Olympic Tower, Skyscraper on Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, US

Olympic Tower is a tall building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan with 51 floors combining residential and commercial spaces. The structure houses luxury apartments on upper levels alongside office and retail areas below.

Olympic Tower was developed between 1971 and 1974 by Aristotle Onassis, president of Olympic Airways, and Arlen Realty. It was the first skyscraper built under a special Fifth Avenue zoning district that encouraged retail and mixed-use development. The site had held the Best & Co. department store, which opened in 1947 and was demolished for the tower. Crown Acquisitions bought the building from its original owners in the 2010s.

The tower takes its name from Olympic Airways, the Greek national airline headed by Aristotle Onassis, who developed it with Arlen Realty. Onassis kept an apartment in the building, and the Italian Wikipedia notes that the Gucci family still owns a two-floor penthouse on the 50th and 51st stories, where the American designer Halston had his atelier until the early 1990s.

The public atrium, Olympic Place, spans the first two stories and links the Fifth Avenue side with the 52nd Street entrance; the residential lobby is at 641 Fifth Avenue and the office lobby at 645 Fifth Avenue. The tower occupies an L-shaped lot wrapping around the Cartier Building, so the 52nd Street arm is set back from the avenue.

A two-story public atrium called Olympic Place connects the building's entrances on 51st and 52nd Streets through interior passages that few visitors discover. This hidden feature allows you to navigate between street levels without stepping outside.