Rockefeller Center, New York City
Photo: Urban, GNU Free Documentation License
Rockefeller Center is a sprawling complex comprising 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between Fifth and Seventh Avenue, and 48th and 51st Streets in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was built by the Rockefeller family and is the largest privately held complex of its kind in the world.
The development of Rockefeller Center, which was named after the person who spearheaded it, John D. Rockefeller Jr., aka Junior, began with a 99-year lease on the space from Columbia University in 1928 and construction began from 1930. Initially, Rockefeller had intended to build an opera house for the Metropolitan Opera Company on the site, but changed his plans following the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the withdrawal of the opera company from the project. He took on the enormous project as the sole financier and negotiated a line of credit with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and covering ongoing expenses through the sale of oil company stock.
Rockefeller Center was the largest private building project ever undertaken in modern times. The original complex constructed from 17 May, 1930, comprised 14 buildings in the Art Deco style. They were completed on November 1, 1939 when Junior drove in the final (silver) rivet into 10 Rockefeller Plaza. The name Rockefeller Center was suggested by Ivy Lee, the prominent adviser to the Rockefeller Family, in 1931. Initially Junior was reluctant to use the family name for the project, but was persuaded that it would attract far more tenants.
The naming of the last four buildings in the complex could have become a major controversy in the mid-1930. Ivy Lee and others had attempted to rent them to German companies and called it Deutsches Haus. Junior rejected the proposal following Hitler's aggression towards World War II. The empty office site eventually became International Building North. These four buildings along the Avenue of the Americas were only constructed during the 1960s and 1970s. Unlike the original 14, they were of the International style.
Rockefeller Center comprises over 8,000,000 square feet (743,000 sq metre) on 22 acres in Midtown, bounded by Fifth and Sixth Avenues, and running from 48th Street to 51st Street. The buildings managed by Tishman-Speyer, which co-owns Rockefeller Center, are:
One Rockefeller Plaza - (608,000 square ft) - originally the Time-Life Building; an original tenant was General Dynamics, for whom the building was briefly named.
10 Rockefeller Plaza - (288,000 square ft) - Formerly the Eastern Airlines Building. The Today Show studios are located there.
30 Rockefeller Plaza - GE Building - (2.9 million square ft) - Formerly the RCA & RCA West Buildings
50 Rockefeller Plaza - Bank of America Building - (481,000 square ft) - Formerly the Associated Press Building
1230 Avenue of the Americas - Simon & Schuster Building - (706,000 square ft) - Formerly U.S. Rubber/Uniroyal
1260 Avenue of the Americas - Radio City Music Hall
1270 Avenue of the Americas - (528,000 square ft) - Originally the RKO Building, later the American Metal Climax (AMAX)Building
600 Fifth Avenue - (409,000 square ft) - Formerly the Sinclair Oil Building
610 Fifth Avenue - La Maison Francaise (130,000 square ft)
620 Fifth Avenue - British Empire Building (130,600 square ft)
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