Manhattan has long since bowed out of the race toward space, in favor of going all-in on the luxury condo market, with its $238,000,000 crash pads. “The economics of building the world’s tallest skyscraper in New York — they just don’t exist,” said Mr. Barr. “The only way to do it is to get the government involved, and the government is not going to do that in 21st century.” Instead, governments in Asia and the Middle East have aggressively followed the example New York once set. The Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, is now the world’s tallest structure. The rest of the top ten is dominated by China .

No one is crying for New York’s skyline, of course, because it has an extraordinary number of greatest hits. Asked if he had a favorite building in Manhattan, Mr. Barr laughed at the enormity of the question and named the Flatiron. “But you know another one I love?” he added. “No one talks about it: the American Radiator Building. It’s very diminutive but there’s a certain charm and elegance to it. In my opinion, Raymond Hood was one of the greatest skyscraper architects ever. ”

Image The American Radiator Building, now home to the Bryant Park Hotel, rings in the new year. Jan. 1, 1934. Credit... FPG/Getty Images

The Radiator building — a dark brick beauty with a gilded, Gothic-style top — was completed in 1924 on Bryant Park. Three years later, it was painted by Georgia O’Keeffe, who was living in a Midtown hotel at the time. True, the building is just 338 feet tall. But maybe the only thing that can surprise us about a skyscraper these days is a little modesty.