The Skyscraper Museum - The Skyscraper Museum

Notable New Yorkers

MAKING NEW YORK HISTORY AWARD

Honoring

LORD NORMAN FOSTER

Founder & Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners

Lord Norman Foster – one the world’s leading architects for more than four decades – has long pioneered in rethinking the skyscraper. Since 2001, his towers have introduced new forms on the New York skyline and created innovative and impressive urban spaces. For his achievements, we celebrate Lord Norman Foster with the Making New York History Award.

TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2025 from 5:30 – 7:30pm — Program at 6:45pm

The Diagrid Club at 425 Park Avenue

Cocktails & Hors d’Oeuvres

LORD NORMAN FOSTER was recognized on Tuesday, May 27th as The Skyscraper Museum presented him with the Making New York History Award. More than 200 guests gathered at the Diagrid Club of 425 Park Avenue, a Foster + Partners skyscraper completed in 2021, to raise a toast to the architect and celebrate the firm’s towering contributions to the New York skyline.

Colleagues and admirers from across the professions of architecture, engineering, construction, development, and academic communities networked in the cathedral-like space created by Foster’s sloping stainless steel trusses. From the terraces high above Park Avenue, they could also see Foster’s nearly completed supertall, the new global headquarters for JPMorgan Chase at 270 Park. Guests then assembled for a program of toasts to Norman Foster’s outstanding achievements across the decades and around the world.

The Museum’s menu of Past Programs features videos of authors’ talks, lectures, and symposia that explore tall buildings and cities – especially New York – from multiple perspectives. This page compiles past programs into curated series. Visit often to see what talk we’re featuring or follow a theme across several programs!

Notable New Yorkers 2023

MAKING NEW YORK HISTORY AWARD

Celebrating 425 Park Avenue and honoring

DAVID LEVINSON

Chairman & CEO of L&L Holding Company

Real estate alchemist whose diverse urban reinventions, 425 Park Avenue, TSX Broadway, and Terminal Warehouse, renew our city for the 21st century.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29th, 2023 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm

Cocktails at The Diagrid Club at 425 Park Avenue

The Skyscraper Museum’s 2023 Making New York History Award, which recognizes remarkable individuals and buildings that have shaped New York City’s signature skyline, honored DAVID LEVINSON, Chairman & CEO of L&L HOLDING COMPANY, at a cocktail party on November 29, 2023. Serving as the inspiration for the award and the venue for the event was L&L Holding Company’s gleaming new tower, 425 PARK AVENUE, designed by Foster + Partners and opened in 2022. The skyscraper is the first new full-block office building in the Plaza District in 50 years.

More than 150 guests gathered to honor Levinson in The Diagrid Club, a cathedral-like venue on the 26th floor defined by triple-height arches. The speeches and photographs took place in front of an art wall of mirrored orbs by avant-garde Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, titled “Narcissus Garden,” first shown at the Venice Biennale in 1966.

Salutes to David Levinson were offered by Carol Willis, founder and director of The Skyscraper Museum, James von Klemperer,

Notable New Yorkers 2022
MAKING NEW YORK HISTORY AWARD
550 MADISON

The venue for the 2022 Making New York History Award was 550 MADISON, the 1984 landmarked AT&T Building designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, which has been renewed and reinvented as a LEED Platinum 21st-century office building by

THE OLAYAN GROUP

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm

The Skyscraper Museum saluted the Architects of 550 Madison

SNØHETTA, GENSLER, & ROCKWELL GROUP

The Skyscraper Museum’s annual Making New York History Award recognizes the remarkable individuals and buildings that have shaped New York City’s signature skyline. The 2022 Award event was celebrated on the new club floor, the sky lobby at 550 MADISON, transformed as an amenities space designed by the Rockwell Group. More than 150 guests mingled in the Great Hall, where the view across Madison Avenue through the monumental oculus window is matched by the giant circles of the red and gold of the 1993 Dorthea Rockburne murals, entitled Northern Sky/ Southern Sky.

