The 10 Weirdest Buildings in New York City
From a cluster of glowing silver “eggs” to a building described as an exploded Malibu Barbie House, these ten buildings will blow your mind (and you thought New Yorkers were weird…)
There are so many buildings that define New York, from skyscrapers like the Empire State Building to the gothic apartment buildings
like the Dakota on the Upper West Side. But what really makes the city
stand out among its metropolitan peers are the buildings that are a
little…different. And you never know where you will find them. You could
stumble upon a 550-foot-tall windowless concrete structure in Tribeca,
or seemingly normal townhouse that holds a big secret in Brooklyn
Heights. Here are 10 NYC buildings you have to see to believe.
The AT&T Building
Tribeca
This fixture of the Lower Manhattan skyline is Brutalist architecture to the extreme. First, there are absolutely no windows. Second, the facade is literally a flat concrete slab. Architect John Carl Warnecke designed the structure, finished in 1974, to house telephone switching equipment. It likely has the highest ceilings in the city, too. Because the building houses heavy technical equipment, the average floor height is 18 feet, and those floors can also hold up to 300 pounds per square foot. It is still used this for telephone switching equipment today, with some portions designated as a secure data center. It’s actually considered one of the most secure buildings in the country — Warnecke designed it to survive nuclear fallout for up to two weeks after a blast. 33 Thomas St.
Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
The striking silver domes on the shores of Greenpoint, Brooklyn actually make up the largest sewage treatment facility in New York City. The eight metallic “digester eggs” can handle up to 310 million gallons of wastewater per day. The complex, built in 1967, also comes with some unique amenity space. The public is also able to make an appointment to tour the visitor center (featuring a large manmade waterfall) and walk along a nature walk, which borders the very polluted Newtown Creek. As if all that weren’t weird enough, the silver eggs are illuminated with blue light after dark. 329 Greenpoint Ave., Brooklyn
Decoy Townhouse
Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
You could walk past this Greek Revival townhouse in Brooklyn Heights and not look twice. But look again and you’ll notice that the windows are blacked out and a garden level dominated by black shutters, unlike the homey and welcoming houses on either side. It turns out that this 19th century red brick house is actually a ventilator for the 4/5 line that runs under Joralemon St. In a neighborhood of multi-million dollar homes, it also houses electrical equipment and emergency subway tunnel access. 58 Joralemon St., Brooklyn
New York Hall of Science
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens
The curvaceous New York Hall of Science building is one of the few remaining structures from the 1964 World’s Fair. This flowing building is cornerless, and the facade holds 5,400 rectangular coffers studded with shards of blue glass. Designed by the architect Wallace K. Harrison (also the designer of the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center), he aimed to construct a futuristic building that expressed the limitless quality of space. 47-01 111th St., Queens
Sylvan Terrace
Washington Heights
Stumbling upon this quaint block of Washington Heights, you may mistake it as a film set for old New York. The street, originally used as a carriage path leading to the 1765 Morris-Jumel Mansion, was later lined with 19th century wooden rowhouses that still stand today. The cobblestone street holds a total of 20 identical structures with matching brown stoops and green shutters. The development went up around 1882 and sadly fell into serious disrepair by the 1960s. In the 70s, homeowners received grants from the city to repair all the facades to the original splendor and the street is now a historic district. The homes do not come up for sale often, but when they do prices are just shy of a million dollars for the three-story homes. Since this is New York, you can also bet this unique block has received a little star treatment. Sylvan Terrace was featured on Boardwalk Empire. 1-20 Sylvan Terrace
Broken Angel
Bedford- Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Broken Angel, an architectural oddity tucked in a quiet corner of Bedford-Stuyvesant, is half artwork, half construction project. Arthur Wood and his wife Cynthia bought the building in the 1980s and started creating artistic additions. At one point the building, with a cacophony of distorted fragments of wood and glass, reached a total of 10 stories. In 2006, a fire brought down much of the structure and the city declared it unsafe. Arthur and Cynthia then announced they were partnering with a local developer to convert the building into condo and artist space, but the plans never came to fruition. Cynthia passed away in 2010 after a long battle with cancer and Arthur, now living in the building alone, is facing foreclosure proceedings, making this the most endangered building on the list. 4-8 Downing St., Brooklyn
TWA Flight Center
JFK Airport, Queens
When you envision an airport terminal, you usually think of a concrete box, somewhere unremarkable to pass through quickly as you come and go. Which makes this standalone terminal at JFK Airport all the more bizarre. The curvaceous building seems to have wings itself, resembling a jet or a bird about to take off in flight. Famed architect Eero Saarinen designed the terminal for Trans World Airlines at what was then known as Idlewild airport. The complex opened in the 1962 (a year after Saarinen’s death) during the golden age of air travel. It was taken out of service in 2001, in part due the financial failings of TWA. The building isn’t going anywhere, though. The city designated both the interior and the exterior of the terminal a landmark in 1994, and in September 2013 rumors began to circulate that hotelier Andre Balazs was planning The Standard, Flight Center to give the space new life.
