Paramount Plaza

Paramount Plaza
General information
Status	Completed
Type	Office
Architectural style	International Style
Location	1633 Broadway, New York City, US
Coordinates	40°45′43″N 73°59′04″W / 40.76194°N 73.98444°W / 40.76194; -73.98444
Construction started	Late 1967
Opening	August 1971
Owner	Paramount Group
Height
Roof	669 ft (204 m)
Top floor	630 ft (190 m)
Technical details
Floor count	48
Floor area	2,359,148 sq ft (219,172.0 m2)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Emery Roth & Sons
Developer	Uris Brothers
References
[1]

Paramount Plaza, also 1633 Broadway and formerly the Uris Building, is a 48-story skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Emery Roth and Sons, the building was developed by the Uris brothers and was renamed for its owner, the Paramount Group, by 1980. Paramount Plaza occupies a site bounded by Broadway to the east, 51st Street to the north, and 50th Street to the south.

The building has a slab-like massing, rising straight from street level to the roof, 669 ft (204 m) above ground. The facade is covered in dark glass and carries the name of German company Allianz near the roof. There is a sunken plaza on the eastern side of the building, leading to the 50th Street station of the New York City Subway, as well as a pedestrian corridor and driveway under the western side. The driveway and corridor lead to the building's two Broadway theaters: the 1,900-seat Gershwin Theatre on the second floor and the 650-seat Circle in the Square Theatre in the basement.

The Uris Buildings Corporation leased the site of the Capitol Theatre in 1967 and proposed a skyscraper on the site. The two Broadway theaters were included in exchange for additional floor area, and the building opened in August 1971. The building went into foreclosure in May 1974, just two years after it was completed, and the Paramount Group bought a majority ownership stake in the building in 1976. J. C. Penney and Sears initially took up much of the building's space, though the subsequent tenants came from a wider variety of fields, including law and finance. The retail space and plazas have been renovated multiple times during the building's history. The Paramount Group and several banks jointly owned the building until 2011, when Beacon Capital Group acquired a partial ownership stake; Paramount assumed full ownership in 2015.