The Skyscraper Museum

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The Big Party
KEY TO OWNERS
Owners and Developers of New York Jumbos
Owners Key: 1. Joe Moinian (17 Bettery Place) 2. Larry Silverstein (120 Broadway, 7 World Trade Center) 3. Leona Helmsley (Empire State Building) 4. Susan Uris Halpern (55 Water Street) 5. Jonathan Green (1221 Ave. of the Americas)\ 6. Davar Rad (61 Broadway) 7. Adam Hochfelder (230 Park Ave.) 8. Steven Roth (One Penn Plaza) 9. Jeff Marconi (200 Park Ave., One Madison Ave., 11 Madison Ave.) 10. Ric Clark (One Liberty Plaza, World Financial Center) 11. Steve Witkoff (233 Broadway, 80 Maiden Lane)

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THE BIG PARTY

The Skyscraper Museum Celebrates New York's Skyline Shapers

The Big Party
(l to r) Larry Graham, Carol Willis and Sandy Frucher

Over one hundred notable owners, developers, architects, engineers, contractors, and managers gathered at The Skyscraper Museum on the evening of Monday, December 6, 1999 to create an end-of-the-century historic photograph of the men and women responsible for New York's biggest buildings. As the world's premier skyscraper city and home to by far the greatest number of the world's largest towers, Manhattan has been the undisputed center for the professional talent that designs, erects, and manages major towers worldwide.

The Big Party
(l to r) Larry Silverstein, David Childs and Leona Helmsley

The Big Party and portrait was organized in conjunction with the Museum's exhibition BIG BUILDINGS, which surveys seventy structures in New York and beyond that over the century have been the world's tallest or largest, as measured by total area (buildings categorized as Jumbos). This historic record will become part of the museum's permanent exhibit in its new home in Battery Park City, opening in 2001. The photographs in question can currently be viewed in the "Century Roundup" section of the BIG BUILDINGS virtual exhibit.

The Big Party
(l to r) Jed Marcus, Brenda Levin and Marilynn Davis of the Museum's Board of Directors

Among the elite group of Jumbo owners and developers in attendance were Leona Helmsley of Helmsley-Spear (Empire State Building, Lincoln Building), Larry Silverstein of Silverstein Properties (7 World Trade Center and 120 Broadway), Steven Roth of Vornado Realty Trust (One Penn Plaza), Ric Clark of Brookfield Properties (World Financial Center, One Liberty Plaza), Steven Witkoff of The Witkoff Group (Woolworth Building, 80 Maiden Lane), Jonathon Green of The Rockefeller Group (The McGraw-Hill Building), Adam Hochfelder of Max Capital (230 Park Avenue), Susan Uris Halpern of the Uris Brothers Foundation (original developer of 55 Water Street), Joe Moinian of The Moinian Group (17 Battery Place) and Davar Rad of Crown Broadway (61 Broadway).

The Big Party
(l to r) Carl Weisbrod, Cherrie Nanninga, Charles Maikish and Carol Willis

Additional firms represented included Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Chase Manhattan Bank, Tishman-Speyer, Cushman & Wakefield, Mitsui Fudosan, S.L. Green, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The Museum also honored Jumbo designers--the architects, engineers, and contractors of the largest skyscrapers around the world. David M. Childs and Will iam F. Baker represented Skidmore Owings & Merrill, designer of such innovative buildings as One Liberty Plaza and One Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York, the Sears Tower and John Hancock Center in Chicago, and the Jin Mao Building in Shanghai. Morse Diesel President John Cavanagh attended on behalf of Diesel Construction's many high-rise projects, including 200 Park Avenue and Sears Tower. Charles Thornton and Richard Tomasetti, New York-based engineers of the world's tallest Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were also present for the photograph and reception.

The Big Party
(l to r) Leona Helmsley and Amy Witkoff

Among the other design and building firms represented were Turner Construction; Pei Cobb Freed Architects; Perkins & Will; Weiskopf & Pickworth; Jaros, Baum & Bolles; The Office of James Ruderman; and Abramovitz, Kingsland-Shiff.

This project is made possible with public funds from a Technology Initiative Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.