UN’s North Lawn Building to be demolished

Temporary structure was erected during complex’s renovation

The North Law Building at the United Nations headquarters on the Upper East Side (credit: UN Photos/Paulo Filgueiras)
The North Law Building at the United Nations headquarters on the Upper East Side (credit: UN Photos/Paulo Filgueiras)

The North Lawn Building, which housed critical United Nations operations during the complex’s $2.2 billion renovation, is set to be demolished.

The nearly-windowless steel and concrete structure, located along 46th and 47th streets on the Far East Side of Manhattan, will be taken down over the next few months, after just six year in existence.

The UN limited the demolition contract to just under $17 million, with the aim of attracting contractors that would recycle the building’s materials. Wantaugh, NY-based Gramercy Group was the winning bidder, the New York Times reported.

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It cost $140 million to build. The renovation as a whole cost $2.2 billion.

The site will return to being an open space. A piece of the Berlin Wall given to the complex in 2002 will return, as will Antun Augustincic’s equestrian “Peace” sculpture. – [NYT]Ariel Stulberg