Mr. Pei is most famous for the Pyramid entrance to the Louvre in Paris, the Bank of China tower in Hong Kong, and the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. In New York, he designed the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Kips Bay Houses, University Village and the Four Seasons Hotel.

Mr. Pei retired several years ago but is involved with this project because he said it was important for him to do one more building with his son, Sandi,” adding that “The Centurion was the right project because of my close relationship with the Antonio family. Mr. Pei knew the father of Jos´ Roberto (“Robbie” Antonio of Antonio Development and liked the idea of his son, L.C. (Sandi) Pei working with Robbie.

Antonio Development has more than 50 properties with about 18.5 million square feet of residential, commercial and hotel space and golf course developments in five counties. The Antonio family also has distributor interests in jet planes and helicopters, BMW automobiles and one of the world s largest fertilizer companies.

The project is a venture between Antonio Development and Stillman Development International, of which Roy Stillman is a principal. Stillman Development developed The Metropolitan residential condominium on Third Avenue at 90th Street that was designed by Philip Johnson and Alan Ritchie and it is involved in the development of Trump International Hotel & Tower Fort Lauderdale.

The Centurion is a 17-story, mid-block building with 48 apartments at 33 West 56th Street. Initial pricing for the apartments, which range from 750 to 3,400 square feet, ranged from about $2 million to more than $10 million. Occupancy was scheduled for early 2009.

The building is clad in Chamesson limestone from France, the same that was used at the Four Seasons Hotel. The limestone has a warm beige color “animated by gentle wisps of brown veining” and the base of the building is dark-gray Jet Mist granite.

The project is notable for is cascading terraces and its five "lanterns," which is what Mr. Pei calls the five, double-height windows on the 56th Street façade. These are living rooms with 17-foot-ceilings and they extend above the "tapered" setbacks that are angled at the buildings east and west sides.

The building, which nicely complements the handsome Chambers Hotel a few doors to the east on the same block, has 31 different apartment layouts.

SCLE of which James Davidson is design partner is the designer of the building’s interiors.

The development replaces a 6-story building at 37 West 56th and three 5-story buildings at 31, 33 and 35 West 56th Street and it also uses air rights from 39 West 56th Street.

The building has a entrance marquee, a private exercise facility, a 65-car, 24-hour attend garage, a doorman, a concierge, a resident superintendent, and storage units for purchase.

There are two apartments on the second floor, and floors 3 through 6 have 5 apartments, the seventh floor has 4 apartments and the lower half of a duplex apartment, the eighth floor has the upper half of a duplex and three apartments, the ninth floor has 3 apartments, the tenth floor has 4 apartments each, floors 11 through 14 have 2 apartments each, and floors 15 and 16 will have one apartment each.

The floor and one continuous wall of the lobby are soft, cream-colored Magny du Louvre French limestone accented by finishes of blood Anigre wood, decorative marbles and rich leather seating in front of a glass wall overlooking a large waterfall over projecting weirs and a reflecting pool.

Most ceiling heights are 10 feet and laundry closets have Bosch Axxis washers and dryers.

Kitchens have natural walnut cabinetry, 1 ¼-inch-thick glass countertops, teak floors, and Sub-Zero refrigerators paneled in natural walnut, Wolf dual-fuel, stainless steel ranges, Sub-Zero under-counter wine chillers, and Bosch dishwashers.

Master bathrooms have While Blanco Dolomoti polished marble floors, recessed Roburn medicine cabinets, large vanity mirrors, Dual white Kohler Kathryn sinks, Dombracht fittings, white 6-foot cast iron bathtub by Michael S. Smith for Kallista, White San Raphael commode by Kallista.

Donald L. Taffner and his wife, Eleanor B. Taffner, founded in 1955 the American Friends of the Glasgow School of Art, which was founded by Rennie Charles Mackintosh, and its headquarters were located at 31 West 56th Street, the handsomest of the four buildings in the assemblage. The five-story, beige-brick building, had a rusticated one-story limestone base.

33 and 35 West 56th Street had red-brick facades and 33 West 56th Street once was the location of Club Napoleon, a famous speakeasy operated by Larry Fay that was frequented by Mae West and George Raft and had been previously been the home of Charles Donohue whose brother wed an heir to the Woolworth fortune. Club Napoleon was later called Casa Blanca, according to LindaAnn Loshiavo, the author of "Courting Mae West," a play.

The 56th Street block between Fifth and Madison Avenue has numerous restaurants and its eastern end of the block is anchored by an Abercrombie & Fitch store that is very unusual in that its large store windows on Fifth Avenue are shuttered on the inside. The immediate neighborhood has many famous retailers such as Harry Winston, Tiffany, Cartier, Prada and Bergdorf Goodman and it is very close to the Plaza Hotel and Central Park.

It is also close to the office building at 40 West 57th Street, which has a through-block arcade and was recently given a new façade. To the west of that building is a long-vacant assemblage that goes through to 57th Street.