Midtown, 57th Street Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

We cannot leave this block without a photo of the great Carnegie Hall. I'm not a big fan of its architecture, but inside it has such warmth and such a feeling of authenticity and history, that I'm very happy it was saved from demolition in 1960.

Last night I was talking about The Metropolitan Tower; as luck would have it, I had a doctor's appointment on East 57th Street today and afterwards walked back to the West Side via that block, this time knowing what I was looking for.

I wanted to see how the Tower was constructed – a knife-edged triangle on top of a rectangle sounded kind of clunky. But this is how it is: the triangle starts out with just one side against the west side of the rectangle smack up against The Russian Tearoom. Then as it reaches the top of the rectangle, it opens up and overlaps it and rises straight up. And there's another section toward the back which I can't explain. It's very beautiful. If you want to go see for yourself, just stand in front of the building and hold on to a sign post and lean way out and look up.

OH, and I asked some workers about the building under construction I was talking about Monday night. They said it was a Hilton Hotel building but was going to be condominiums.

See map.