Comically Skinny Townhouse
Midtown
In a neighborhood known for its towering skyscrapers, this building on W 46th St. rises a measly five stories. On top of that, it’s only 12.5 feet wide, with just a single centered window on the upper floors. Though this isn’t the narrowest building in the city (the title belongs to a 9.5-foot-wide townhouse on Bedford Street down in the West Village), its width is particularly comical as it is sandwiched between two much larger builds. The neighboring Art Deco buildings are more than twice its height and were likely not even possible when No. 19 was built back in 1865. Space is used efficiently in NYC, so despite not having much square footage to spare, the building today houses a restaurant, a beauty salon and three apartments. 19 W 46th St.
Greenwich Locksmiths
Greenwich Village
This stand-alone building has become a Greenwich Village institution. Greenwich Locksmith, which has been in the neighborhood for more than 30 years, is only 125 square feet and easily dwarfed by the larger developments that now line Seventh Avenue. But looking closely, you’ll notice an elaborate pattern on the building façade entirely designed out of keys. The owner tested out designs a few years ago, and locals were delighted by the project. He decided to cover the entire façade in key art, and started buying up pounds of keys from local scrapyards. The final product — composed of thousands of keys in a swirling, whimsical design — took two full years to put up. 56 Seventh Ave.
Palazzo Chupi
West Village
This development made a splash in the West Village when it debuted in 2008 with a Venetian palazzo-inspired facade painted bright pink. Needless to say, it stuck out in a neighborhood that likes to pride itself on historic brownstones and cobblestone streets. (A preservationist even called this “an exploded Malibu Barbie house.”) The architect, artist/director Julian Schnabel, claims he sketched the building — which sits on top of a former horse stable — in 15 minutes. Since the year of its debut, the Pepto-Bismol pink has faded into a sort of dusty rose color. Was that the architect’s plan all along? A mystery like that only makes a weird building weirder. 360 W 11th St.
The AT&T Building in Tribeca was designed to survive nuclear fallout (Photo: Lars Plougman/Flickr CC)
Tribeca
This fixture of the Lower Manhattan skyline is Brutalist architecture to the extreme. First, there are absolutely no windows. Second, the facade is literally a flat concrete slab. Architect John Carl Warnecke designed the structure, finished in 1974, to house telephone switching equipment. It likely has the highest ceilings in the city, too. Because the building houses heavy technical equipment, the average floor height is 18 feet, and those floors can also hold up to 300 pounds per square foot. It is still used this for telephone switching equipment today, with some portions designated as a secure data center. It’s actually considered one of the most secure buildings in the country — Warnecke designed it to survive nuclear fallout for up to two weeks after a blast. 33 Thomas St.
The metallic structures at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn are referred to as “digester eggs” (Photo: Jim.henderson/Wikimedia CC)
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
The striking silver domes on the shores of Greenpoint, Brooklyn actually make up the largest sewage treatment facility in New York City. The eight metallic “digester eggs” can handle up to 310 million gallons of wastewater per day. The complex, built in 1967, also comes with some unique amenity space. The public is also able to make an appointment to tour the visitor center (featuring a large manmade waterfall) and walk along a nature walk, which borders the very polluted Newtown Creek. As if all that weren’t weird enough, the silver eggs are illuminated with blue light after dark. 329 Greenpoint Ave., Brooklyn
There’s something strange about 58 Joralemon St. in Brooklyn Heights
Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
You could walk past this Greek Revival townhouse in Brooklyn Heights and not look twice. But look again and you’ll notice that the windows are blacked out and a garden level dominated by black shutters, unlike the homey and welcoming houses on either side. It turns out that this 19th century red brick house is actually a ventilator for the 4/5 line that runs under Joralemon St. In a neighborhood of multi-million dollar homes, it also houses electrical equipment and emergency subway tunnel access. 58 Joralemon St., Brooklyn
The New York Hall of Science in Queens has 5,400 rectangular coffers on the facade (Photo: Science Planet/Flickr CC)
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens
The curvaceous New York Hall of Science building is one of the few remaining structures from the 1964 World’s Fair. This flowing building is cornerless, and the facade holds 5,400 rectangular coffers studded with shards of blue glass. Designed by the architect Wallace K. Harrison (also the designer of the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center), he aimed to construct a futuristic building that expressed the limitless quality of space. 47-01 111th St., Queens
The historic Sylvan Terrace has been used in shows like ‘Boardwalk Empire’ (Photo: Sailko/Wikimedia CC)
Washington Heights
