Tower 57
135 East 57th Street | also 123 East 57th Street, 125 East 57th Street, 131 East 57th Street | East Midtown | built 1987
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1931
A glass-fronted modernist building by Thompson & Churchill stands on the corner before the tower
The corner site was first occupied by 137 East 57th Street, designed in 1931 by Thompson & Churchill in the International Style. It had six or seven stories and a facade that was mostly glass, with only a little colored terracotta. The facade was cantilevered from interior columns, so there was no column at the corner, and row houses of two to eight stories ran west of it. This is the earlier building on the lot.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1983
The landowning Wallace family moves to cancel the developer's lease over a demolished building
In 1983 the Wallace family, which had owned the land since the 1940s, moved to end Madison Equities' lease, saying the firm had raised rents and torn down a building in violation of its terms. The year before, the Landmarks Preservation Commission had been weighing a designation for 137 East 57th Street, but it canceled its hearing after demolition permits were issued. The lease attempt failed, though it delayed construction.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1987
A Kohn Pedersen Fox postmodern tower opens on 57th Street
Developer Madison Equities completed 135 East 57th Street in 1987 to designs by Kohn Pedersen Fox, a postmodern tower of about 32 stories and 430 feet at the corner of Lexington Avenue. A gray granite shaft curves around a corner plaza that holds an open-air tempietto of 30-foot columns. The plaza earned the developers a 25 percent zoning bonus in floor area.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1987
The antiques market Place des Antiquaires opens in the basement
Place des Antiquaires, an antiques and art marketplace with about 90 storefronts, opened in the basements of 135 East 57th Street in November 1987. The menswear store Louis, Boston had leased the first through third floors the previous month. Early office tenants included the Dutch bank NMB Corporation, Xerox and Moet-Hennessey.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1991
The antiques center files for bankruptcy and so does the Gladstone family
By 1990 the Place des Antiquaires basement market drew only 10,000 to 14,000 visitors a month, and three retail tenants paying $2 million a year in rent left at once. The owners could not make payments, and the dealers' complex filed for Chapter 11 protection in June 1991. The Gladstone family also filed, and CBRE began collecting the tenants' rents.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1992
Mortgage holders take over the building's leasehold in 1992
After financial trouble and bankruptcy filings by the developer's family, the building's mortgage holders took over its leasehold in December 1992. In 1997, the Cohen Brothers group bought the leasehold for $114 million. Designer Jacques Garcia then redesigned the lobby, with the work finished in 1999.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1994
Daffy's replaces the failed antiques market in the basements
Place des Antiquaires closed entirely in 1994. It had lacked a director and an advertising budget, though the office tower above was nearly fully leased. The space went to the discount store Daffy's, which planned to renovate the basements, and a temporary Ikea pop-up store opened in the building in 1995.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1997
The Cohen Brothers buy the leasehold for $114 million and hire Jacques Garcia for the lobby
After the mortgage lenders tried to sell the building, the Cohen Brothers group bought its leasehold in 1997 for $114 million. Charles Steven Cohen brought in Jacques Garcia for a new lobby design and Thomas Balsley for a new plaza. The lobby work was done by 1999, when the building was full apart from two floors, though ING and Xerox had left.
“…the Cohen Brothers group bought the building's leasehold that year, paying $114 million.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2002
The tower becomes Oscorp Tower in Spider-Man
The 2002 film Spider-Man depicted 135 East 57th Street as the Oscorp Tower. The building also appears as the headquarters of the fictional E-Corp in the USA Network series Mr. Robot.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2025
TF Cornerstone plans to convert the tower into 350 apartments
In August 2025 TF Cornerstone announced a conversion of the building into 350 apartments, with about a quarter set aside as affordable housing, and signed a ground lease with the Wallace family. Work was scheduled to begin by June 2026. Saks Fifth Avenue said it would close its Off 5th store in the basement because of the disruption, and Chelsea Piers Fitness later leased that space.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- 135 East 57th StreetWikipedia
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