Manhattan Plaza
Encyclopedia
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It has 1,688 units and about 3,500 tenants, primarily in the performing arts. It occupies the city block bounded north by 43rd Street, east by 9th Avenue, south by 42nd Street, and west by 10th Avenue.
The complex is a Mitchell-Lama development. It was built with U.S. Housing and Urban Development Section 8 subsidies, under which tenants pay no more than 30% of their income for rent, and the Section 8 program pays the rest. The complex was originally designed to rent 70% of the apartments to performing artists. Manhattan Plaza was designed by architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
David Todd
David Todd
David F. M. Todd was a New York City-based American architect. Todd was best known for designing the Manhattan Plaza complex and serving as chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1989 and 1990....
.
To compensate for the fact that the block is on a slightly tilted slope, the 10th Avenue building has 46 stories while the other has one fewer, thereby creating the illusion of equal height.
Aside from the McGraw-Hill Building
330 West 42nd Street
330 West 42nd Street is also known as the McGraw Hill Building. The original McGraw-Hill building was located at 469 Tenth Avenue. This second McGraw-Hill building, on 42nd Street was completed in 1931, the same year as the completion of the Empire State Building. The architect was Raymond Hood...
, the complex was the tallest in the Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....
area at the time it was completed, and is still highly visible from the north, south, and west sides.
Between the two buildings are a multi-story garage, a fitness center (including a swimming pool), a basketball court, a playground, tennis courts, a wall-climbing center, and town houses.
Though the majority of occupants work in the performing arts, there are a number of long-time residents who were offered apartments because they were displaced from the old neighborhood.
Located within the 10th Avenue building is the 43rd St Kids Preschool, which was founded in 1981. It is a private, non-profit, parent cooperative school, and accepts children ages 19 months to 5 years.
More than 1,500 one-act plays including more than 40 by Lewis Black
Lewis Black
Lewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena...
have been staged at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in the West Bank Cafe (where Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
was a bartender) at the base of the building.
Play Ground & Tiki Recreation
In the middle of March 2009, the original Playground located on the 3rd floor rooftop was taken down in order to build a new Playground built by Kompan and sponsored by former football player Tiki BarberTiki Barber
Atiim Kiambu Hakeem-Ah "Tiki" Barber is an American football running back who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia....
. The company was known as Tiki Recreation. It is 1 of 3 rare and unique playgrounds. It has an electronic setting and virtual interactive games programed within the equipment. The park officially opened June 8, 2009.
Documentary
The Building is the subject of an upcoming documentary titled "Miracle on 42nd Street". The film is intended to have a festival release and is expected to be aired on television. The filmmakers consist of current and former tenants.MPSYP
Manhattan Plaza has a Summer Day Camp / Youth Program every year for kids ages 7 to 13 from July to August. The camp consists of Swimming, Baseball, Basketball, Dodgeball, Tennis, Wall Climbing, Tae-Kwon-Do, Cooking, and Four Square / Box Ball as well as Performing Arts. Campers also created a "4Square" type game called Nations. The camp has trips and sees movies once a week.Notable residents and Famous visitors
- Tayyar Akdeniz (Current Resident)
- Thomas AdcockThomas AdcockThomas Adcock is a Detroit-born journalist and mystery novelist who won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original in 1992. His novels and short stories been translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Bulgarian and Czech...
(Current Resident) - Marin AlsopMarin AlsopMarin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
(Current Resident) - Dylan BakerDylan BakerDylan Baker is an American actor, known for playing supporting roles in both major studio and independent films.-Early life:...
(Current Resident) - Alec BaldwinAlec BaldwinAlexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
(Visitor) - Tiki BarberTiki BarberAtiim Kiambu Hakeem-Ah "Tiki" Barber is an American football running back who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia....
(Visitor) - Lewis BlackLewis BlackLewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena...
(Unknown) - Nell CarterNell CarterNell Carter was an American singer, and film, stage, and television actress. She won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin, as well as an Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television...
(Former Resident) - Larry DavidLarry DavidLawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
(Former Resident) - Mike Freeman (Current Resident)
- Dexter GordonDexter GordonDexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and an Academy Award-nominated actor . He is regarded as one of the first and most important musicians to adapt the bebop musical language of people like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell to the tenor saxophone...
(Former Resident) - Terrence HowardTerrence HowardTerrence Dashon Howard is an American actor. Having his first major role in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, which subsequently led to a number of roles in films and high visibility among African American audiences. Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of well-reviewed television...
(Former Resident) - James Earl JonesJames Earl JonesJames Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
(Former Resident and Visitor) - Alicia KeysAlicia KeysAlicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
(Former Resident) - Kenny KramerKenny KramerKenny Kramer is an American stand-up comedian and is the real-life inspiration for the character of Cosmo Kramer from the television sitcom Seinfeld.-Pre-Seinfeld:...
(Current Resident) - Andrea McArdleAndrea McArdleAndrea McArdle is an American singer and actress best known for playing Annie in the Broadway musical Annie, as well as for her alto range and strong vocal belt.-Career:She was born in Philadelphia...
(Current Resident) - Alan MenkenAlan MenkenAlan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards...
(Unknown) - Charles MingusCharles MingusCharles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
(Former Resident) - Conan O'BrienConan O'BrienConan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
(Visitor) - Al PacinoAl PacinoAlfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
(Former Resident) - Pokolumps (Current Resident)
- Adrian PasdarAdrian PasdarAdrian Kayvan Pasdar is an American actor, voice artist, and film director. He is known for playing Jim Profit on the TV series Profit, for his roles in Near Dark, Carlito's Way, Mysterious Ways and as Nathan Petrelli on Heroes. Additionally, he directed the feature film Cement...
(Unknown) - Zachary QuintoZachary QuintoZachary John Quinto is an American actor and producer. Quinto grew up in Pennsylvania and was active in high school musical theater. In the early 2000s he guest starred in television series and appeared in a recurring role in the serial drama 24 from 2003 to 2004...
(Visitor) - Mickey RourkeMickey RourkePhilip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
(Former Resident) - Jack WardenJack WardenJack Warden was an American character actor.-Early life:Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry...
(Former Resident) - Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
(Former Resident)
Journalist and Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
-winning novelist, Thomas Adcock, has lived in the Manhattan Plaza since 1984 with his wife, actress Kim Sykes; Larry David
Larry David
Lawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
, co-creator of the sitcom Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
lived in Manhattan Plaza across from comedian Kenny Kramer
Kenny Kramer
Kenny Kramer is an American stand-up comedian and is the real-life inspiration for the character of Cosmo Kramer from the television sitcom Seinfeld.-Pre-Seinfeld:...
who provided inspiration for the character Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Michael Richards...
.
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
has family members throughout the building; his brother provided the original voice heard when entering the "Park & Lock" Garage.
Tiki Barber
Tiki Barber
Atiim Kiambu Hakeem-Ah "Tiki" Barber is an American football running back who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia....
, who was involved with construction of the new playground, has occasionally visited the playground.
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
worked there as a security officer in his first and only non-acting job.
External links
- Manhattan Plaza Tenants Association (MPTA). Official organization for residents recognized by the New York City Department of Housing and Urban Development
- MPTA newsletter
- 43rd St Kids Preschool
- http://miracleon42ndstreet.org/home Official Website of Miracle on 42nd Street