Stumbling upon this quaint block of Washington Heights, you may mistake it as a film set for old New York. The street, originally used as a carriage path leading to the 1765 Morris-Jumel Mansion, was later lined with 19th century wooden rowhouses that still stand today. The cobblestone street holds a total of 20 identical structures with matching brown stoops and green shutters. The development went up around 1882 and sadly fell into serious disrepair by the 1960s. In the 70s, homeowners received grants from the city to repair all the facades to the original splendor and the street is now a historic district. The homes do not come up for sale often, but when they do prices are just shy of a million dollars for the three-story homes. Since this is New York, you can also bet this unique block has received a little star treatment. Sylvan Terrace was featured on Boardwalk Empire. 1-20 Sylvan Terrace
Broken Angel in Brooklyn is the most endangered building on the list (Photo: Padraic Ryan/Wikimedia CC)
Bedford- Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Broken Angel, an architectural oddity tucked in a quiet corner of Bedford-Stuyvesant, is half artwork, half construction project. Arthur Wood and his wife Cynthia bought the building in the 1980s and started creating artistic additions. At one point the building, with a cacophony of distorted fragments of wood and glass, reached a total of 10 stories. In 2006, a fire brought down much of the structure and the city declared it unsafe. Arthur and Cynthia then announced they were partnering with a local developer to convert the building into condo and artist space, but the plans never came to fruition. Cynthia passed away in 2010 after a long battle with cancer and Arthur, now living in the building alone, is facing foreclosure proceedings, making this the most endangered building on the list. 4-8 Downing St., Brooklyn
TWA Flight Center
JFK Airport, Queens
When you envision an airport terminal, you usually think of a concrete box, somewhere unremarkable to pass through quickly as you come and go. Which makes this standalone terminal at JFK Airport all the more bizarre. The curvaceous building seems to have wings itself, resembling a jet or a bird about to take off in flight. Famed architect Eero Saarinen designed the terminal for Trans World Airlines at what was then known as Idlewild airport. The complex opened in the 1962 (a year after Saarinen’s death) during the golden age of air travel. It was taken out of service in 2001, in part due the financial failings of TWA. The building isn’t going anywhere, though. The city designated both the interior and the exterior of the terminal a landmark in 1994, and in September 2013 rumors began to circulate that hotelier Andre Balazs was planning The Standard, Flight Center to give the space new life.
The building at 19 W 46th St. in Midtown is just 12.5 feet wide
Midtown
In a neighborhood known for its towering skyscrapers, this building on W 46th St. rises a measly five stories. On top of that, it’s only 12.5 feet wide, with just a single centered window on the upper floors. Though this isn’t the narrowest building in the city (the title belongs to a 9.5-foot-wide townhouse on Bedford Street down in the West Village), its width is particularly comical as it is sandwiched between two much larger builds. The neighboring Art Deco buildings are more than twice its height and were likely not even possible when No. 19 was built back in 1865. Space is used efficiently in NYC, so despite not having much square footage to spare, the building today houses a restaurant, a beauty salon and three apartments. 19 W 46th St.
The owner of Greenwich Locksmith has decorated the building’s facade with thousands of keys (Photo: Edenpictures/Flickr CC)
Greenwich Village
This stand-alone building has become a Greenwich Village institution. Greenwich Locksmith, which has been in the neighborhood for more than 30 years, is only 125 square feet and easily dwarfed by the larger developments that now line Seventh Avenue. But looking closely, you’ll notice an elaborate pattern on the building façade entirely designed out of keys. The owner tested out designs a few years ago, and locals were delighted by the project. He decided to cover the entire façade in key art, and started buying up pounds of keys from local scrapyards. The final product — composed of thousands of keys in a swirling, whimsical design — took two full years to put up. 56 Seventh Ave.
The aggressively pink Palazzo Chupi stands out amid its more staid West Village neighbors (Photo: Salisasaki/Flickr CC)
West Village
This development made a splash in the West Village when it debuted in 2008 with a Venetian palazzo-inspired facade painted bright pink. Needless to say, it stuck out in a neighborhood that likes to pride itself on historic brownstones and cobblestone streets. (A preservationist even called this “an exploded Malibu Barbie house.”) The architect, artist/director Julian Schnabel, claims he sketched the building — which sits on top of a former horse stable — in 15 minutes. Since the year of its debut, the Pepto-Bismol pink has faded into a sort of dusty rose color. Was that the architect’s plan all along? A mystery like that only makes a weird building weirder. 360 W 11th St.
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