Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren vogelbaumb here we humans love a superlative. There are
Speaker 1: world records out there for the tallest buildings, both residential
Speaker 1: and unoccupied, for the largest permanent vertical maze, and the
Speaker 1: largest playing card structure. But today we're talking about the
Speaker 1: world's skinniest skyscraper. It's called Steinway Tower, and it's located
Speaker 1: at one eleven West fifty seventh Street in New York City.
Speaker 1: The building stands one four hundred and twenty eight feet tall.
Speaker 1: That's four hundred and thirty five meters, but it's no
Speaker 1: more than sixty feet wide. That's eighteen meters, giving it
Speaker 1: a width ratio of twenty four to one. If you're
Speaker 1: having trouble imagining the width of this building, you could
Speaker 1: think of it as about one and a half full
Speaker 1: sized school buses long, or just shy of the distance
Speaker 1: from the pitcher's mound to home plate on a Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball pitch. But it is really tall. Only two
Speaker 1: other skyscrapers in New York City are taller. There's the
Speaker 1: one World Trade Center, which stands at one thousand, seven
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy six feet that's five hundred and forty
Speaker 1: one meters tall, and Central Park Tower, which is one thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred and fifty feet or four hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: two meters tall, but each of those are over three
Speaker 1: times as wide as the Steinway. Steinway Tower was so
Speaker 1: named because it's built above the famed Steinway and Son's
Speaker 1: Piano company headquarters. It cost two billion dollars to build
Speaker 1: and is in a high rent district smack dab in
Speaker 1: the middle of the southern end of Central Park. This
Speaker 1: stretch of ultra luxury real estate is aptly nicknamed Billionaire's Row.
Speaker 1: A Construction on the eighty four floor tower began in
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, and the building, with sixty condos total, began
Speaker 1: welcoming residents in April of twenty twenty two. The cheapest
Speaker 1: condo in Steinway Tower will reportedly set you back seven
Speaker 1: point seventy five million dollars, with prices rising to more
Speaker 1: than sixty six million for the Penthouse. This is a
Speaker 1: three story condo connected by an oval staircase, with over
Speaker 1: seven thousand square feet in its floor plan that's over
Speaker 1: six hundred square meters. It includes four bedrooms, five baths,
Speaker 1: fourteen foot high ceilings that's about four meters, and a
Speaker 1: private elevator. But if you're interested, sorry, it's off the market.
Speaker 1: It's sold to an international buyer who only viewed it virtually.
Speaker 1: Most New Yorkers are happy to get a building with
Speaker 1: a washer and dryer in the basement, But as you
Speaker 1: might expect, Steinway Tower offers a few more amenities, including
Speaker 1: a twenty four hour concierge and door attendant, a twenty
Speaker 1: five meters swimming pool it's about eighty feet, a fitness center,
Speaker 1: private shops, and a private dining room. There is a
Speaker 1: slight downside to living among the clouds. The dimensions of
Speaker 1: the tower make it highly susceptible to swaying when it's
Speaker 1: hit by high winds as much as three feet that's
Speaker 1: almost a full meter. Some visitors have complained of severe
Speaker 1: nausea because of the swaying. A nearby residential building four
Speaker 1: thirty two Park Avenue has been beset by engineering problems,
Speaker 1: including sway, and those issues have been difficult to repair
Speaker 1: because of the building's height. Whatever else they may have
Speaker 1: done in creating Steinway Tower, the building's designers were attempting
Speaker 1: to create something bold and memorable. While not the tallest
Speaker 1: building in the world, it looks like they've fulfilled that mission,
Speaker 1: though one critic who was not impressed with Steinway Tower's
Speaker 1: dimensions said, these are not the proportions of a classical column,
Speaker 1: but of a coffee stirer. This less than flattering nickname,
Speaker 1: the coffee Stirer, has stuck. Today's episode is based on
Speaker 1: the article maybe you can be Too Thin Meet the
Speaker 1: World's skinniest skyscraper on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Patti Resmusen.
Speaker 1: Brainstuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with
Speaker 1: HowStuffWorks dot Com, and is produced by Tyler Klain. The
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