Bush Tower

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The Bush Tower, also called the Bush Terminal International Exhibit Building, was built in 1916-18 for the Bush Terminal Company, owners of the Bush Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. It is located on West 42nd Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

The building has 29 storys. At 146 meters, a set-back top houses the top floor with its high arched windows for personal offices as well as the water tower.

The building was acquired in the 1980s by its present owners, by the Lebanese Dalloul family.

1 Sister building
2 Interior
3 Style
4 Building site
5 Bush Tower Gallery
6 See also

[edit] Sister building

In 2002, plans for a sister building immediately to the west were publicized. In a design by Gruzen Samton, a 23-story glass tower would be separated by a 15 cm gap—necessitated by the earthquake codes—bridged over on every floor to double the original building's space. In October 2006, it was announced that the annex property was being sold to Dubai-based developer Istithmar, which also owns the adjacent 6 Times Square (formerly the Knickerbocker Hotel). Isithmar's plans to build a hotel/condominium building presumably signals an end for the office tower scheme, which had been developed through architectural working drawings.

[edit] Interior

The Bush Tower is an office building. The interior decor features extensive oak panelling, oriental carpets and antique furniture.

[edit] Style

The style of the building follows the "traditional" early skyscraper style with its Anglo-Gothic appearance. On the facades, trompe l'oeil brickwork creates vertical "ribs" with a fake "shade" pattern to enhance the verticality. The windows are concentrated to the north and south facades, as well as to a recessed mid-facade lightwell on the east facade.

[edit] Building site

The building has a footprint only 15 m wide and 27.5 m deep, the architects remarking that they wanted to make the building "a model for the tall, narrow building in the center of a city block." It was regarded as such for the next decade of feverish urban construction.