Open a New Window: A Tower With a View

The only thing standing between the occupants of 375 Pearl Street and some of the most commanding views in Lower Manhattan is three inches of limestone.

Though the 32-story telephone company tower is not truly windowless, it might as well be. There are three-foot-wide slits running up and down the structure, some with glass in them. But, like the windows of the World Trade Center, these do little more than offer a tantalizingly small slice of what could have been an extraordinary panorama.

Conceived as a giant switching station for the New York Telephone Company, 375 Pearl Street is still occupied by the company’s corporate successor, Verizon, which has equipment and offices there. As it neared completion in 1975, Paul Goldberger, then the architecture critic of The New York Times, said the building was the “most disturbing” of the phone company’s new switching centers because it “overwhelms the Brooklyn Bridge towers, thrusts a residential neighborhood into shadow and sets a tone of utter banality” in the Civic Center.

So it is important news that Verizon has sold a condominium interest in 29 of the 32 floors to Taconic Investment Partners and Square Mile Capital. They plan to open up the facade with a new curtain wall, designed by Cook & Fox. (Verizon will own and remain on three floors.)

The project will effectively create one million square feet of new office space and could — if done well — refresh the Civic Center skyline, too.

Paul E. Pariser, co-chief executive of Taconic, said a reporter had told him: “ ‘Mr. Pariser, you have a challenge cut out for you — turning a G.E. dishwasher into an office building.’ I like that challenge.”

He said he had instructed the designers to be “as creative as you wish.” He expects to unveil the design for the refurbished building in March.

Cook & Fox seems to understand the showcase possibilities. “It’s the chance to give this building a brand new face while fulfilling the mayor’s vision for a greener, more sustainable city,” the company said in a statement. “Whether you’re on the Brooklyn Bridge, the F.D.R. or the steps of City Hall, the building will make a statement on the skyline.”

The uninterrupted rooftop views from 375 Pearl Street underscore what an opportunity New York Telephone missed by building a structure mainly to house equipment. A glimpse into the usually off-limits interior of a telephone company building shows how isolated its interiors feel, even at such a prominent crossroads.

Besides trying to gain tenants with views and 39,000-square-foot floors and all-new mechanical systems, Mr. Pariser is dangling another enticement: that sign position at the gateway to Lower Manhattan. It began as a Bell logo and now features Verizon’s V.

“The Verizon sign is seen in any movie of New York City,” Mr. Pariser said. “Some prospective tenant would like that very much.”

Maybe G.E.?