1981Turtle Bay, Manhattan, New YorkResidential

Dag Hammarskjold Tower

Joseph's 1981 condo job became a case study in how not to design a privately owned public plaza.

Dag Hammarskjold Tower rising above East 47th Street, photographed in 2008.

Current view · 2008 · Photo: Americasroof · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

01The story

Why this project matters

Project identity: Verified
Kelly connection: Family source
Masonry scope: Strong

Rita’s list

Rita Bartscherer’s handwritten entry: Dag Hammarskjold Tower — 1981

Transcription: Dag Hammarskjold Tower — 1981

Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record

Entry

KM-157

Sheet

2 of two

As written

“Dag Hammarskjold Tower — 1981”

The tower's own safety plan lists 1981 as its construction year; it ultimately rose 43 stories with more than 230 apartments.

Why it matters

Dag Hammarskjold Tower's brown masonry is not a flat skin: prefabricated brick elements turn its corners into faceted horizontal stripes. The 43-story condominium rose beside the United Nations while its required public plaza sparked a much larger argument about whether private development produces genuinely welcoming public space.

02What Kelly did

What Kelly did here

Kelly connection

Family source

Scope confidence

Strong

Likely installation of brick wall/panel masonry and CMU interior/shaft walls. The tower facade used preassembled brick panels, making masonry a visually significant part of the building.

This scope is recorded as strong, not documented. It is a disciplined reading of the building and the trade practice of the period, not a contract-level record of Kelly’s work.

03Who built it