3 Times Square
3 Times Square, also known as the Thomson Reuters Building, is a 30-story skyscraper at Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Located on Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Street, the building measures 555 feet (169 m) to its roof and 659 feet (201 m) to its spire. The building was designed by Fox & Fowle and developed by Rudin Management for news-media company Reuters. The site is owned by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, though Rudin and Reuters have a long-term leasehold on the building.
"Reuters Building" redirects here. For the building in London sometimes referred to by the same name, see 30 South Colonnade.3 Times Square
Completed
Commercial
3 Times Square
Manhattan, New York 10036, U.S.
1998
2001
555 ft (169 m)
659 ft (201 m)
486 ft (148 m)
448 ft (137 m)
30
855,000 sq ft (79,400 m2)
Fox & Fowle planned a portion of the facade as a glass curtain wall, though the northeast corner and the south facade are made of masonry. The eastern facade has a curving curtain wall with a wedge atop the southeast corner, as well as a triple-height lobby facing Seventh Avenue. The building contains 855,000 square feet (79,400 m2) of floor space, much of which was originally taken by Reuters. The lowest three stories contain retail space and an entrance to the Times Square subway station.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Park Tower Realty and the Prudential Insurance Company of America had planned to develop a tower for the site as part of a wide-ranging redevelopment of West 42nd Street. After the successful development of the nearby 4 Times Square, Reuters proposed consolidating its headquarters at Times Square in 1997, enlisting Rudin Management as a development partner. Work started in 1998 and the building was completed in 2001, with Reuters occupying the vast majority of the space. The building was jointly owned by Reuters and Rudin for two decades, and a renovation of the interior was announced in 2021.
Site[edit]
3 Times Square is on the western side of Seventh Avenue, between 42nd and 43rd Street, at the southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.[3][4] The land lot is L-shaped and covers 29,630 sq ft (2,753 m2),[3] with a frontage of 200 ft (61 m) on Seventh Avenue, 131 feet (40 m) on 42nd Street, and 164 feet (50 m) on 43rd Street.[5] 3 Times Square is at the eastern end of a city block that also contains the Todd Haimes, Lyric, and New Victory theaters. Other nearby buildings include 229 West 43rd Street and 1501 Broadway to the north, 1500 Broadway to the northeast, One Times Square and 4 Times Square to the southeast, the Times Square Tower and 5 Times Square to the south, and the New Amsterdam Theatre to the southwest.[3][4]
An entrance to the New York City Subway's Times Square–42nd Street station, served by the 1, 2, 3, 7, <7>, N, Q, R, W, and S trains,[6] is within the base of the building on 42nd Street.[7] The subway entrance in the building is on 42nd Street, about 75 feet (23 m) west of its original location at the corner with Seventh Avenue.[8] The entrance consists of a canopy extending above the sidewalk, as well as a staircase down to the station mezzanine.[7] It was originally planned with escalators, but the entrance was downsized during the building's construction. A "Low Headroom" sign had to be placed on the entrance because of its reduced size.[9]
3, 4, and 5 Times Square and the Times Square Tower comprise a grouping of office buildings that were developed at Times Square's southern end in the late 1990s and early 2000s.[10][11][12] The surrounding area is part of Manhattan's Theater District and contains many Broadway theaters. The site on the northwest corner of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue had historically been occupied by the Victoria Theatre, which operated from 1899 to 1915.[13] The former theater then became the Rialto Theatre, which opened in 1916.[14] The Rialto was rebuilt in 1935[15] and continued to operate until 1998, sharing a building at 1481 Broadway with several storefronts.[16] The theater building, in its final years of operation, had a 500-seat theater and 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) in retail.[17]
Critical reception[edit]
When the building plans were announced in 1998, Herbert Muschamp wrote for The New York Times that the design "is decent, well mannered and deferential, and if you were a gentleman, you would tip your hat."[29][30] Several architectural critics pointed out the use of masonry on some parts of the building and glass elsewhere.[31] William Morgan wrote for Oculus: "...the Reuters building is too fussy, too busy, and laden with too many historical references. But it is also a lot of fun; glitzy is appropriate here."[129] Joseph Giovannini of New York magazine expressed his appreciation for the design, saying that "the Reuters Building does not strive to be a perfect whole" but was instead influenced by its setting.[31][130] Giovannini likened it to a "fraternal twin" of 4 Times Square, adding that 3 Times Square "fits seamlessly here because Fox & Fowle has opened the normally closed skyscraper form to a part of the city that’s already layered in short and tall, new and old buildings".[130] Karrie Jacobs of New York magazine also likened the building to 4 Times Square.[26]
Some critics viewed the mixture of facades as a negative attribute. Paul Goldberger of The New Yorker wrote that the building "sometimes seems like a bunch of unintegrated pieces".[131] Ned Cramer wrote for Architecture magazine in 2000: "What they built is more of an identity crisis—a mish-mash of forms and materials utterly lacking in finesse or wit or higher meaning."[31][132] Cramer concluded that describing the building as a "skyscraper" would be a "diminishment of its predecessors".[132]
