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30 Rockefeller Plaza

January 01, 1970

"GE Building" and "Comcast Building" redirect here. For the other GE Building in Manhattan, see General Electric Building. For other GE buildings, see General Electric Building (disambiguation). For the Philadelphia building, see Comcast Center.

30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, United States. Completed in 1933, the 66-story, 850 ft (260 m) building was designed in the Art Deco style by Raymond Hood, Rockefeller Center's lead architect. 30 Rockefeller Plaza was known for its main tenant, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), from its opening in 1933 until 1988 and then for General Electric until 2015, when it was renamed for its current owner, Comcast. The building also houses the headquarters and New York studios of television network NBC; the headquarters is sometimes called 30 Rock, a nickname that inspired the NBC sitcom of the same name. The tallest structure in Rockefeller Center, the building is the 28th tallest in New York City and the 65th tallest in the United States, and was the third tallest building in the world when it opened.

30 Rockefeller Plaza
(Comcast Building)
As the Comcast Building, February 2022
Former namesRCA Building (1933–1988)
GE Building (1988–2015)
Alternative names30 Rock
NBCUniversal Building
General information
StatusCompleted
TypeOffices and television studios (NBC)
Location30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, New York 10112
Coordinates40°45′32″N 73°58′45″W / 40.75889°N 73.97917°W / 40.75889; -73.97917
Completed1933
OwnerNBCUniversal (floors 2–16)
Tishman Speyer (all other floors)
Height
Roof850 ft (260 m)
Technical details
Floor count66
Floor area2,099,985 sq ft (195,095.0 m2)
Lifts/elevators60
Design and construction
Architect(s)Raymond Hood
DeveloperJohn D. Rockefeller Jr.
Structural engineerEdwards & Hjorth; H.G. Balcom & Associates
Architectural style(s)Modern, Art Deco
DesignatedDecember 23, 1987
Reference no.87002591[1]
Designated entityRockefeller Center
DesignatedApril 23, 1985[2]
Reference no.1446[2]
Designated entityFacade: Rockefeller Center
DesignatedApril 23, 1985[3]
Reference no.1448[3]
Designated entityInterior: Lobby
DesignatedOctober 16, 2012[4]
Reference no.2505[4]
Designated entityInterior: Rainbow Room
References
[5]

30 Rockefeller Plaza's massing consists of three parts: the main 66-story tower to the east, a windowless section at the center, and a 16-story annex to the west. Though the building was designed to conform with the 1916 Zoning Resolution, it rises mostly as a slab, with setbacks mostly for aesthetic value. The facade is made of limestone, with granite at the base, as well as about 6,000 windows separated by aluminum spandrels. In addition to its offices and studios, 30 Rockefeller Plaza contains the Rainbow Room restaurant and an observation deck called Top of the Rock. 30 Rockefeller Plaza also includes numerous artworks and formerly contained the mural Man at the Crossroads by Diego Rivera. The entire Rockefeller Center complex is a New York City designated landmark and a National Historic Landmark, and parts of 30 Rockefeller Plaza's interior are also New York City landmarks.

30 Rockefeller Plaza was developed as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center, and work on its superstructure started in March 1932. The first tenant moved into the building on April 22, 1933, but its official opening was delayed due to controversy over Man at the Crossroads. The Rainbow Room and the observation deck opened in the mid-1930s, and retail space was added to the ground floor in the 1950s. The building remained almost fully occupied through the 20th century and was renamed for GE in 1988. Since the late 1990s, NBC has owned most of the lower floors, while Tishman Speyer has operated the rest of the building. 30 Rockefeller Plaza was extensively renovated in 2014 and was renamed for Comcast in 2015.

Site edit

Buildings of Rockefeller Center
 
 
 
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110yds
 
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Buildings and structures in Rockefeller Center:
1
1 Rockefeller Plaza
2
10 Rockefeller Plaza
3
La Maison Francaise
4
British Empire Building
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30 Rockefeller Plaza
6
International Building
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50 Rockefeller Plaza
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1230 Avenue of the Americas
9
Radio City Music Hall
10
1270 Avenue of the Americas
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75 Rockefeller Plaza
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600 Fifth Avenue
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608 Fifth Avenue
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1271 Avenue of the Americas
15
1251 Avenue of the Americas
16
1221 Avenue of the Americas
17
1211 Avenue of the Americas

30 Rockefeller Plaza is part of the Rockefeller Center complex in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.[6][7] It was intended as the central structure of Rockefeller Center, both physically and symbolically.[8][9] The land lot is nearly rectangular and covers 107,766 sq ft (10,011.8 m2), bounded by Sixth Avenue (officially Avenue of the Americas[10]) to the west, 50th Street to the north, Rockefeller Plaza to the east, and 49th Street to the south. The site has a frontage of 545 ft (166 m) on 49th and 50th Streets and a frontage of 175.46 ft (53 m) on Sixth Avenue.[6] The main entrance is on Rockefeller Plaza, a private pedestrian street running through the complex, parallel to Fifth and Sixth Avenues.[11][12][13] In front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza's main entrance, below ground level, is the Lower Plaza.[14][15] The building is assigned its own ZIP Code, 10112; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes as of 2019.[16]

Across Sixth Avenue, the building faces 1221 Avenue of the Americas to the southwest, 1251 Avenue of the Americas to the west, and 1271 Avenue of the Americas to the northwest. Radio City Music Hall, 1270 Avenue of the Americas, and 50 Rockefeller Plaza are directly to the north. Across Rockefeller Plaza are the International Building to the northeast, La Maison Francaise and the British Empire Building to the east, and 1 Rockefeller Plaza and 608 Fifth Avenue to the southeast. In addition, 10 Rockefeller Plaza is to the south.[6] The site was previously part of the campus of Columbia University,[17] which retained ownership of most of the land well after the complex was built.[18]

