Trump Tower

Hi friends, I hope you're fine? Here in Belgium, it's really cold, it's going to last another week and then normally it will start to get better and spring will come slowly.

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I'm going to talk to you today about the Trump Tower, it reminds me of Biff Tanen's building in Back to the future, admit that there is still a strong resemblance. Even between Biff and Donald there is one!

The Trump Tower is a 58-storey skyscraper, the last being numbered 68. It is located on Fifth Avenue at the intersection of 56th Street in New York City.

Designed in 1981 by Der Scutt, of the Swanke Hayden Connell Architects architectural firm, commissioned by real estate magnate Donald Trump, and the Equitable Life insurance company, the tower opened on November 30, 1985.
It is now owned by The Trump Organization, of which it is headquartered. It also houses at its summit the penthouse which was Donald Trump's main residence before his installation at the White House.

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Construction

The Trump Tower is built on the site of a former luxury department store founded in 1895, which went bankrupt in 1990. The building was renowned for its Art Deco architecture.
Donald Trump bought the building in 1979 with the intention of building the first super-luxury high rise.

The Trump Organization shaves the building and starts construction of the tower. Donald Trump has to go into debt heavily to finance construction.

Barbara Res, accustomed to Trump projects, is the senior executive of HRH Construction, in charge of the project. At that time, Barbara Res was one of the first women to oversee a project of this size in New York. Construction costs are estimated at $ 100 million.

The tower is located in a particular district that covers Fifth Avenue between the 38th and 58th streets. It is not allowed to build a skyscraper of this height in this area, but the plans are still approved by the municipality, partly because of its multifunctionality, with shops, offices, and residential units7 . The Trump Organization also builds an eastbound airlift to connect with the IBM Tower, 590 Madison Avenue, and repurchases the Tiffany & Co.'s flagship storefront Tiffany & Co.'s $ 5 million air override rights.

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The central 5-storey atrium, thought as a public space, according to the codes of the time, gives The trump Organization the right to build a bigger tower. A terraced garden was also included in the validated plans. The skyscraper is during its construction the only one to offer its own sales area.

According to the original plans, the tower must have 60 floors, breaking down into 13 offices, 40 condominiums, 2 machines, but the latter two were redesigned. Yet, ultimately, there are 26 floors of offices at the base, then 39 floors in condominiums. When the tower is finally unveiled, in 1983, it has 58 floors, the last of which is numbered "68".

The Trump Tower, with its 58 floors and 202 meters above sea level, is the 64th tallest building in New York. At the time of its inauguration it is the tallest building of this type in the city. The structure of 28 faces, with an accordion facade increases the glazed area.

The main entrance of the skyscraper is located on Fifth Avenue but a more discreet entrance is open on 56th Street, for private use, it is the entrance to the apartments of the condominium. The public spaces are covered with Braccia Pernice, a pink marble with white veins. Four gilded elevators give access to the upper floors. Another leads directly to Donald Trump's penthouse, a luxurious triplex apartment of which he made his main residence.

Current residents

Here are the tenants of the building :

• Donald Trump and his family, real estate mogul, TV host, and president of the United States, he occupies the penthouse at the top of the tower.
• The Trump Organization Headquarters, Real Estate, Entertainment and Construction.
• Gucci's flagship store, luxury leather goods, on the ground floor.
• Headquarters of CONCACAF, an umbrella organization, under the auspices of FIFA, of the football federations of the North American continent, the Central American Isthmus and the Caribbean.
• Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer (https://steemit.com/sport/@lndesta120282/cristiano-ronaldo-dos-santos-aveiro)

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• José Maria Marin, former president of the Brazilian Football Confederation and currently under house arrest in his apartment.

Donald Trump's Penthouse

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The Trump Tower was Donald Trump's main residence until his arrival at the White House in 2017. The value of his penthouse is estimated in 2016 at $ 100 million, making it the second most popular private residential apartment expensive New York, after the penthouse of the hotel Pierre on Ve Avenue also whose value is close to 120 million dollars.

The interior of the apartment is luxuriously decorated with a gateway that would be made of gold and diamonds and opening onto an apartment comprising marble columns with gilded moldings to 24-carat leaf and scenes of Greek mythology represented on the ceiling. In the large reception room are Greek vases, a modern statue of Eros and Psyche and a painting of Apollo guided on his chariot by Aurora.

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The ceiling of the grand salon is decorated with a fresco of mythological inspiration, Apollo on his chariot. The interior decoration was entrusted to the Italian Angelo Donghia.

Among the paintings are a collection of portraits of the Trump family and a reproduction of Renoir's The Lodge, in Melania Trump's office, the original of which is kept at the Courtauld Institute in London.

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