8 Spruce Street

8 Spruce Street, previously known as the Beekman Tower and New York by Gehry,[4] is a 76-story skyscraper designed by architect Frank Gehry at 8 Spruce Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City.

This article is about the Lower Manhattan tower formerly called "Beekman Tower". For the Midtown Manhattan tower at Beekman Place, see Beekman Tower.
8 Spruce Street
(New York by Gehry)
General information
StatusComplete
TypeMixed-use
Architectural styleDeconstructivism
Address8 Spruce Street
Manhattan, New York City 10038
Coordinates
Construction started2006
Completed2010
OpeningFebruary 2011
OwnerForest City Ratner
ManagementFirst Service Residential
Height
Roof870 ft (265 m)[1][2][3]
Top floor827 ft (252 m)
Technical details
Floor count76
Floor area1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2)
Design and construction
ArchitectFrank Gehry
DeveloperForest City Ratner
Structural engineerWSP Cantor Seinuk
Main contractorKreisler Borg Florman
Website
Official website

8 Spruce Street is one of the tallest residential towers in the world, and it was the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere at the time of opening in February 2011.[5] The building was developed by Forest City Ratner, designed by Frank Gehry Architects and WSP Cantor Seinuk Structural Engineers, and constructed by Kreisler Borg Florman. It contains a public elementary school owned by the Department of Education.[6] Above that and grade-level retail, the tower contains only residential rental units. The skyscraper's structural frame is made of reinforced concrete, and form-wise it falls within the architectural style of Deconstructivism along with Aqua, a skyscraper in Chicago begun after but completed before 8 Spruce.

Location

8 Spruce Street is located between William and Nassau Streets, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, just east of City Hall Park and south of Pace University and the Brooklyn Bridge. Immediately to the west are 150 Nassau Street and the Morse Building (140 Nassau Street).[7] Prior to 8 Spruce Street's construction, the lot was used as parking for the NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital immediately to the east.[8]

Design and usage
As seen from Gold Street

School

The school is sheathed in reddish-tan brick, and covers 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of the first five floors of the building.[6] It hosts over 600 students enrolled in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade classes. A fourth floor roof deck holds 5,000 square feet (460 m2) of outdoor play space.[5][9]

Apartments

Above the elementary school is a 904-unit[10] luxury residential tower clad in stainless steel. The apartments range from 500 square feet (46 m2) to 1,600 square feet (150 m2), and consist of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units. All units are priced at market-rate, with no low or moderate income-restricted apartments.[11] All units are rental-only; none are available for purchase.[5]

Hospital

The building originally included space for New York Downtown Hospital next door.[5] The hospital was allocated 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2), of parking below ground. It was never used. As of 2016, it is a commercially-operated valet parking garage.

Public space

There are public plazas on both the east and west sides of the building, one 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) and the other somewhat smaller.[9][12]

Street-level retail, totaling approximately 1,300 to 2,500 square feet (120 to 230 m2), is included as part of the project.[9]

History

8 Spruce Street opened in February 2011.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City in 2020, one of five units went vacant.[13][14]

Critical reception

Early reviews of 8 Spruce Street have been favorable. In The New York Times, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff praised the building's design as a welcome addition to the skyline of New York, calling it: "the finest skyscraper to rise in New York since Eero Saarinen's CBS Building went up 46 years ago".[15] New Yorker magazine's Paul Goldberger described it as "one of the most beautiful towers downtown". Comparing Gehry's tower to the nearby Woolworth Building, completed in 1913, Goldberger said, "It is the first thing built downtown since then that actually deserves to stand beside it."[16]

CityRealty architecture critic Carter Horsely hailed the project, saying "the building would have been an unquestioned architectural masterpiece if the south façade had continued the crinkling and if the base had continued the stainless-steel cladding. Even so, it is as majestic as its cross-town rival, the great neo-Gothic Woolworth Building designed by Cass Gilbert at 233 Broadway on the other side of City Hall Park." [17] Gehry designed both the exterior, interiors and amenities spaces, along with all 20 model apartments.

The building received the Emporis Skyscraper Award for 2011.[18]

See also

References
  1. "The Beekman". Emporis. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  2. "8 Spruce Street". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  3. "New York by Gehry at Eight Spruce Street". CTHUB. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  4. Grant, Peter (October 5, 2010). "Gehry on New Gehry Building". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  5. "Gehry's Beekman Tower Gets Presented, Goes Street". Curbed.com.
  6. Ouroussoff, Nicolai (May 31, 2008). "Looking Skyward in Lower Manhattan". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  7. "NYCityMap". NYC.gov. New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  8. Stamler, Bernard (March 14, 1999). "Neighborhood Report: Lower Manhattan; N.Y.U. Hospital Plans a High-Rise, to Neighbors' Dismay". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  9. "Gehry's Beekman Tower Ready to Launch". LowerManhattan.info. Archived from the original on April 28, 2009. Retrieved September 11, 2008.
  10. "8 Spruce Street, Manhattan on the NYC Oasis Map
  11. "Unveiled: Beekman Tower". The Architects Newspaper.
  12. "Seaport's early reviews are bad for Gehry's tower". Downtown Express. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
  13. Parker, Will; Putzier, Konrad (January 5, 2021). "Frank Gehry's Luxury New York City Skyscraper Has Everything—Except Enough Tenants". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  14. "Occupancy at The New York by Gehry falls by more than 20%". The Real Deal New York. November 1, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  15. Ouroussoff, Nicolai. "Downtown Skyscraper For the Digital Age". The New York Times (February 10, 2011)
  16. Goldberger, Paul. "Sky Line: Gracious Living: Frank Gehry's swirling apartment". The New Yorker (March 7, 2011)
  17. "New York By Gehry: Building Review". CityRealty.
  18. Greg Pitcher (December 7, 2012). "Gehry's New York tower scoops major skyscraper prize". Architects Journal. EMAP Ltd. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
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