New York Holds Its Breath
A buckling Midtown tower turned a routine workday into a citywide spectacle, as engineers rushed to shore up a 37-storey building and New Yorkers watched yet another test of urban nerves.
New York’s latest front-page crisis began with bricks falling and support columns buckling inside a high-rise conversion on East 42nd Street, the former Pfizer headquarters now being turned into apartments. Officials said two columns failed around the 21st and 22nd floors, floors sagged, streets were closed and nearby buildings were evacuated while engineers worked to stabilize the structure.
The danger was limited but unnerving. City officials said the steel-frame tower was unlikely to collapse completely, though a partial collapse remained possible if the damaged area could not be secured. By Wednesday, emergency work had brought some cautious optimism, but the image of a Manhattan skyscraper under watch captured the day: a city built on confidence staring up at the possibility that even steel can wobble.
