Structural failure (buckling) of columns in NY City building, 235 E 42nd Street.

[Astronuc]

Someone failed to do proper calculations/analysis.

https://apnews.com/video/what-to-kn...-evacuations-0dace9e1f11e4387abeb03738d773200

"Images and videos of the Manhattan building analyzed by The NY Times show that the structural columns buckled directly beneath where the recent addition was built."
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/07/07/us/midtown-structural.html (subscription required).

Someone should not have signed off on the structure and modifications.

The unstable building is located at 235 East 42nd Street, NY City, 1.5 blocks from Grand Central Station; the building in question is the former Pfizer headquarters. It sits between 42nd and 43rd Streets on 2nd Avenue on the east side of Manhattan. The Socony-Mobil Building at 150 E 42nd St next block west from 235 East 42nd St houses the Australian consulate offices; it sits across trom the Chrysler Building. Various consulates are located in buildings surrounding the unstable building.

The New York City fire department said it received a call just before 8 a.m. ET about bricks falling from the 37-story building located on 42nd Street, which is being converted from an office building to residential apartments.

https://www.reuters.com/world/columns-manhattan-high-rise-buckle-prompting-evacuations-2026-07-07/

I expect the buckled columns were not designed for the additional load, and they should have been reinforced. It would appear someone cut corners. The building has been cited before for safety violations.


https://www.nbcnewyork.com/manhatta...rt-of-buckling-building-in-manhattan/6522605/

The former headquarters to Pfizer, located at 235 East 42nd Street, was in the process of being converted into residents apartments when the FDNY received a call about falling bricks around 8 a.m. Tuesday.

An assessment of the unstable structure prompted an immediate evacuation of the neighborhood for the foreseeable future.

Fire Chief John Esposito said the way the steel-framed building is constructed, “it would not be a total collapse, it would be more of a localized collapse.”

Tuesday evening, hours after city officials were alerted to buckling columns and sagging floors within a 37-story Manhattan high-rise building under construction.

Gensler, the architectural firm leading the project, says on its website that it is transforming a pair of 1970s-era office buildings by adding more than a dozen stories and redesigning an adjoining tower.

Buildings department records show the project has been fined by the city for several safety violations, including glass and metal falling off the building, along with an incident where a worker fell off a ladder.
. . . .
Fire officials said two columns appear to have buckled and there were multiple cracks and sagging floors between the 21st and 26th floors. From the street below, a badly bent column could be seen through a large glass window. The fire department also posted images of the column.

 

[.Scott]

There are two buckled columns that can be seen through windows from the outside. They are about 30 feet from each other.
There is nothing subtle about those two columns. It is not that they have just "scrunched". They have, as a practical matter, failed completely. Other structures in the building are now supporting their loads.