skyscraper is an 84-story, 1,428-foot (435-meter) tower designed by SHoP Architects and erected in the 2010s. Preserved at the skyscraper's base is the 16-story Steinway Building (also Steinway Hall), a former Steinway & Sons store designed in the 1920s by Warren and Wetmore, which originally carried the address 111 West 57th Street.

111 West 57th Street has 60 luxury condominiums: 14 in Steinway Hall and 46 in the tower. The residential tower has a glass facade with piers made of terracotta and contains a pinnacle with setbacks on the southern side. When completed, the tower will be one of the tallest buildings in the United States, as well as the thinnest skyscraper in the world with a width-to-height ratio of about 1:24. Steinway Hall, a New York City designated landmark, contains a facade made mostly of brick, limestone, and terracotta; it was restored as part of the residential development. 111 West 57th Street contains numerous resident amenities, housed mostly in the building's base, as well as a large rotunda within Steinway Hall that is also a designated city landmark.

2. Central Park Tower

Photo: Dezeen
Photo: Dezeen

Central Park Tower, also known as the Nordstrom Tower, is a residential supertall skyscraper at 225 West 57th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, along Billionaires' Row. Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the building rises 1,550 feet (472 m) with 98 above-ground stories and three basement stories, although the top story is numbered 136. Central Park Tower is the second-tallest skyscraper in the United States and the Western Hemisphere, the 14th tallest building in the world, the tallest residential building in the world, and the tallest building outside Asia by roof height.

Central Park Tower was developed by Extell Development Company and Shanghai Municipal Investment Group. The basement and first five above-ground stories contain a large Nordstrom store, which opened in 2019 and is the first in New York City. The eastern portion of the tower contains a cantilever above the Art Students League of New York's building at 215 West 57th Street, intended to maximize views of nearby Central Park. The residential portion of the tower contains 179 condominiums, spanning on average 5,000 sq ft (460 m2), with interiors designed by Rottet Studio. There are also amenities spaces on floors 14 through 16 as well as a private club on floor 100.

1. One World Trade Center

Photo: Wikidata
Photo: Wikidata

Standing as a shining beacon for the new Downtown, and a bold addition to the skyline, One World Trade Center is safe, sustainable, and artistically dynamic. Soaring to a symbolic 1,776 feet — it is the Western Hemisphere’s tallest building, and already an iconic New York landmark.

With entrances on all 4 sides of the building, One WTC has been designed to smoothly integrate traffic of visitors & office tenants. The cubic base has a footprint identical to the original Twin Towers. The surface of the base is clad in more than 2,000 pieces of shimmering prismatic glass. The tower ascends 69 stories — its edges chamfered back to form 8 isosceles triangles, a perfect octagon at center. It culminates in a square, glass parapet at the crown, its crystalline form creating a vibrant effect, as light refracts like a kaleidoscope, changing throughout the day. The “One World Observatory” — opening 2015 — is an enclosed observation deck rising 1,250 ft. above street level. The crown of One WTC is a 408-foot spire — consisting of a mast and a communication platform ring. At night, a beacon at the top sends out a horizontal light beam, which can be seen from miles away.

Top 10 Weirdest Creatures That Have Washed Ashore Top 10 Weirdest Creatures That Have Washed Ashore

The ocean is as mysterious as it is deep. And in the bottom reaches of its waters lurk some strange, sometimes frightening, and ultimately fascinating ...

Top 10 Most Expensive Buildings In The World Top 10 Most Expensive Buildings In The World

Buildings are not just for use, they can be extremely costly to build alone. Here are top 10 most expensive buildings in the world.

10 Famous Abandoned Buildings In The World 10 Famous Abandoned Buildings In The World

Abandoned places have their own stories, and a glorious, important part, before left to rotten. Here is top 10 most famous abandoned buildings in the ...

Top 10 Oldest Buildings In The World - The First Buildings Top 10 Oldest Buildings In The World - The First Buildings

Keep reading the detailed article below for the list of top 10 oldest buildings in the world - The First Buildings.