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Lever House

Civic, Commercial and Institutional Buildings

Lever House is a 307 foot tall office building at 390 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, constructed from 1950 to 1952 and designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in the International Style. It was originally the headquarters of the soap company Lever Brothers, a subsidiary of Unilever, and it was the second high rise in New York City to have a glass curtain wall, after the United Nations Secretariat Building.

Facts
Year Created
1952 1
Construction completed 29 April 1952; designated a New York City Landmark in 1982
Location
390 Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, United States 1
Architectural Style
International Style 1
Structural System
Steel cellular beams with reinforced concrete floor plates and transverse wind bracing 1
Primary Material
Glass and stainless steel curtain wall over a steel skeleton with reinforced concrete floor plates 1
Building Type
Office building 1
Commissioned By
Lever Brothers Company (a Unilever subsidiary) 1
Construction
from 1950 1
Height (metres)
94 1
Storey Count
21 1
21 usable office stories plus a triple-height mechanical penthouse
Current Use
Multi-tenant office building with a ground-floor restaurant and art gallery 1
Visitor Access
Ground-floor plaza is a privately owned public space; the building features public art installations 1
Classification
Genre
Architecture 1
Connections

In Form

International Style curtain-wall skyscraper.

In Movement

Iconic International Style curtain-wall skyscraper (Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, 1952).

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Lever House (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Infobox, architectural style field
  • Infobox, building type field
  • Infobox, location field
  • Facade section
    Above the ground floor, all elevations of the facade contain a curtain wall with heat-absorbing glass panes and stainless steel.
  • Infobox, structural system field
  • Infobox, floor count field
  • General information section
    Constructed from 1950 to 1952
  • Infobox, current use field
  • Infobox, client field
  • Infobox, visitor access field
  • Genre reference
    Lever House is a 307 foot tall office building at 390 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, constructed from 1950 to 1952 and designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in the International Style.
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