The city\u2019s commissioner for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, or DCAS, is a professed history nerd.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So Yume Kitasei has a lot to say about opening a spot to the public that hasn\u2019t been widely available for more than a century.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe thing that you really get when you look up this view is all of the different pieces of New York that make this great mosaic of the city, you see little bits of history,\u201d said Kitasei.\u00a0<\/p>\n The view is from the Cupola, the dome-like structure on the central tower of the David Dinkins Municipal Building at 1 Centre St. in Lower Manhattan. The area is open to the public for the first time since the building opened in 1914 \u2014 an experience called Centre 360.<\/p>\n Kitasei said it was made possible by a $6 million restoration.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a little bit of a logistical lift; you have to figure out how to bring people up here while we are in the middle of operating an office building. So it\u2019s not straightforward proposition, so anyway the mayor came in and said \u2018Let\u2019s do it,\u2019\u201d said Kitasei about Mayor Zohran Mamdan\u2019s announcement in February.\u00a0<\/p>\n Centre 360 is ready to welcome groups of five visitors to see the views from more than 500 feet above street level. There will be eight viewing sessions each day, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n Visitors will begin the experience at the CityStore at the base of the building and ride in two elevators to get to the viewing area 37 stories above Centre Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty small, intimate experience, but you get incredible views,\u201d said Kitasei.<\/p>\n The views come from atop one of the largest municipal government office buildings in the world, with 1 million square feet of office space, named for New York City\u2019s first Black mayor. It features a 25-foot statue at the top called Civic Fame.<\/p>\n Construction began almost 10 years after the 1898 consolidation that made the city what it is today.<\/p>\n \u201cThey needed to have a building to house all of the consolidated governments of all of the boroughs, so they built this building. The statue on top commemorates the consolidation, in fact, the statue has a crown with five points in it that\u2019s meant to represent the five boroughs,\u201d said Kitasei.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n