The votes are in! After an a day of confusion about exactly where we should be expending our precious heightened awareness of impending terrorist attack, it turns out that the selfless workers at the Citicorp Tower (we’ll be all retro here, since they don’t even own it anymore) on Lex and 53rd (officially 153 East 53rd) — you know, the ski slope building — are those under imminent threat. This courtesy the Times, which is partly to blame, since they ran a photo of 399 Park Avenue, which is the corporate HQ.
This isn’t the first time the Citicorp building was in dire straits. Due to an unauthorized construction modification (bolting structural joints instead of welding), the building was potenially vunerable to toppling over in a strong wind (if you’ve spent much time downtown in the colder months, you know that 70mph actually isn’t that beyond the pale).
More fun facts about your neighborhood symbol of Dread Westernism: architect Hugh Stubbins initially proposed that solar cells be mounted on the slope, in hopes of offsetting the energy consumption of a 59-story tower. This is what is known as a symbolic gesture. That went by the wayside quickly, though they didn’t square up the roof, which subsequently became a maintenance hazard (all that snow and ice running down a 45-degree slope? Problematic).
But we should all just chill. Just as the possibility of it collapsing was hidden from the public for decades, it turns out the terrorist threat has been around for some time as well. Hey, it’s not like their slogan is ‘Live Safely‘.
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We have a winner!
The votes are in! After an a day of confusion about exactly where we should be expending our precious heightened awareness of impending terrorist attack, it turns out that the selfless workers at the Citicorp Tower (we’ll be all retro here, since they don’t even own it anymore) on Lex and 53rd (officially 153 East 53rd) — you know, the ski slope building — are those under imminent threat. This courtesy the Times, which is partly to blame, since they ran a photo of 399 Park Avenue, which is the corporate HQ.
This isn’t the first time the Citicorp building was in dire straits. Due to an unauthorized construction modification (bolting structural joints instead of welding), the building was potenially vunerable to toppling over in a strong wind (if you’ve spent much time downtown in the colder months, you know that 70mph actually isn’t that beyond the pale).
More fun facts about your neighborhood symbol of Dread Westernism: architect Hugh Stubbins initially proposed that solar cells be mounted on the slope, in hopes of offsetting the energy consumption of a 59-story tower. This is what is known as a symbolic gesture. That went by the wayside quickly, though they didn’t square up the roof, which subsequently became a maintenance hazard (all that snow and ice running down a 45-degree slope? Problematic).
But we should all just chill. Just as the possibility of it collapsing was hidden from the public for decades, it turns out the terrorist threat has been around for some time as well. Hey, it’s not like their slogan is ‘Live Safely‘.