Top 10 Balconies
Balconies are great for developers because they are not included in zoning calculations of what can be built and most residents consider them an important amenity for their sunbathing and gardening needs as well as communal esprit de corps: eyes on the street as Jane Jacobs, the famous urban planner who thought streets were more important than buildings, might have said. Some of the Top 10 balconies in New York City apartment buildings, of course, are frilly affairs where the Stellas of the world can hear their name yelled out from the gutter. Glass balconies are not for vertigo-prone denizens, of course, but balconies that have been enclosed fully in glass have ruined the architectural purity of those that were built open. Whereforth are the romantic balconies of yore, you might ask. Try the ship’s prow corner balconies at 100 United Nations Plaza, or the angled protrusions at The Future at 200 East 32nd Street.
#1 - 45 East 89th Street
While its soaring height looms over Madison Avenue and the Carnegie Hill neighborhood, the building, designed by Oppenheimer, Brady & Lehrecke, is distinguished by its full-walled balconies, which offer considerable comfort for the vertigo-afflicted, and its handsome masonry.
#2 - Laureate, 2150 Broadway
This 18-story apartment building, designed by SLCE and built in 2010, is notable for its very ornate and frilly balconies, which are sadly rare in the city. and rounded corner.
#3 - The Future, 200 East 32nd Street
This 35-story tower was designed by Costas Kondylis with Paul Rudolph as a design consultant and is notable for its rakishly angled balconies.
#4 - 100 United Nations Plaza
Designed by Der Scutt and Schuman Lichtenstein Claman & Efron, this 52-story tower with a steeply pitched top has serrated edges created by its rakishly angled balconies.
#5 - 167 East 61st Street
Designed by Philip Birnbaum, the tree wings of this tower have brass-topped balconies that are very handsome.
#6 - The Alexandria, 201 West 72nd Street
Designed by Frank Williams & Associates and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, this 25-story apartment building has very attractive and ornate balconies in its base on alternate floors.
#7 - The Greenwich Street Project, 497 Greenwich Street
This 23-unit apartment building was designed by Winka Dubbledam of Archi-Tectonics and sports six small protruding white parapets that serve as a "crease" and conjure hooks, or a zipper, or an oceanliner lookout.
#8 - 165 Charles Street
Most balconies protrude from their buildings, but here architect Richard Meier indented them very successfully to not interfere with the clean, modern lines of the building.
#9 - Manhattan House, 200 East 66th Street
One of the most influential post-war buildings in the city, this full-block, 21-story, 1950 project has five projecting bays, each with two balconies that give the "white-brick" building considerable rhythm.
#10 - Park Regis, 50 East 89th Street
This 33-story, mid-block building designed by Richard Roth Jr., for developer Peter Sharp is one of the most handsome in Carnegie Hill in large part because of its alternating balconies.
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