Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A city of towers.
An introduction to Midtown Manhattan around Grand Central, where One Vanderbilt joins a skyline of famous towers.
On this page
Read the city from the terminal
One Vanderbilt rises beside Grand Central Terminal, and its lobby connects to the terminal and the subway below. From the street, the tower’s glass faces step back as they climb above 42nd Street.
A city guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how towers frame the streets, how older landmarks sit beside newer ones and how a park such as Bryant Park opens up between them.
Glass, steel and mirrors
At the top of One Vanderbilt, SUMMIT uses glass and mirrors to change how the city looks: walls that reflect the sky, floors that reflect the streets below and ledges that seem to hang in the air.
Begin with a detail and ask how it was made and maintained. A photograph alone cannot tell you who designed a façade or fitted a glass floor, or the conditions in which they worked.
A SUMMIT chapter
SUMMIT shows one of the newest views of Midtown: a 21st-century tower looking across at the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings from the early 20th century.
Look at the meeting of the two: the stepped crowns of the older towers and the clean glass of the newer ones.
Make room for context
Pair this city reading with the tower’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places or represents their designers.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