The program began with an introduction by Skyscraper Museum Founder and Director Carol Willis, who thanked The Olayan Group and RXR Development for allowing the Museum to debut the new space to an outside audience. She referenced the contentious history of the now-landmarked building when the architect Philip Johnson pivoted to Postmodernism. Continuing the themes of past and present, Museum Chairman James von Klemperer emphasized the renewal of the 1980s tower as a 21st-century office building by the team of designers at SNØHETTA,

Notable New Yorkers 2021

MAKING NEW YORK HISTORY AWARD

Celebrating East Midtown and honoring

MARY ANN TIGHE

CEO of CBRE New York Tri-State Region

OCT 20, 2021 5:30 - 7:30 PM

Cocktails at the Vandy Club at ONE VANDERBILT

The Skyscraper Museum celebrated the rise of East Midtown and presented the 2021 Making New York History Award to Mary Ann Tighe, CEO of CBRE New York Tri-State Region.

For the first time, the Museum's annual award, which recognizes the remarkable individuals and buildings that have shaped New York City's signature skyline, shifted from our downtown gallery. Adapting to the COVID19 pandemic concerns, we moved our party outdoors to an exceptionally urban and urbane venue, the Vandy Club at One Vanderbilt. Folks mingled in the spacious reception area and outdoor balcony of SL Green's new office tower at 42nd St, and Madison Avenue, One Vanderbilt.

During her remarkable career of more than three decades in commercial real estate, Mary Ann Tighe has been a force in the transformation of New York’s skyline. From the revitalization of Times Square, to the rebuilding of Downtown after 9/11, to the westward expansion of Midtown, as well as the strengthening and renewal of East Midtown’s rezoning, she has played a catalytic role. Mary Ann has constructed deals for more than 110.2 million square feet of commercial transactions. Her projects have anchored more than 14.4 million square feet of new construction in the New York region – a record in commercial brokerage.

Mary Ann Tighe has been CEO of CBRE’s New York Tri-State Region since 2002, and under her leadership, CBRE has become the city’s preeminent firm in commercial real estate. A leader in the professional community, she has served as the Chair of REBNY and holds countless industry and civic awards that represent her creativity and influence in the life and future of the city.

The award ceremony saluted Mary Ann Tighe with toasts.

Carol Willis
Founder and Director of The Skyscraper Museum
Alicia Glen
Founder of MSquared and former NYC Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development
James von Klemperer
President, Kohn Pedersen Associates and Chairman, The Skyscraper Museum

Receiving the Award
Mary Ann Tighe

Photo credits © Steve Friedman

contributors

PINNACLE

CBRE
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC
Carol & Mark Willis

PLATINUM

CBRE Consulting & Agency Groups
DeSimone Consulting Engineers
Durst Organization
Adam Flatto
Gardiner & Theobald
Hines
Kushner
The Olayan Group
Pershing Square Capital Management, LP
RXR Realty
Rudin Family Foundation
Larry Silverstein
SL Green Realty Corp.
Winter Properties LLC
Walentas Foundation

GOLD

Architectural Record
ARUP
Blackstone Mortgage Trust
The Corcoran Group
Empire State Realty Trust
Feil Family Foundation
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
GFP Real Estate
Himmel + Meringhoff
The Howard Hughes Corporation
Jamestown LP
King & Spalding LLP
MAG Partners
Park Tower Realty
RFR
Rockefeller Group
Sciame Construction
SOM
Thornton Tomasetti
Tishman Speyer
Vornado Realty Trust
Wharton Properties

SILVER

ASM Mechanical Systems
BerlinRosen
Boston Properties
Brookfield Properties
CAPALINO
Cauldwell Wingate
CETRARUDDY
Forsyth Street Advisors
Gensler
JB&B
Kasirer
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Langan
L & L Holding Company
Litwin Foundation
Loeb & Loeb, LLP
Longman Lindsey
MdeAS Architects
Perkins&Will
Populous
Ted Moudis
RAMSA
Real Estate Board of New York
Jack Resnick & Sons
Severud Associates Consulting Engineers, PC
SHoP Architects
Syska Hennessy
TEI Group
TF Cornerstone
TPG Architecture, LLP
VDA
WatermanCLARK
WSP

