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Construction of Rockefeller Center started in 1931, and the first buildings opened in 1933. The core of the complex was completed by 1939. Described as one of the greatest projects of the Great Depression era, Rockefeller Center became a New York City designated landmark in 1985 and a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
Originally built between 1929 and 1940, Rockefeller Center began as a 12-acre (5-hectare) complex of 14 Art Deco limestone buildings between Fifth and Sixth avenues.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The original Rockefeller Center complex’s construction was marked officially complete when John D. Rockefeller placed the final rivet on November 1, 1939. It took around seven years and 40,000 people to achieve this feat – the successful completion of the largest private building in modern times.
- An Investment
- Cool, Unfussy Elegance
- Streamlined Moderne
- Art and Architecture
- A “City Within A City”
First conceived in 1927, Rockefeller Center was intended as a mixed use complex that would house the Metropolitan Opera and assorted retail establishments. The opera later withdrew, and was replaced with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and its fledgling subsidiary, NBC. Rockefeller wanted a sound return on his investment, but he also wanted ...
Raymond Hood’s RCA building (since renamed the GE building and popularly known as 30 Rock) dominates Rockefeller Center. This skyscraper exudes a cool, unfussy elegance. Its limestone façade rises above its neighbors in a series of stepped verticals. Aluminum spandrels create a vertical pattern of lines that emphasize the building’s height. Hood ha...
The building was as efficient as it was elegant, with floor plans designed to maximize rental values. Proximity to windows was important—tenants demanded daylight and ventilation in their office spaces. Careful planning minimized the distance between windows and hallways. Elevators were brought to the center of the building in order to conserve val...
The architects did, however, welcome the addition of sculpture and paintings to their buildings, both inside and out. To name but a few examples, Lee Lawrie’s rich Art Deco panels on the RCA building depicted allegorical figures of light and sound; Hildreth Meiere’s panels on Radio City Music Hall rendered stylized theatrical muses in bold colors. ...
At its heart, Rockefeller Center excels at integrating the vertical city with the horizontal one. It offers layered paths of circulation for the pedestrian and vehicular traffic generated by its many tenants. Small private streets cut into the larger grid of Manhattan to facilitate pedestrian circulation around the crowded plaza. Also crucial to ke...
- Rebecca Paul
- Rockefeller Center almost wasn’t built. Initial development plans for Rockefeller Center were derailed when the stock market crashed in 1929. In fact, Rockefeller's original idea for the project was to erect "the grandest plaza in all of New York" that would include a new Metropolitan Opera House.
- It’s the world's largest privately-owned building complex. Rockefeller Center took nearly a decade to complete and cost $100 million to build—again, a figured wholly financed by Rockefeller himself.
- During construction the project was harshly criticized by local experts. It's difficult to argue the success of Rockefeller Center in its current form, but this collection of buildings wasn’t always admired.
- Rockefeller Center has secret rooftop gardens. Amidst the steel and concrete, Rockefeller Center also hosts an obscured stretch of rooftop gardens. The hidden oasis is located at the 620 Loft and Gallery, which is part of the building at 650 5th Avenue.
The acreage on which the center was eventually built, with construction beginning in the fall of 1931, was originally part of the Common Lands assembled by Dutch governor Peter Minuit in...
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Rockefeller Center, complex of buildings in central Manhattan, New York City, between 48th and 51st streets and Fifth Ave. and the Ave. of the Americas (Sixth Ave.). The project was sponsored by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., with fourteen of the buildings built between 1931 and 1939.
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