Aerial photograph from the Howard Sochurek photographic archive, camh-dob-040405, The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin. c. 1965.
PARK AVENUE: Past, Present, Future
In the century-plus since Grand Central Terminal opened in 1913, after more than a decade of massive construction, the blocks from 42nd to 53rd Street were transformed from a noxious, impassable railyard into one of Manhattan’s most desirable and prestigious addresses: Park Avenue.
In conjunction with the Museum's current exhibition Th
speculative office towers answered growing demand for modern, air-conditioned space. Soon, the iconic Lever House, Seagram, and Union Carbide buildings recast Park Avenue as an elite corporate corridor. In the 21st century, incentivized by the City’s rezoning of East Midtown, shiny new skyscrapers of even greater height and density have continued to redefine its trophy architecture.
A range of historians, authors, architects, planners, and policy-makers will examine and discuss the evolving history and identity of the avenue that was created out of thin air and has become the engine and anchor of modern Midtown.
SCHEDULE
TRA(I)NSFORMATION
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Carol Willis (bio)
This is a virtual program — online only.
Carol Willis, museum director and curator of the exhibition The Invention of Park Avenue, will launch the series with an online lecture TRA(I)NSFORMATION. The talk will illustrate how the New York Central Railroad transformed its right of way into Manhattan via Fourth Avenue into a spectacularly successful infrastructure project that linked rail and real estate, not only as a revenue stream, but as what became an engine of urban development.
Concrete in a Steel City: Structural Innovation in Postwar Chicago
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Chicago’s extensive history of steel skyscrapers conceals the city’s important innovations in concrete. Since the early 1900s, architects, engineers, and builders in Chicago explored concrete’s formal and structural versatility, leading to important developments in formwork, structural concepts, and material science. Bill Baker, emeritus partner at SOM, discussd this history and the importance of one building in particular: Chestnut-DeWitt, an apartment tower from the early 1960s designed by Bruce Graham and Fazlur Khan, of SOM, that pioneered the tube structure in concrete, an idea that would later form the basis for steel towers such as Sears and John Hancock. He was joined in conversation by Thomas Leslie, Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and author of Chicago Skyscrapers, 1934-1986.
Speaker Bios
Carol Willis is the founder, director, and curator of The Skyscraper Museum. She is the author of Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago (Princeton Architectural Press, 1995), among other publications. An Adjunct Associate Professor of Urban Studies at Columbia University's GSAPP, she teaches in the program Shape of Two Cities: New York and Paris.
HOW TO REGISTER
Members receive priority for reserved spots and can register for the entire series or individual programs by emailing [email protected].
If you are not a member of The Skyscraper Museum, you must register for each program separately by clicking the RSVP button on the individual lecture's page, which forwards you to Ticketstripe. You will receive the Zoom link upon reserving your FREE ticket on Ticketstripe.
Want to become a member? Click here!