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The Great Miscalculation: The Race to Save New York City's Citicorp Tower
How an engineering crisis threatened a building, a career, and the lives of countless New Yorkers
The Citicorp Center, a fifty-nine-story skyscraper built in 1977, immediately became one of the most recognizable features on the New York City skyline with its distinctive inclined roof and oddly placed support columns. Designed by one of the top structural engineers in the field, William LeMessurier, the tower would become the crown jewel of his professional career; In essence, he created a skyscraper on stilts. The building was a modern marvel – until it was revealed that it had a 1 in 16 chance of collapse.
The Great Miscalculation tells the riveting story of LeMessurier’s discovery of a fatal flaw in his building’s design and his decision to blow the whistle on himself, putting his reputation on the line in a race to save this iconic skyscraper. With hurricane season rapidly approaching, the structural design flaws of the Citicorp Tower posed a menacing danger. Meanwhile, the economic hardships and political turmoil of 1970s New York only compounded the obstacles to a massively expensive, never-before-seen structural redesign in the heart of downtown Manhattan.
A fascinating piece of overlooked New York City history, The Great Miscalculation tells the gripping narrative of a catastrophe averted in the nick of time.
The Citicorp Center, a fifty-nine-story skyscraper built in 1977, immediately became one of the most recognizable features on the New York City skyline with its distinctive inclined roof and oddly placed support columns. Designed by one of the top structural engineers in the field, William LeMessurier, the tower would become the crown jewel of his professional career; In essence, he created a skyscraper on stilts. The building was a modern marvel – until it was revealed that it had a 1 in 16 chance of collapse.
The Great Miscalculation tells the riveting story of LeMessurier’s discovery of a fatal flaw in his building’s design and his decision to blow the whistle on himself, putting his reputation on the line in a race to save this iconic skyscraper. With hurricane season rapidly approaching, the structural design flaws of the Citicorp Tower posed a menacing danger. Meanwhile, the economic hardships and political turmoil of 1970s New York only compounded the obstacles to a massively expensive, never-before-seen structural redesign in the heart of downtown Manhattan.
A fascinating piece of overlooked New York City history, The Great Miscalculation tells the gripping narrative of a catastrophe averted in the nick of time.
264 pages, Hardcover
Published June 3, 2025
32 people are currently reading
331 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 4, 2025
Very interesting book with a great story to tell. The book relies a bit on the concept itself being intriguing for the reader, as it does get a bit lost a times in uninteresting and drawn out details. Either way, worth a read if you like a crazy scenario, architecture and good people.
January 30, 2025
Michael Greenburg’s new book The Great Miscalculation is exactly the kind of book I enjoy. I’m a big fan of books on history or science. Combine the two — books about the history of science — and I’m in my book reading happy place. As a civil engineering graduate, I can’t help but think that Greenburg’s book is something even better — what you might call a “history of engineering”. The book takes a look back in history and examines the case of a structural engineering miscalculation that could have led to a serious building collapse, narrowly avoided by one engineer’s professional ethics.
This is a story at the intersection of American capitalism, engineering, and professional responsibility. In Greenburg’s hands the story unfolds carefully, methodically, and compellingly.
By the start of the 1970s New York’s First National City Bank (Citicorp) was one of nation’s largest and most successful financial corporations. Their headquarters building at 399 Park Avenue, on land once owned by John Jacob Aster, had become timeworn. The company needed a new headquarters, one that would project an image consistent with their international success yet reflecting their New York roots.
At the time the city of New York was struggling. Crime was rampant, and the city itself was struggling financially, inexorably progressing right up to the brink of bankruptcy. Many corporations were fleeing the city for greener suburban locales. But Citicorp, and its CEO Walter Wriston, were determined to build in Manhattan, to demonstrate their faith that the city would overcome its troubles, and to help it do so.
Real estate agents quietly working on behalf of Citicorp focused their efforts on one block in midtown Manhattan, close to the existing headquarters. There, on the corner of the block, the century old St. Peter’s congregation meet weekly in their likewise timeworn church. The church’s pastor, Ralph Peterson, had no intention of moving, feeling a need to serve the community the church had grown up in. He too wanted to demonstrate his faith that the city would overcome its difficulties, and wanted to help it do so.
