One of the first major projects designed by Richard Roth Jr., one of the "sons" in the famous architectural firm of Emery Roth & Sons, Tower East was a radical departure from traditional high-rise apartment building design in New York. Initiated just before the 1961 Zoning Resolution that promoted the use of plazas to provide more public space and also permit taller buildings that did not fully occupy their sites, this tower became a prototype for many others, especially to the south on Third Avenue: a tall tower set on a low-rise base. Unlike the Seagram Building on Park Avenue that actually created a large public plaza and was highly influential in the rationale for much of the new zoning in 1961, this tower does not provide street-level public space, but its freestanding tower, setback from the base on all sides, does provide considerably more "light and air" to its surroundings (as well as casting a longer shadow). The 34-story, 132-unit cooperative apartment tower is quite distinguished and far more attractive than the previous generation’s minimal "white brick monstrosities." With its bronze-color window sashes and dark-tinted picture windows and its exposed-concrete piers on the east and west façades, it conjures up pin-strip suit snazziness. Interestingly, the north and south façades are treated differently with inset exposed-concrete walls that do not extend to the building’s corners. These façades make the building appear somewhat less "commercial" than...