The Galleria

117 East 57th Street | also 115 East 57th Street, 110 East 58th Street | East Midtown | built 1975

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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1973

    December

    The Board of Estimate approves glass-enclosed winter gardens for the new tower

    To allow enclosed balconies, the city's Board of Estimate had to approve a zoning change, which it did in December 1973 with limits on how they could be used. The result was the Galleria's winter gardens, about 13 by 13 feet and heated, placed on alternating floors so each had an unobstructed glass ceiling. They could not serve as bedrooms, so as not to count toward floor area, and apartments with them sold for more.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1975

    December 22

    Heir Stewart Mott balks at the cost of his custom penthouse, leaving the top floors empty

    The philanthropist and General Motors heir Stewart Rawlings Mott had designed a four-level penthouse atop the Galleria around sunrise and sunset views and room to grow vegetables. By December 1975 it stood empty, and Mott told the New York Times that its price had made him doubt the purchase. The tower's foundation had required strengthening to carry the two feet of soil he wanted for his garden.

    Source: Internet Archive

  3. 1975

    The Galleria opens with an eight-story atrium wing

    The Galleria, a 55-story mixed-use tower designed by David Kenneth Specter, with Philip Birnbaum designing the apartment interiors, was completed in 1975 for developer Madison Equities. The building cost $40 million. An eight-story atrium wing faces 57th Street, with a granite facade and a sloping ceiling, and the residential tower behind it has glass-enclosed winter garden balconies.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1976

    Morgan Guaranty Trust buys the tower after a bankruptcy

    After the Galleria went bankrupt, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company bought the land and both parts of the building in August 1976, a year after its completion. It sold the commercial space in 1979 for about $10.95 million. The federal government of the United Arab Emirates owned an apartment in the tower from 1978 to 2002.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1991

    March 20

    Eric Clapton's young son Conor dies after falling from a 53rd-floor window

    Conor Clapton, the 4-and-a-half-year-old son of the guitarist Eric Clapton, died on March 20, 1991, after falling from an open bedroom window on the 53rd floor, where he was staying with his mother. Police said a housekeeper had left the window open after cleaning it and that it had no guard. He landed on the roof of a four-story building next door, and the Health Department looked into window-guard rules.

    Source: Internet Archive

  6. 1996

    February

    The members-only Atrium Club closes abruptly, and a health club takes over its space

    The Atrium Club, a members-only club of about 35,000 square feet on three intermediate stories of the tower's commercial section, closed abruptly in February 1996 amid financial trouble. It had offered lounges, dining spaces, swimming pools and a music room with mirrored walls. The New York Health & Racquet Club took over the space and expanded it into a fitness club of roughly 41,000 square feet that also reached part of a fourth floor.

    “The Atrium Club abruptly shuttered in February 1996 due to financial issues, and the New York Health & Racquet Club acquired the Atrium Club space.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 1997

    David Copperfield buys the Galleria's penthouse

    Magician David Copperfield took over the Galleria's penthouse in 1997. Early tenants of the tower included Broadway producer David Merrick and songwriter Jerry Leiber. In 2015, a pool in Copperfield's apartment burst, damaging elevators and flooding apartments up to 30 stories below.

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2024

    The condo board sues David Copperfield over water damage

    In 2024, the Galleria's condominium board sued David Copperfield for abandoning his penthouse and refusing to repair damage there. The New York Times reported that mold and floods had troubled the building in the meantime. The building's commercial condominium had been bought in 2002 by Joseph Moinian for $50 million.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 43 buildings with stories in East Midtown