STEEL

AKRF, Inc.
Ariel Property Advisors
Kate Ascher
Brandon Haw Architecture LLP
Cozen O'Connor
Cushman & Wakefield
Todd DeGarmo
Douglaston Development
Richard Eaddy
Chris Esteban
Arnold Fisher
Forsyth Street Advisors
Frances & Benjamin Benenson Foundation
FXCollaborative
Alicia Glen
Hirschen Singer & Epstein LLP
Jolie at 77 Greenwich
Lendlease
LERA
Ken & Ronnie Lowenstein
Cathleen McGuigan
McNamara • Salvia
Michael Lappin & Associates
Monadnock Development & Monadnock Construction
MRCE
Cherrie Nanninga
Navillus
Daniel Okrent
PAU
Proskauer
Richard Roberts
Lynne B. Sagalyn
SawTeen See
Snøhetta
Taconic
Richard Tomasetti
Bunny Williams
Yoswein New York

--------------------------

PINNACLE: $25,000

PLATINUM: $10,000

GOLD: $5,000

SILVER: $2,500

STEEL: $1,000

“GIANTS: The Twin Towers & the Twentieth Century,” commemorates the original World Trade Center, viewing its creation in the context of the technological ambitions of the 1960s and the hundred-year evolution of New York’s skyline.On their completion in 1971 and 1973, the Twin Towers were both the tallest and the largest skyscrapers in the world. Innovative engineering carried the structures to 110 stories, at 1362 and 1368 feet, and floors of nearly an acre multiplied the space of each tower into more than 4 million square feet. The scale of these giants has been exceeded only once in history, by the contemporary Sears Tower in 1974. By comparison, the Freedom Tower, the largest building planned for Ground Zero, will contain only 2.6 million square feet, about two-thirds of their volume.

High time for Christmas! Ho, ho, how about celebrating the holiday by making skyscraper-shaped Christmas cards for friends and family? In just 5 easy steps you can mail a card and keep one for yourself as an ornament!

How tall is Supertall? The Skyscraper Museum sets its bar high: 1,250 feet/ 380 meters, the height of the Empire State Building. The popular benchmark of 300 meters – about 1,000 feet – favors round numbers, but represents a 19th-century standard, the Eiffel Tower. Today, 300 meters is fairly common, with more than 200 buildings of that height worldwide. But towers of 380 meters remain exceptional: our survey counts only 58.

This chart is an artifact of the 20th century that was updated in 2010 and in 2020. It was originally created by the Skyscraper Museum as a wall mural for its debut exhibition in 1997 and added as the first feature on our new website, which was one of the only 1.1 million registered sites in 1997. Then, the mural lineup ended at the right with the recently completed twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which were the only buildings on the chart that were not American. Indeed, in 1998, the title of “world’s tallest building” left the U.S. and has never returned.

Answers to the sample trivia questions:

Ex 1: I am the World’s Tallest Completed Building.

Burj Khalifa

Where am I?

Dubai, UAE, Middle East

How many stories am I?

163 floors

What kind of spaces do I have?

Offices, hotel, observation deck, apartments

Who designed me?

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Ex 2: We are skyscrapers with more than 120 stories.

What are our names?

Burj Khalifa, Makkah Clock Tower, Shanghai Tower, Lotte World Tower, Goldin Finance 117, future Jeddah Tower, if completed

Where are we located?

UAE and Saudi Arabia, Middle East; China and South Korea, East Asia

Ex 3: I am the city with the most Supertalls of any city in the world. What city am I?

New York City with 7 supertall skyscrapers

Ex 4: We are supertalls in New York City.

Empire State Building (1931), Twin Towers (1971/1973), One World Trade Center (2014), 432 Park Ave (2015), 30 Hudson Yards (2019), One Vanderbilt (2021), 111 West 57th Street (2021), Central Park Tower (2021)

Who is the tallest?

Central Park Tower and One World Trade Center

Which roof is the highest?

Central Park Tower at 472 meters

What parts do we measure to set my height?

Where in the World?

In this reimagined game of skyscraper trivia using our SUPERTALL! 2020 lineup, children and families can explore supertall buildings and skyscraper cities around the world!

Click here for an interactive chart of supertall skyscrapers!

How to play:

Although you can play the Supertall Challenge alone, it’s fun to gather a team and test your knowledge and search skills competing against other players. You can partner with friends and family virtually too! Have one player devise trivia tests based on our SUPERTALL! 2020 exhibition. Be creative! They can choose specific supertall buildings or skyscraper cities. Some sample questions include:

Ex 1: I am the world’s tallest completed building.
Where am I?
How many stories am I?
What kind of spaces do I have?
Who designed me?

Ex 2: We are skyscrapers with more than 120 stories.
What are our names?
Where are we located?

