Gracie Towers, 1961.

Completed in 1961 to the designs of architects Sylvan and Robert Bien, this 21-story Modern apartment building was advertised as a "Riviera on the River." Directly across from Gracie Mansion and Carl Schurz Park, the bright white glazed brick building featured balcony on nearly every floor that provided sweeping views across the river. Though unabashedly Modern, the architects embraced traditional features usually seen in older, classical style apartment buildings, including an entrance court with circular driveway, a grand double floor lobby, and an interior courtyard with formal gardens. Another selling point for the building was its swimming pool on the roof terrace (on the 22nd floor) and model apartments created by leading interior designers of the period.

Yet even with all of these features, this structure was panned like so many Modern style buildings. William Knowlton Zinsser referred to it in his book, City Dwellers (1962) as, " a leviathan of ... dreariness."