Location: Downtown Brooklyn, New York City, USA Architect: SHoP Architects Facade Completed: 2023 Stone Used: White Marble (Podium Facade)
A New Icon on the Brooklyn Skyline
Rising above Downtown Brooklyn at 9 DeKalb Avenue, The Brooklyn Tower stands as the borough’s first supertall skyscraper, reaching a height of 1,066 feet across 93 stories. Developed by JDS Development Group in partnership with Silverstein Properties, the tower has redefined the New York City skyline since topping out in 2021, with its striking facade reaching completion in 2023.
What makes The Brooklyn Tower especially remarkable is how it bridges more than a century of architectural history. The design creatively incorporates the landmarked Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn, a 1908 Beaux-Arts structure, into the base of the new supertall tower. Residents and visitors enter the building’s main lobby through the bank’s original Ionic colonnade, while the historic domed roof has been preserved as part of a rooftop amenity space. This fusion of a century-old landmark with a 21st-century skyscraper is one of the most ambitious adaptive-reuse gestures attempted in modern New York City construction.
Credit Where It’s Due: The Architectural Vision Behind The Brooklyn Tower
The Brooklyn Tower was designed by SHoP Architects, the internationally acclaimed New York-based firm known for pushing the boundaries of material expression and urban design. SHoP drew direct inspiration from the hexagonal geometry found throughout the historic Dime Savings Bank, translating that motif into the tower’s interlocking hexagonal massing and dramatic cascading setbacks.
The result is a facade that shifts character as it rises: a solid, classical white marble base gives way to blackened stainless steel, bronze, and copper tones climbing toward the crown. Fluted, cylindrical, and triangular forms are arranged in a strongly vertical rhythm between oversized glass panes, giving the tower a presence that feels both monumental and finely detailed at street level. Architecture critics and city observers have repeatedly praised the craftsmanship of the stonework at the podium, noting that the level of hand-detailed cut stone recalls the golden era of Manhattan’s early 20th-century towers. SHoP Architects deserves significant credit for a design that manages to honor Brooklyn’s architectural heritage while delivering a genuinely contemporary supertall landmark.
The Stone Used: Why White Marble Was the Right Choice for the Podium
At street level, where people interact with the building most directly, The Brooklyn Tower’s design team chose white marble to clad the podium facade. This decision was as much about material storytelling as it was about performance:
- Timeless elegance: White marble has been a hallmark of monumental architecture for over 2,000 years, from ancient temples to modern civic and residential landmarks. Its use at the tower’s base immediately signals permanence, sophistication, and craftsmanship.
- Visual contrast and grounding: The bright, luminous quality of white marble creates a strong visual anchor against the tower’s darker, metallic upper facade of bronze, copper, and blackened steel. This contrast helps the building read clearly at both pedestrian and skyline scale.
- Durability for high-traffic areas: Podium-level facades face constant exposure to pedestrian activity, weather, and urban wear. Natural marble is a dense, long-lasting stone that, when properly sealed and maintained, holds up well to decades of exposure while retaining its polished appearance.
- Compatibility with intricate detailing: Marble can be finely carved, fluted, and finished to achieve crisp architectural profiles, which is essential for a facade built around fluted and cylindrical forms like The Brooklyn Tower’s base.
- A bridge between old and new: Because the adjacent Dime Savings Bank was originally built using classical stone construction, white marble at the tower’s base creates material continuity between the historic landmark and the new supertall structure above it.
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Did You Know?
Marble has been used in construction for more than 2,000 years thanks to its natural strength, beauty, and ability to be finely polished. From ancient monuments to contemporary supertall skyscrapers like The Brooklyn Tower, marble remains one of the most prestigious and enduring materials in architecture.
In Summary
The Brooklyn Tower is a masterclass in blending historic preservation with contemporary supertall engineering. Full credit goes to SHoP Architects for a design that respects Brooklyn’s architectural past while pushing the borough’s skyline into new territory. And at the foundation of that design story is a material choice as old as architecture itself: white marble, chosen for its beauty, strength, and permanence at the building’s most public-facing level.
Looking to source premium natural stone for your next architectural project? Visit StoneMandi.com to connect with verified global suppliers of marble, granite, and other natural stones.