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 as well as a deck over FDR Drive on the headquarters' eastern side. To fit in with the accelerated schedule of construction, the steel would have to be delivered by September. The project also included a four-lane, $2.28 million vehicular tunnel under First Avenue so that traffic could bypass the headquarters when the UN was in session. The tunnel started construction on August 1, 1949. The tunnel involved two years of planning due to its complexity. Property inside Tudor City, just west of the headquarters, was also acquired so that two streets near the UN headquarters could be widened. The