Murphy/Jahn designed CitySpire for the developer Ian Bruce Eichner, who proposed it in 1984. Tishman Realty & Construction built it, and Robert Rosenwasser Associates was the structural engineer. It topped out in mid-1987. The lead says it was completed in 1990, while the body says it opened in 1989.
It rises 814 feet (248 m) with 75 floors, though numbering skips floors 13 and 25. The frame is concrete, and the main shaft is clad in Sardinian stone. The plan is octagonal, with east and west wings. A copper-faced dome on eight steel ribs was completed in August 1988 and ordered dismantled that November. Architectural Record called the design high-tech historicist.
The lowest 22 or 23 floors are commercial and the upper floors are condominiums. Unused air rights from City Center more than doubled the ordinary size. A pedestrian arcade links 55th and 56th Streets.
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