From the functionalbeauty of the glass curtain wall to the thoughtful use of light and space, Lever House is the ideal modern office

lever history

History

Construstruction begins; Lever House model included in MoMA exhibit on SOM
(1950)

The perpendicular slabs of green glass and stainless steel, appearing to hover in space above Park Avenue.

Construction of Lever House is completed

First Honor Award, American Institute of Architects
(AIA)


Gold Medal, Architectural League of New York
(1952)

 

Best Building Award, Fifth Avenue Association
(1954)

National Plant America Award, American Association of Nurserymen (1958)

National 25 Year Award, American Institute of Architects (AIA) (1980)

Landmark Designation, Landmarks Preservation Commission (1982)

First restoration completed with replacement 
of glass curtain wall (2001)

Casa Lever opens on ground floor of Lever House (2009)

Redevelopment completed, leasing begins for office tenants (2022)

Viewsand Structure

The tower’s perpendicular position relative to Park Avenue creates unique sightlines from any position on each floor of Lever House

Lever House sparked a revolutionwith its pioneering green glass facade and orderly grid of stainless steel mullions.

“For years, businessmen vied with each other 
in the attempt to put up the tallest building in the city… Lever House has pointed the way for a new kind of competition to provide open spaces and a return to the human scale.”

The New Yorker, 1952
Lewis Mumford

“Lever House is a building of outstanding qualities, mechanical, aesthetic, human… and it has used to the full all the means now available for making a building comfortable, gracious, and handsome.”

The New Yorker, August 1952
Lewis Mumford