So, an agreement was struck - Citicorp would raise its structure around and above St. Peters and provide the congregation with funding to replace their timeworn structure with a brand new one, right on the corner where the old church sat. That agreement posed an engineering challenge - how to build the skyscraper Citicorp wanted when it had to float above one corner of the site on which it would stand.
To meet that challenge Citicorp turned to architect Hugh Stubbins Jr., who in turn engaged associate architects Emery Roth & Sons, and structural engineer William LeMessurier. The design they implemented and built was completed in 1977. The building won several awards while creating a striking 59 story skyscraper rising 915 feet in the air. The building floats above the site on columns located in the middle of each side of the building, rather than at its corners. With its angled roofline it is a familiar sight on the New York skyline.
As William LeMessurier recalled, in 1978, a year after the completion of the Citicorp Center, a call came into his office from a college student in New Jersey. The student said that the professor of his structural engineering class had raised concerns about the design of the Citicorp building. Surprised by the criticism of this new and lauded building the student was spurred to call the engineer. While it was an affable call, LeMessurier found he couldn’t get the student’s questions out of his head. This, he recalled, was the impetus for his review of the building’s design, and his growing concerns that it had a structural flaw.
The reason for the flaw was wind. To LeMessurier’s horror he discovered that the building was under-designed to handle the load put on it by quartering winds — those coming at the building from a 45-degree angle. Further, a change during construction that substituted bolted attachments for the building’s structural bracing rather than the originally designed welds. That further compromised the structure. LeMessurier now saw that, under the right quartering wind conditions, the building had a 1 in 16 chance of failure.
After some soul searching LeMessurier brought the issue to Stubbins and Citicorp. What followed was a mad (and successful) dash by the engineer, the architects, and Citicorp to fix the issue as a hurricane threatened to hit New York City. All the while lawyers worked to limit the reputational damage to all involved. A newspaper strike in the middle of repairs to the building helped limit public awareness of the serious public safety issue in midtown.
That mad dash was fascinating to read about and reveals how much our world has changed since 1978. Issues of professional integrity, transparency and the public’s right to know, and legal wrangling between the parties rushing to save the building, are all explored. One has to wonder how much differently the story would have unfolded if the call to LeMessurier that triggered this set of events happened today instead of over 40 years ago.
This is a story at the intersection of American capitalism, engineering, and professional responsibility. In Greenburg’s hands the story unfolds carefully, methodically, and compellingly.
By the start of the 1970s New York’s First National City Bank (Citicorp) was one of nation’s largest and most successful financial corporations. Their headquarters building at 399 Park Avenue, on land once owned by John Jacob Aster, had become timeworn. The company needed a new headquarters, one that would project an image consistent with their international success yet reflecting their New York roots.
At the time the city of New York was struggling. Crime was rampant, and the city itself was struggling financially, inexorably progressing right up to the brink of bankruptcy. Many corporations were fleeing the city for greener suburban locales. But Citicorp, and its CEO Walter Wriston, were determined to build in Manhattan, to demonstrate their faith that the city would overcome its troubles, and to help it do so.
Real estate agents quietly working on behalf of Citicorp focused their efforts on one block in midtown Manhattan, close to the existing headquarters. There, on the corner of the block, the century old St. Peter’s congregation meet weekly in their likewise timeworn church. The church’s pastor, Ralph Peterson, had no intention of moving, feeling a need to serve the community the church had grown up in. He too wanted to demonstrate his faith that the city would overcome its difficulties, and wanted to help it do so.
So, an agreement was struck - Citicorp would raise its structure around and above St. Peters and provide the congregation with funding to replace their timeworn structure with a brand new one, right on the corner where the old church sat. That agreement posed an engineering challenge - how to build the skyscraper Citicorp wanted when it had to float above one corner of the site on which it would stand.
To meet that challenge Citicorp turned to architect Hugh Stubbins Jr., who in turn engaged associate architects Emery Roth & Sons, and structural engineer William LeMessurier. The design they implemented and built was completed in 1977. The building won several awards while creating a striking 59 story skyscraper rising 915 feet in the air. The building floats above the site on columns located in the middle of each side of the building, rather than at its corners. With its angled roofline it is a familiar sight on the New York skyline.
