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 Apartments across First Avenue from the Zeckendorf site. The city, in turn, spent $5 million on clearing the land. While the United Nations had dreamed of constructing an independent city for its new world capital, multiple obstacles soon forced the organization to downsize their plans. They ultimately decided to build on Rockefeller's East River plot, since the land was free and the land's owners were well known. The diminutive site on the East River necessitated a Rockefeller Center-type vertical complex, thus, it was a given that the Secretariat would be housed in a tall office tower. During daily meetings from