55 Water Street

55 Water Street is a 687ft (209m) tall skyscraper in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It was completed in 1972 and has 53 floors. Emery Roth & Sons designed the building, which is tied with 277 Park Avenue as the 40th tallest building in New York City. When it was completed it was the largest office building in the world, and is still the largest in New York by floor area. The Sears Tower in Chicago is the only building in the United States with a bigger floor area. In an arrangement with the Office of Lower Manhattan Development, it was built on a superblock created from four adjoining city blocks. The Whitney Museum of American Art established a branch museum in the building. Space is rented for a token fee and the operating cost are being paid for by several Wall Street corporations. On the north side of the tower is a 15-story wing with a sloping facade and terraces facing the river. In front of the wing is an elevated plaza, known as the Elevated Acre, which is reachable by a high escalator ride. The 4,800 m² plaza was designed by M. Paul Friedberg & Assocs., and has same red brick tiles as his Jeannette Park to the south of the tower. The building, its plazas and Jeannette Park have been renovated and redesigned by Lee S Jablin, Harman Jablin Architects.[1] It was originally planned as a series of high-level public spaces along East River, to be connected with walkways running above the street level.

It was the last major building built by Uris Brothers.
It is the headquarters of EmblemHealth.[3] HIP Health Plan of New York, which became a part of EmblemHealth, moved there with 2,000 employees in October 2004. It was the largest corporate relocation in downtown Manhattan following the September 11 attacks.



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