As William LeMessurier recalled, in 1978, a year after the completion of the Citicorp Center, a call came into his office from a college student in New Jersey. The student said that the professor of his structural engineering class had raised concerns about the design of the Citicorp building. Surprised by the criticism of this new and lauded building the student was spurred to call the engineer. While it was an affable call, LeMessurier found he couldn’t get the student’s questions out of his head. This, he recalled, was the impetus for his review of the building’s design, and his growing concerns that it had a structural flaw.
The reason for the flaw was wind. To LeMessurier’s horror he discovered that the building was under-designed to handle the load put on it by quartering winds — those coming at the building from a 45-degree angle. Further, a change during construction that substituted bolted attachments for the building’s structural bracing rather than the originally designed welds. That further compromised the structure. LeMessurier now saw that, under the right quartering wind conditions, the building had a 1 in 16 chance of failure.
After some soul searching LeMessurier brought the issue to Stubbins and Citicorp. What followed was a mad (and successful) dash by the engineer, the architects, and Citicorp to fix the issue as a hurricane threatened to hit New York City. All the while lawyers worked to limit the reputational damage to all involved. A newspaper strike in the middle of repairs to the building helped limit public awareness of the serious public safety issue in midtown.
That mad dash was fascinating to read about and reveals how much our world has changed since 1978. Issues of professional integrity, transparency and the public’s right to know, and legal wrangling between the parties rushing to save the building, are all explored. One has to wonder how much differently the story would have unfolded if the call to LeMessurier that triggered this set of events happened today instead of over 40 years ago.
January 1, 2026
The great miscalculation was an exciting read, if the topic is of interest to you. It also helps to have a slight background in architecture or engineering, or are willing to google terms (like me).
This book discussed the ethics of engineering and how it is considered a profession instead of a job. Doing the right thing for the public, as is the case for Bill Lemessurier, is not always the best thing to do for you.
While I currently study to pass the first exam required to eventually become a professional, this book was great in showing a real case study example of the ethics involved in an engineering design project. Lemessurier and others perfectly embodied what it means to put the public ahead of yourself.
This book discussed the ethics of engineering and how it is considered a profession instead of a job. Doing the right thing for the public, as is the case for Bill Lemessurier, is not always the best thing to do for you.
While I currently study to pass the first exam required to eventually become a professional, this book was great in showing a real case study example of the ethics involved in an engineering design project. Lemessurier and others perfectly embodied what it means to put the public ahead of yourself.
October 12, 2025
This book appealed to me because I grew up in the New York and New Jersey area in the 1970s and 1980s. I remember passing the Citicorp Tower many times driving with my parents and seeing the building’s unique sloping roof. I always thought it looked like a razor. My dad didn’t work too far away being at the GM Building on 59th and Madison. It was very interesting to learn about the behind the scenes stories of this building while hearing about other famous architectural structures.
June 11, 2025
Great read!
Even for someone without a significant interest in architecture and/or engineering, this book was engrossing. Author Greenburg is a gifted writer and he tells a hell of a tale.
Even for someone without a significant interest in architecture and/or engineering, this book was engrossing. Author Greenburg is a gifted writer and he tells a hell of a tale.
September 26, 2025
Read this with a book club- oddly, the first thing we agreed on was that it was a great story in which nothing really happens! The narrative is a fascinating look at the engineering of skyscrapers, and the importance of PR.
August 18, 2025
Well worth reading
Absorbing, scary, and reassuring all at the same time. A few diagrams would have helped. The book demonstrates the complexity of major engineering projects.
Absorbing, scary, and reassuring all at the same time. A few diagrams would have helped. The book demonstrates the complexity of major engineering projects.
November 27, 2025
really fascinating
Well written. Deeply research. Deftly explained. The excellence of the prose is invisible. It just conveys the story. No showing off. No little darlings.
Well written. Deeply research. Deftly explained. The excellence of the prose is invisible. It just conveys the story. No showing off. No little darlings.
December 3, 2025
A fascinating story about a proactive emergency response to a NYC catastrophe that was waiting to happen.
December 12, 2025
Written plainly enough for a first-year design student to understand. Captivating in narrative. The inclusion of historical structural disasters was nice.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews