[5][6] The neighborhood was historically part of a former artistic hub around a two-block section of West 57th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway.

[10] By the 21st century, the artistic hub had largely been replaced with Billionaires' Row, a series of luxury skyscrapers around the southern end of Central Park.

[2][15] Bill Derman of Polshek Partners and Sheldon Werdiger of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill were also involved in Metropolitan Tower's design.

[25] As designed, a canopy on 57th Street led to a double-height entryway with Italian-marble floors and walls, as well as a doorway with columns in a modified Doric style.

[29] On upper stories, Metropolitan Tower contains flat floor slabs, made of 8.5 inches (220 mm) of stone concrete.

[38] Originally, Metropolitan Tower's lobby was planned with a concierge station, as well as etched-glass doors connecting to an elevator bank.

[22][25] During a 2006 renovation, the concierge station was relocated and replaced with a lit box that could change colors based on time of day, season, and weather.

In addition, a 4 in (100 mm) LED sign, running the length of the lobby, was installed to display news, entertainment, sports, and other information.

[20] Floor 35 contained four model apartments designed by Andrée Putman, Juan Pablo Molyneux, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, and Gensler with different themes.

[45] Putman's "sleek continental" unit in the northern corner, which she compared to a ship's prow, was designed with blond sycamore paneling, nickel plated hardware, and bookshelves made of sandblasted glass and black-epoxy-finished steel.

[45][46] Williams and Tsien designed their "hip contemporary" unit with metal screens, an aluminum mesh curtain, terrazzo floors, oak furniture, and silk upholstery.

[45][47] Gensler's "faux cowboy" unit included furnishings from Ralph Lauren and was targeted toward corporations looking for small apartments.

[45] Some apartments were modified after the tower's opening, such as a group of three units combined by Williams and Tsien, who used metal furniture, varying color schemes, and ceiling decorations to mark boundaries between rooms.

[48] A corner unit was redesigned by Steven Holl with tilted walls and an airplane screen to "accompany the acute angles of the existing plan".

[45][49] Yet another unit, redesigned by Juan Montoya, involved the removal of a bedroom and the addition of fluted columns, ashwood paneling, and doors that were flush with the walls.

[51] This included a private garage with a chauffeurs' waiting room, as well as a communications center with stock quote and telex machines.

[17] Floor 31 has fourteen apartments for residents' housekeeping staff and bodyguards,[17][42] which cost $125,000 per room when Metropolitan Tower opened.

[22] He also planned to acquire a parking lot two parcels to the west, which was owned by the New York City government and operated by the Carnegie Hall Corporation.

[60] Macklowe had offered the Russian Tea Room's owners, Faith and James Stewart-Gordon, $12.5 million for their building's air rights in 1982.

[67] Additionally, after complaints over how Macklowe was marketing the building as a 78-story structure,[32] the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs forced him to stop doing so.

[26][69] James Stewart-Gordon filed a lawsuit against Macklowe in late 1986, alleging that the falling glass and a sidewalk shed outside the construction site was reducing the restaurant's business.

[51] The film was shot in the New York City area and featured an "English earl, Texas rancher, Greek tycoon, [and] Russian spies" as likely buyers.

[51] Metropolitan Tower had been nicknamed "the Russian Tea Room Annex", and a marketing manager said that about two-thirds of residential condominium buyers were Americans.

That year, computer company Control Data Corporation leased 117,000 sq ft (10,900 m2), nearly half of the building's office space.

[74] One of the largest residential transactions at Metropolitan Tower occurred shortly after opening, when a single Japanese buyer purchased 36 apartments.

[75] The residential units faced slow sales in part due to the building's location in a traditionally non-residential neighborhood.

[88] Hilton Hotels & Resorts leased 15,590 sq ft (1,448 m2) of the ground-floor and second-floor space in December 2006 for a marketing center.

[95] Among the notable residents of Metropolitan Tower's residential condominiums during the 21st century were businessman David Martínez[97] and model Adriana Lima.

[108] Joe Klein wrote for New York magazine that the building was a "glass-and-steel Godzilla looming ravenously over the elegant shoulders of the Essex House and St.

[113] John McPhee of The New Yorker wrote in 2003 that the buildings "look like three chopsticks incongruously holding a cocktail blini", as they surrounded the small Russian Tea Room.