Ex 3: I am the city with the most Supertalls of any city in the world.
What city am I?

Ex 4: We are supertalls in New York City.
Who is the tallest?
Which roof is the highest?
What parts do we measure to set my height?
When was I completed?

Ex 5: I was built before 2000.
Who can I be?
Where was I built?

Other players will browse through our Supertall website to learn about various supertall buildings and skyscraper cities around the world to answer the trivia questions.

This content is password protected. Enter the password to view it.

The Museum’s menu of Past Programs features videos authors’ talks, lectures, and symposia that explore tall buildings and cities – especially New York – from multiple perspectives. This page compiles past programs into curated series.

Great Streets and Public Spaces

Sustainability & Skyscrapers

New York’s Great Buildings

Jane Jacobs Birthday Week

Sweeping Surveys

Historic Preservation

Rediscovering New York

New York Icons

Skyscraper Seminars

Engineers!

Favorites

Skyscraper Syllabus

Here, we’ve put together educational activities perfect for learning and teaching about skyscrapers and cities while at home!

Here, we’ve put together educational activities perfect for learning and teaching about skyscrapers and cities while at home!

Here, we’ve put together educational activities perfect for learning and teaching about skyscrapers and cities while at home!

← Back to Learning from Home

Virtual Walk of Battery Park City

The neighborhood at the southwest tip of lower Manhattan called Battery Park City was created, beginning in the late 1960s, from landfill from the excavations for the original World Trade Center. Consisting of north and south sections of residential enclaves, a central commercial district of skyscrapers, and public parks, Battery Park City was designed to be both a City and a Park that created new spaces for downtown residents and opened the waterfront to nature and public open space.

In 2000, the Battery Park City Authority introduced a set of Green Guidelines for all new residential buildings. As a result of this policy, Battery Park City is famously known as one of the first “green communities.” With our virtual green tour, you can explore the neighborhood from home through Google Earth and plan your future visit.

Battery Park City Virtual Walk Itinerary

Itinerary: You’ll start at The Skyscraper Museum.

Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Place
Battery Park City School, 55 Battery Place
Robert Wagner Park and Pavilion, 20 Battery Place
World Financial Center/Brookfield Place, 230 Vesey Street
The Verdesian, 211 North End Avenue
Tribeca Green, 325 North End Avenue
Solaire, 20 River Terrace
One River Terrace,

Here, we’ve put together educational activities perfect for learning and teaching about skyscrapers and cities while at home!

The Skyscraper Museum has plenty of resources for continuing education at home for all grade levels, from elementary to high school. Every week, we’ll select one of our lesson plans and point to resources on our website, as well as activities designed to foster a love of architecture and cities.

Though the main event is in our gallery, the Museum preserves complete records of its past shows in an online version, not just through installation views, but displaying every image and label text! You can view more than 25 virtual exhibitions through this portal. Each one has a microsite with its own navigation menu that is archived on our original “legacy” website: you’ll notice a change in format, but you will find a wealth of history!

Our website offers access to the Museum’s collections and research projects through a wide range of online archives, interactive maps, and charts, photographs, and graphics that allow both time travel and explorations of skyscrapers both local and global. Students and amateurs alike can explore our archives of digitized documents, historic photographs, and more through innovative graphic interfaces in a wide range of projects.

Don’t know where to start? Why not play along with our online scavenger hunt? Learn new things and keep an eye out for clues as you explore our site. The featured hunt today is on TEN TOPS. Check back soon for a new scavenger hunt!

The Tower Tube is a tool kit for New York City teachers designed to enhance The Skyscraper Museum’s exhibitions and programs.

Benefits

Free admission to the Museum for all employees and their guests.
Prominent listing on our award-winning website, www.skyscraper.org
Invitations to all exhibition openings and special events
Receipt of The Skyscraper Museum E-Newsletter
10% discount on Gift Shop merchandise
Free admission or discounts for all employees to Museum programs, book talks, and lectures
Invitations to special corporate member events and special openings
Discounts on gallery rental for corporate events

Levels

Corporate memberships are offered at four levels:

PLATINUM ($10,000)
GOLD ($5,000)
SILVER ($2,500)
STEEL: ($1,000)

The Museum’s Education department has prepared several lesson plans and supplemental worksheets for students as they prepare for a visit or extend learning when back in the classroom.