SOM completes restoration of Lever House, a Manhattan office icon, built in 1952
21/11/2023.
[NYC] USA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has announced the completion of the recent renovation and restoration project that’s breathed new life into their historic Lever House project in Manhattan, an icon since it was built in 1952.
The preservation works of the modernist icon capture the original aesthetic through a combination of material science and careful craftsmanship
At the time of its completion, Reyner Banham said of the building “It gave architectural expression to an age just as the age was being born.” Since then, the landmark has been under the care of SOM for over 70 years, a level of stewardship that is rare in the architectural profession.
The preservation works of the modernist icon capture the original aesthetic through a combination of material science and careful craftsmanship
At the time of its completion, Reyner Banham said of the building “It gave architectural expression to an age just as the age was being born.” Since then, the landmark has been under the care of SOM for over 70 years, a level of stewardship that is rare in the architectural profession.
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM
Rendering of the Lever House post-renovation, with the new grove of trees added on the third-floor terrace. Rendering by TMRW.BP.
Lever House after modernization and with a different planting arrangement. Rendering by TMRW.BP.
The first major renovation happened in 2001 when SOM restored its facade and now, just over two decades later, the project revitalizes and preserves the landmark structure with a restored and reimagined lobby, ground-level public plaza renovation, and entirely new modernized building systems.
The tower’s third floor and 1,400 square-meter (15,000 square-foot) of terraces have been restored and transformed into The Lever Club, an indoor-outdoor hospitality suite with interiors designed by Marmol Radziner and services managed by Sant Ambroeus Hospitality Group.
The tower’s third floor and 1,400 square-meter (15,000 square-foot) of terraces have been restored and transformed into The Lever Club, an indoor-outdoor hospitality suite with interiors designed by Marmol Radziner and services managed by Sant Ambroeus Hospitality Group.
“This renovation brings Lever House into the 21st century,” said SOM Partner Chris Cooper. “With completely updated plaza and outdoor spaces, a fully restored lobby, and brand new mechanical systems throughout the building that improve its energy efficiency, we’ve modernized this midcentury icon to its original splendor, to make it, once again, Park Avenue’s premier boutique office building.”
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM.
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM.
The plaza area has been replaced by a durable cast-in-place concrete matching the design of Lever House’s original exterior paving; the water-damaged ceiling has been replaced with new higher performing plaster; and throughout the site, the original stainless steel-clad columns have been refinished, alongside the champlain black marble. In collaboration with TM Light, energy-efficient, long-lasting LED lights have replaced the original lighting to maintain the aperture and look throughout.
Throughout the lobby and interior, SOM implemented a plethora of refined updates to transform the arrival experience. The original terrazzo flooring has been repaired and refinished to its original sheen; a glass mosaic tile wall in the elevator vestibule has been cleaned and repaired, while a luminous ceiling above features an upgraded, diffused lighting system to improve brightness and energy efficiency. SOM also located the original stone quarry sources for the building, enabling the design team to extend the original finishes to the elevator cab interiors and a new tenant cellar entrance. The lobby, furnished by Marmol Radziner, also features sculptures by Ellsworth Kelly that extend to the open ground-floor plaza.
The interventions continue to the higher floors, most notably with new landscaping. Acclaimed landscape architecture firm Reed Hildebrand curated a new landscape program across the property. From the plaza and lobby-level planter to the third-floor terrace, Lever House’s landscaping—most of which has changed over the years—now visually unites with a birch tree canopy and understory of native plantings throughout. At the perimeter of the terrace, the landscaping now features new shrubs, flowers, and perennials to frame views of Park Avenue.
Lever House renovation and restoration by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson, image courtesy of SOM.
A series of sweeping changes to the mechanical systems contributes to new LEED Gold and WELL Platinum certification targets. SOM, in collaboration with Cosentini Associates, equipped the building with a modern, dedicated outdoor air system, new chillers, HEPA filters, and an automated building management system. This new mechanical equipment, along with a 500-kilowatt generator, improved security systems, and modernized elevators, will maintain the landmark’s place as a Class A office space for decades to come.
More information
Architects
Collaborators
Integrated Conservation Resources.
Interiors designed by Marmol Radziner.
Services managed by Sant Ambroeus Hospitality Group.
Cosentini Associates.
Interiors designed by Marmol Radziner.
Services managed by Sant Ambroeus Hospitality Group.
Cosentini Associates.
Clients
Brookfield Properties and Waterman CLARK, LLC.
Dates
Construction, 1951.
Opening, 29 april 1952.
Opening, 29 april 1952.
National Register of Historic Places (NRPH), EE.UU.,2 october 1983.
First renovation.- 2001.
Finished.- November, 2023. First renovation.- 2001.
Location
390 Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York City. USA.
Photography
Lucas Blair Simpson.
Rendering.- TMRW.BP.
Rendering.- TMRW.BP.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP SOM
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is one of the leading architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban planning firms in the world, with a 75-year reputation for design excellence and a portfolio that includes some of the most important architectural accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Since its inception, SOM has been a leader in the research and development of specialized technologies, new processes and innovative ideas, many of which have had a palpable and lasting impact on the design profession and the physical environment.
