I have a question about MetLife North.
If a developer or owner of the tower really wanted to, could it be possible to build the rest of the tower to it’s original planned height?
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If they strictly follow the NYC zoning code it wouldn’t be possible. The first thing to look at is the square footage of the building. This is a C5-3 lot with 83,937 sq ft, and considering it has a FAR of 15.0, it’s maximum allowed floor area would be 1,259,055 sq ft. The current building has 1,630,256 sq ft. so the project would already have a problem right there. Other things like lot coverage and setbacks would also need analyses.
However, one can always appeal to the other tools from the code to gain some height and floor area, like adding plazas, arcades or buying air rights from other buildings as well. If even then they don’t reach the requirements, the last hope is to make a case trying to get a special approval.
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Wall Street 1952
Brooklyn Bridge and downtown from Brooklyn 1965
Aerial c. 1960
Singer Building 1962
Sunset on the 50s skyline
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The only photo I could find of the auditorium in the Tribune Building. Opened in 1935 as the Tribune Theatre, it was billed as “Downtown’s most beautiful Theatre” and was accessed through the small building at 170 Nassau Street, adjoining the Tribune. When the Brooklyn Bridge onramps were extended and the World Building demolished, The marquee entrance and lobby were rebuilt on Frankfort Street. The Theater closed and reopened in 1961 as the City Hall Cinema but closed down permanently in 1965.
Tribune Building in 1954 with the large Marquee suspended over the entrance of the theater
The Brooklyn Bridge plaza in 1958 with the new theater lobby on Frankfort Street
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Interesting alternate cover for Danny Lyon’s The Destruction of Lower Manhattan. A painting of the classic Lower Manhattan skyline on the wall in the Tribune Building lobby, smashed to rubble and exposed to the street.
Printing House Square in 1936, after the park was replaced by subway venting
1964
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135 Broadway holdout c. 1978
New Brooklyn Bridge onramp and approach with the World Building at right, 1954
Chatham Square immediately after the removal of the El, 1955. The World Building is under demolition at left
Brooklyn Bridge plaza construction in summer 1958
Looking down on the new bridge approach and remnants of Newspaper Row from the Woolworth Building, 1960
Looking towards the Woolworth Building from the Rhinelander Building after the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge north civic area, with the new 250 Broadway and 120 Church Street buildings, 1964
The bridge onramp and remaining buildings during the blackout of 1965
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Great findings! It’s interesting to notice in the first picture Temple Street doesn’t exist anymore, but it’s still a path in the park 
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Never noticed that. It could be a temporary thing since the building was still on the site. They did a similar thing with the Rhinelander Building when the whole bridge neighborhood came down, and they kept Rose and Chambers like these weird wild west ghost streets
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Park Row, 1958, with futuristic Westinghouse Whiteway lampposts
West Side Highway, 1973
100 Water Street and Beaver Building, 1982
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Found in my old discord messages, more images to add to the St. Paul Building color stockpile
1957
1946
1954
Singer Building in 1967
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Irving Trust addition and 52 Broadway in 1966
Front side of 52 Broadway, 1976
1979
Destruction of 52 Broadway, 1981
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Thirty Third St. southwest from 9th Ave.
Central Palace 1911
Queensboro Bridge under construction
Columbus Circle looking South
Croton Resevoir and 5th Ave.
On Flickr Steve | Flickr
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White Plains, same account. The bell tower is still there
urban renewal in 70's by Steve, on Flickr
old Madison Square Garden
Madison Square c by Steve, on Flickr
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The tallest building in this photo I think is now part of the Nordstrom at the base of CPT:
I looked at my Apple Maps to see the surrounding area and even though they haven’t updated for the completion of CPT, the comparison to that older photo is nothing short of mind-boggling.
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Manhattan in that photo is almost completely unrecognizable today. Also, it makes me nostalgic for an era I never lived in seeing the streets primarily filled with people and not cars.
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Some pictures from the 30s
Samuel Gottscho, Vertical shot of Columbus Circle from Century Apartments, April 6 1932, from the collections of the museum of the city of New York
Samuel Gottscho, Central Park South and Columbus Circle, ca 1930, from the collections of the museum of the city of New York
https://www.pinterest.de/pin/548242954618771039/
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Interesting video, with some shots of Wall Street in 1966, plus the Singer Building from the top of Chase
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