In recent years, the far west end of 42nd Street has witnessing a major sprouting of tall residential towers, none more stunning than these twin rental apartment towers known as Silver Towers that soar above a fabulous "character" sculpted by Tom Otterness..

For decades, 42nd Street west of Eighth Avenue has been pretty dismal apart from the famous "Green Giant" of Raymond Hood's Art Deco-style former McGraw-Hill Building just to the west of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey's bus terminal.

In 1987, however, Harry Macklowe erected the RiverBank West tower in 1987 at 555 West 42nd Street between 11th Avenue and the West Side Highway. Designed by Hardy Holtzman Pfeiffer, it was a handsome building whose ribbed top paid homage to that atop the former McGraw-Hill Building.

It would soon be followed by several more towers including the attractive 41-story Strand on the southeast corner of Tenth Avenue and 43rd Streets, in 1987, and RiverPlace, a red-brick, 921-unit, 41-story rental apartment complex on the western half of the full block bounded by 42nd and 41st Streets and 11th Avenue and the West Side Highway, a block owned by Silverstein Properties, and the Atelier designed by Costas Kondylis for the Moinian Group on the north side of 42nd Street whose protruding elements harkened to the oceanliner bridges of yore that used to dock nearby.

Just down the block from the former McGraw-Hill Building, Extell erected its 60-story Orion rental building, the tallest in the stretch, at 350 West 42nd Street in 2005 and it was followed by another very large glass-clad tower, called MiMA for "middle of Manhattan," erected further to the west by the Related Companies and designed by Arquitectonica.

The most recent addition to the street is Silver Towers, stunning and sparkling twin, glass-clad buildings on the eastern half of Silverstein's full block. They are designed by Costas Kondylis. While they do not relate aesthetically to Silverstein's buildings at the other end of the block, the block is so long that it really doesn't matter.

One could argue that the twin towers are meant to relate to the twin 1977 towers of Manhattan Plaza designed by David Todd & Associates on the north side of the street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues but visually they do not because they are aligned along the avenue and Manhattan Plaza's are aligned along 42nd Street.

In any event, Silver Towers are the gleaming glory of far West 42nd Street and distract one's eyes nicely from some of the street's less impressive recent towers such as the Theater Row Tower known as the "Zebra" that was erected in 2001, the 45-story Victory at 561 Tenth Avenue between 41st and 42nd Street that SLCE designed for Sidney Fetner in 2002.

Unlike 42nd Street east of Park Avenue which abounds in major architectural treasures such as the United Nations complex, Tudor City, the Ford Foundation Building, the Daily News Building, the Socony Mobil Building, the Chrysler Building, the Chanin Building, The Bowery Savings Bank Building and the Pershing Building, the 42nd Street west of Eighth Avenue has been for many years pretty dismal apart from the former McGraw-Hill Building.

(The middle of 42nd Street, of course, is not too shabby with Grand Central Terminal, the New York Public Library, One Bryant Park, the former Knickerbocker Hotel, the Cond? Nast, the Ernst & Young, and Reuters Buildings, the Candler Building and 11 Times Square, to say nothing about the renovated theaters along "The Great White Way" and the Westin Hotel designed by Arquitectonica on the northeast corner at Eighth Avenue.)

Silver Towers buffs up the street's image very nicely as its sleek just as Silverstein's very elegant 7 World Trade Center tower has set a high elegant standard at Ground Zero.

It is the city's largest luxury rental development with about 1,358 units in a mix of 935 market-rate apartments and 234 "affordable" units. The second through the seventh floors in the north tower are furnished units for 107 corporate tenants. On the southeast portion of the site is a 12-story building with 83 units for moderate-income tenants earning approximately 80 percent of median income.

The towers are joined by a six-story base that contains a 75-foot indoor swimming pool in the fitness center on the sixth floor, parking for 194 cars and more than 20,000 square feet of retail space.

Its park contains a huge sculpture incorporating slides by Tom Otterness, whose bulbous forms are always playful, whimsical and cheery. It inspired a May 1, 2009 article by Joey at ny.curbed.com with the headline "Rent at Silver Towers Or Its Playground Will Hunt You Down."

The lobby in the north tower has glass figurines by David Bennett and the south tower lobby has a glass installation by Lino Tagliapietra.

James Carpenter Design Associates designed the 42nd Street courtyard and glass pavilion and Thomas Balsey Associates designed the public park with the Otterness sculpture, a bocce court and an interactive mist fountain.

The towers are staggered on the site to maximize views.

The towers have concierge service, a driveway with valet parking, a spa, a nail salon and a yoga studio and each apartment has a washer and dryer.

The kitchens have cabinets of Zebrano and Wenge laminate and aluminum-framed silk glass, engineered stone countertops, Fisher & Paykel gas cooktop and oven.

Mr. Silverstein acquired the full block, which was zoned for low-rise industrial use, in 1984 for $20 million.

The towers' form is slightly modulated by a few small setbacks and their tops are illuminated at night.

In July 2001, Silverstein Properties bought the World Trade Center and six weeks later, it was destroyed when terrorists took control of two airliners and crashed into its twin towers and Mr. Silverstein has led the campaign to redevelop the center site.

The area is well service by a cross-town bus on 42nd Street but the city scrapped plans to add a subway station at 11th Avenue and 42n Street to its extension of the 7 line from Times Square for the Javits Convention Center at 35th Street, a plan that had been eagerly sought by several developers along 42nd Street.