1166 Avenue of the Americas Building

skyscraper
international-style
NY
New York

About the 1166 Avenue of the Americas Building in New York
Architect and team
Architectural style
Spaces and uses
Structure and materials

The 1166 Avenue of the Americas Building is an International Style skyscraper designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and built in 1974 in New York, NY.

1166 Avenue of the Americas Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The 1166 Avenue of the Americas Building is also known, or has been known as, International Paper Building, or Marsh & McLennan Headquarters.

Its precise street address is 1166 6th Avenue, New York, NY. You can also find it on the map here.

The building has been restored 2 times over the years to ensure its conservation and adaptation to the pass of time. The main restoration works happened in 2010 and 2017.

Building's timeline

Construction completed

1974

Restoration

2010

Restoration

2017

years ago

2025

1990 to 2010 - Since 1990, numerous rehabilitation projects have been carried out in the building, including the waterproofing of the plaza floors along with a redesign of the lighting and utilities. In 2001, in collaboration with William Fellows Architects, a memorial was designed featuring the names of the victims who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks. The architect in charge was Hoffmann Architects + Engineers.
2017 - The lobby was renovated, creating a space for the exhibition of artworks. The architect in charge was Gensler.

Architect and team

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

Commonly known as SOM, the firm was founded in Chicago in 1936 and has grown to be one of the largest architecture firms in the world.

Even long after its founders passed away, SOM has remained at the top of worldwide architectural excellence by attracting visionary architects. Amongst their most notorious partners we find names such as Gordon Bunshaft, Bruce Graham, Walter Netsch, Adrian Smith, Myron Goldsmith or David Childs.

SOM has also managed to grow and evolve to tackle the architectural challenges of each time, whatever those might be, and today is committed to aspects as important as efficiency and sustainability, as core values of their designs.

With a legacy spanning decades, SOM continues to shape the skylines of cities around the world, and is a usual contestant in any competition or selection process to design large-scale or iconic buildings and structures.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the 1166 Avenue of the Americas Building a reality:

WSP Cantor Seinuk in charge of Structural Engineering
Jaros Baum & Bolles in charge of MEP Engineering
KAWS, Roy Lichtenstein as the collaborating Artist

Architectural Style

The 1166 Avenue of the Americas Building can be categorized as an International Style building.

The international style originated in Europe in the early 20th century, and made its way to the US a couple of decades later when the rise of the Nazi regime forced figures such as Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, or Mies van der Rohe to flee Europe.

The International Style emerged as a response to the prevailing historicism and ornate architecture styles of the late 19th century, which according to a younger generation of architects didn't represent the new materials and construction techniques that were on the rise at the time.

Architecture in the early 20th century US was marked by the adoption of steel structures, modern construction techniques, and the rise of the skyscraper. As it turns out, this combination of circumstances created the perfect ecosystem for the International Style to flourish, becoming the to-go style for skyscraper designs during the mid-20th century, when American cities were growing fast.

The International Style’s legacy can not only be found in numerous iconic buildings across all major American cities, but also incorporated in contemporary architecture, which still puts a big emphasis on functionality and minimalism.

Spaces & Uses

The 1166 Avenue of the Americas Building reaches an architectural height of 600ft (183m), with the last accesible floor being 558ft (170m) off the gorund. It has a total of 46 floors, 44 above ground and 2 basements, served by 28 elevators.

Ever since opening its doors to the public in 1974, the 1166 Avenue of the Americas Building has mainly been used as Commercial space.

Materials & Structure

The 1166 Avenue of the Americas Building uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete, steel slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade uses a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features dark-glass windows arranged in a grid of dark gray stone. On floors 13 and 34, the mechanical levels are covered with black metal grilles instead of glass.

The main entrances are recessed and flanked by glass display windows with silver aluminum frames.