Olympic Tower facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Olympic Tower |
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| General information | |
| Location | 645 5th Avenue New York City, New York |
| Coordinates | 40°45′33″N 73°58′34″W / 40.7592°N 73.9760°W |
| Construction started | 1972 |
| Completed | 1976 |
| Owner | Oxford Properties |
| Management | Oxford Properties |
| Height | |
| Roof | 620 ft (190 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 51 |
| Floor area | 92,900 m2 (1,000,000 sq ft) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill |
The Olympic Tower is a tall, 51-story building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. You can find it on Fifth Avenue, between East 51st and 52nd streets. It was built in 1976 on the spot where a store called Best & Company used to be.
This impressive building has 225 apartments, called condominiums. It also has a lot of space for offices and shops, over 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2)! The Olympic Tower is very close to St. Patrick's Cathedral. This means people in the tower get great views of the cathedral and Fifth Avenue. When it was first built, it quickly became a very popular place for famous and wealthy people to live and work.
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History of the Olympic Tower
The Olympic Tower was built by a shipping leader named Aristotle Onassis. His company, Victory Development, worked together with Arlen Realty & Development Corporation to create it.
In 2015, a company called Oxford Properties became the main owner of the building. They now manage the Olympic Tower.
Design and Look of the Tower
The Olympic Tower was designed by a famous group of architects called Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. This firm also designed other well-known skyscrapers like the Willis Tower and the John Hancock Center in Chicago.
A writer for the New York Times, Paul Goldberger, once said the building's design was "oppressively banal." This means he thought it was a bit plain or boring.
The Olympic Tower was special because it was the first building on Fifth Avenue to be used for many different things. It has 21 floors for offices, 30 floors for apartments, and fancy shops on the ground floor. This mix of uses was quite new for the area.
Who Uses the Building?
Many important companies and people have offices or homes in the Olympic Tower.
Since 1998, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has had its main offices here. They use many floors, from the 11th to the 20th. Another big company, Richemont, which owns many luxury brands, also has its North American headquarters in the tower. They have offices on floors three through nine.
Other companies with offices include MSD Capital, an investment firm. The shops on Fifth Avenue are home to luxury brands like Richemont, H.Stern, Armani Exchange, Longchamp, Furla, and Jimmy Choo.
The apartments in the Olympic Tower were some of the most luxurious in the world when it was finished. A very rich person from the 1980s, Adnan Khashoggi, even had a swimming pool put into his two-story apartment!
Other famous people who lived there include Ron Field, a choreographer and director who worked on Broadway shows like Cabaret and Applause. Actress Anne Hathaway also lived there with her partner Raffaello Follieri, who later faced legal issues related to real estate. Alessandra and Allegra Gucci, who are the daughters of Maurizio Gucci, owned a penthouse in the building.
Images for kids
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Atrium interior
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Seen in the background with St. Patrick's Cathedral at right
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Seen from the base
See also
In Spanish: Olympic Tower para niños
