United Nations Secretariat Building United Nations Secretariat Building The United Nations Secretariat Building is a tall skyscraper and the centerpiece of the headquarters of the United Nations, located in the Turtle Bay in Midtown Manhattan area of Manhattan, in New York City. The lot where the building stands is considered United Nations territory, although it remains part of the United States. It is the first skyscraper in New York City to use a curtain wall. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Secretariat Building occurred on September 14, 1948. A consortium of four contracting companies from Manhattan and Queens were selected to construct the Secretariat Building
Headquarters of the United Nations UN had completely moved out of its Lake Success headquarters by May. The construction of the General Assembly Building was delayed due to a shortage of limestone for the building, which in turn resulted from a heavy snow at the British limestone quarries that were supplying the building's limestone. The erection of the building's framework began in February 1952. The Manhattan headquarters was declared complete on October 10, 1952. The cost of construction was reported to be on budget at $65 million. In 1953, twenty-one nations donated furnishings or offered to decorate the UN headquarters. A new library building for