The firm’s longstanding leadership in design and building technology has been honored with more than 1,700 awards for quality, innovation, and management. The American Institute of Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor, the Architecture Firm Award—in 1962 and again in 1996. The firm maintains offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi.
Gordon Bunshaft
Gordon Bunshaft was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1909, educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a BA and MA in architecture and came under the influence of Lawrence B. Anderson, who fostered an appreciation of modernist design.
Bunshaft worked briefly for Edward Durrell Stone and Raymond Loewy before beginning his forty-two-year career at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In his early years at the firm, he designed buildings for the 1939-40 New York World's Fair and Hostess House, a cadet hospitality center at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois (1941-42). After serving in the Corps of Engineers during World War II, Bunshaft rejoined SOM in 1947. Later that year he moved to the firm's New York office; he became a full partner in 1949. As Lever House's chief designer (1950-1952), Bunshaft was recognized for the first time. In the words of architecture critic Paul Goldberger, this twenty-four-story office tower was "New York's first major commercial structure with a glass curtain wall (preceded only by the United Nations Secretariat), obscuring the solid wall of stonework on Park Avenue, like a vision of a new world.
After Lever House, Bunshaft was involved in the design of several prominent buildings, including the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company headquarters (1957) in Bloomfield, Connecticut; the Pepsi-Cola Building (1958-60) on Park Avenue; the United States Air Force Academy (1959) in Colorado Springs; Chase Manhattan Bank Headquarters and Plaza (1960-61) and 140 Broadway (1964-67) in lower Manhattan; the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (1963) at Yale University; the W.R. Grace Building (1973) at West 42nd Street; the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library (1971) at the University of Texas, Austin; the Hirshhom Museum and Sculpture Garden (1974) in Washington, DC; and the National Commercial Bank (1983) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
He was also awarded the Brunner Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1955, and his gold medal in 1984. He received the Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He was awarded the Pritzker Prize, often called the architectural equivalent of the Nobel Prize, in 1988, two years before his death.
Bunshaft worked briefly for Edward Durrell Stone and Raymond Loewy before beginning his forty-two-year career at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In his early years at the firm, he designed buildings for the 1939-40 New York World's Fair and Hostess House, a cadet hospitality center at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois (1941-42). After serving in the Corps of Engineers during World War II, Bunshaft rejoined SOM in 1947. Later that year he moved to the firm's New York office; he became a full partner in 1949. As Lever House's chief designer (1950-1952), Bunshaft was recognized for the first time. In the words of architecture critic Paul Goldberger, this twenty-four-story office tower was "New York's first major commercial structure with a glass curtain wall (preceded only by the United Nations Secretariat), obscuring the solid wall of stonework on Park Avenue, like a vision of a new world.
After Lever House, Bunshaft was involved in the design of several prominent buildings, including the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company headquarters (1957) in Bloomfield, Connecticut; the Pepsi-Cola Building (1958-60) on Park Avenue; the United States Air Force Academy (1959) in Colorado Springs; Chase Manhattan Bank Headquarters and Plaza (1960-61) and 140 Broadway (1964-67) in lower Manhattan; the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (1963) at Yale University; the W.R. Grace Building (1973) at West 42nd Street; the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library (1971) at the University of Texas, Austin; the Hirshhom Museum and Sculpture Garden (1974) in Washington, DC; and the National Commercial Bank (1983) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
He was also awarded the Brunner Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1955, and his gold medal in 1984. He received the Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He was awarded the Pritzker Prize, often called the architectural equivalent of the Nobel Prize, in 1988, two years before his death.
Natalie Griffin de Blois
Natalie Griffin de Blois (April 2, 1921 – July 22, 2013) was an American architect. De Blois began her career in 1944 at a New York firm, Ketchum, Gina and Sharpe, from which she was fired after "refusing affection" from one of the firm's architects, who asked that she be fired. Shortly thereafter she joined the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM). While working at SOM, De Blois was known as a "pioneer" as an architect in the "male-dominated world of architecture". In 1962 she moved to the firm's headquarters in Chicago, where she was soon made a partner at SOM in 1964, working with the firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill until 1974.
Notable projects include the Pepsi Cola headquarters, Lever House, and the Union Carbide Building in New York City, the Equitable Building in Chicago, the lower portions of Ford's world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, and Connecticut General Life Insurance Company. Headquartered in Bloomfield, Conn.
De Blois joined Neuhaus & Taylor (now known as 3-D International) in Houston in 1974. In 1980, he began teaching at the University of Texas School of Architecture and was a faculty member until 1993. He died at 92 years in Chicago.
Notable projects include the Pepsi Cola headquarters, Lever House, and the Union Carbide Building in New York City, the Equitable Building in Chicago, the lower portions of Ford's world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, and Connecticut General Life Insurance Company. Headquartered in Bloomfield, Conn.
De Blois joined Neuhaus & Taylor (now known as 3-D International) in Houston in 1974. In 1980, he began teaching at the University of Texas School of Architecture and was a faculty member until 1993. He died at 92 years in Chicago.
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