Skyscraper Oddities

October 17, 2004 11:43 AM

In the late '90s, I went up to the top of the world trade center several times. One of the more unusual things I noticed was a first world war era biplane sitting on top of a building. I've recently tried to find more information on the unusual decoration and am coming up short. A number of pages reference a Sopwith Camel sitting on top of 77 water street. The yahoo map location for 77 water street seems too close to the water to match my memory. I though the plane was in the middle of a cluster of buildings.

Are there multiple decorative planes on top of buildings in lower manhattan (not counting helipads)? What other hidden oddities lurk on top of the world's skyscrapers?

If anyone can point me to a picture to the *top* of 77 Water Street, including the biplane, that would be really cool.

posted by b1tr0t to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

This book would have a picture.
posted by smackfu at 1:38 PM on October 17, 2004

While it's not the greatest quality, I found a reference to the building here (apparently there's a runway as well) and grabbed a snapshot of the rooftop. Not an ideal shot, but it's the best that I can find.
posted by sysinfo at 2:05 PM on October 17, 2004

Less crooked (but still fuzzy) view of the roof here. Sorry for the "trial mode" watermark, not willing to pay $40 to find biplanes. ;)
posted by sysinfo at 2:17 PM on October 17, 2004

hmmm - those pictures make it look like a professionally designed display. The plane that caught my eye was on an older building and seemed to have a lot of other junk around. I remember thinking that maybe someone bought a surplus plane between the world wars, moved it to the top of their building, and then forgot about it. Or maybe the artist(s) that built the plane did so on the older building and later moved it to 77 water.
posted by b1tr0t at 2:24 PM on October 17, 2004

There's a replica of the Statue of Liberty atop a building on 67th or 68th Street just east of Broadway - I can never remember the street number but I know what part of Lincoln Center it's visible from. Neat little bit of neighborhood architectrivia.
posted by ikkyu2 at 4:18 PM on October 17, 2004

77 Water Street is in the middle of a cluster of buildings. There is one building between it and the river.
posted by sad_otter at 9:55 PM on October 17, 2004