Holdout buildings edit

The northwest and southwest corners of 30 Rockefeller Plaza were built around two holdout structures on Sixth Avenue.[19][20] The owners of the parcel on Sixth Avenue and 49th Street, at the southwest corner of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, had demanded an exorbitant price for their property upon learning of the planned skyscraper.[21] The holdout building had contained Hurley's restaurant, which had opened around the 1890s and subsequently became a popular meeting place for NBC performers and executives. The restaurant was later connected by a direct passageway to 30 Rockefeller Plaza's studios.[22] Rockefeller Center acquired the building in the mid-20th century and ended the restaurant's lease in 1975,[23] but the new lessees continued to run Hurley's until 1999.[22] As of March 2022, the holdout building contains Pebble Bar.[24]

The other tenant, who occupied a plot on Sixth Avenue and 50th Street at 30 Rockefeller Plaza's northwest corner, never received a sale offer due to a misunderstanding.[21] The grocer John F. Maxwell would only sell his property at 50th Street if he received $1 million. Because of a miscommunication, the Rockefeller family was told that Maxwell would never sell, and Maxwell himself said that he had never been approached by the Rockefellers.[25][19] Consequently, Maxwell kept his property until his death in 1962, upon which Columbia bought the building;[26] Rockefeller Center purchased the Maxwell family's lease in 1970.[25][19]

Architecture edit

30 Rockefeller Plaza was designed by the Associated Architects of Rockefeller Center, composed of the firms of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray; Hood, Godley & Fouilhoux; and Reinhard & Hofmeister. Raymond Hood was the complex's lead architect.[27][28] The Associated Architects designed all of Rockefeller Center's buildings in the Art Deco style.[29] Developed as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center, 30 Rockefeller Plaza opened in 1933 as the RCA Building.[7] 30 Rockefeller Plaza is 872 ft (266 m) tall and was built as a single structure occupying the entire block between Sixth Avenue and Rockefeller Plaza.[8] As of December 2023, the building is the 31st tallest in New York City and the 65th tallest in the United States.[30]

The design was influenced by Rockefeller Center manager John Todd's desire for the building to use its air rights to their maximum potential.[31][32] 30 Rockefeller Plaza rises to a flat roof, unlike some of the other skyscrapers built in New York City around the same time. These included the Chrysler Building, 70 Pine Street, and 40 Wall Street, which used spires to reach their maximum heights.[33] Hartley Burr Alexander, a mythology and symbology professor who oversaw Rockefeller Center's art program, led the installation of artwork throughout the complex.[34][35][36] The building's artwork was designed around the concept of "new frontiers", depicting modern society.[37]

Form edit

 
Seen in 2007

The massing of 30 Rockefeller Plaza is designed in three parts.[9][38][39] The easternmost section contains a 66-story tower[31] with two stories of retail on the west and east.[39] The tower is surrounded by a shorter U-shaped section to the north, west, and south.[33] Some sources give 30 Rockefeller Plaza's height as 70 stories, but this arises from a hyperbolic press release by Merle Crowell, the complex's publicist during construction.[40] At the middle of the site was a windowless nine-story section, which housed NBC's studios.[38][39] The western part of the site steps up again to a 16-story tower.[38][31][39] The western section at 1250 Avenue of the Americas, formerly also known as RCA Building West, is accessed mainly from Sixth Avenue.[41] The facade of the annex rises straight from the sidewalk, with notches at the corners, because the corner lots were private properties at the time of the building's construction in 1935.[42]

The massing was influenced by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which restricted the height that the street-side exterior walls of New York City buildings could rise before they needed to incorporate setbacks that recessed the buildings' exterior walls away from the streets.[43][33][a] The base of the building could only rise to 120 feet (37 m) before it had to taper to a tower covering 25 percent of the site.[44][33] The eastern tower appeared to violate this principle since it measured 103 by 327 feet (31 by 100 m), but the base measured only 200 by 535 feet (61 by 163 m). The base does not occupy its entire plot, which measures 200 by 670 feet (61 by 204 m).[33] The tower section was recessed so far into the block that it could have risen without any setbacks. Hood decided to include setbacks anyway, as they represented "a sense of future, a sense of energy, a sense of purpose", according to architecture expert Alan Balfour.[46] Above the lowest stories, the north and south elevations rise straight up for 33 stories before setting back gradually.[38] There are three setbacks each on the north, south, and east elevations.[47]

Hood also created a guideline that all of the office space in the complex would be no more than 27 ft (8.2 m) from a window,[48][49] which was the maximum distance that sunlight could permeate the windows of a building at New York City's latitude.[50][51] The setbacks on the northern and southern sides of 30 Rockefeller Plaza allow the building to comply with Hood's guideline.[33][39][52] The setbacks correspond to the tops of the elevator banks inside; this arrangement is repeated on the facade of the International Building.[47] Similarly, 30 Rockefeller Plaza also contains notches at its corners.[47][33] The eastern elevation's setbacks were included exclusively for aesthetic purposes.[52] By contrast, the layout and massing of Rockefeller Center's other buildings were intended to maximize rental profit.[53]

Facade edit

30 Rockefeller Plaza's limestone facade includes spandrels with quadruple-leaf motifs in a Gothic-inspired style.[54][55] influenced the design of the rest of the complex.[56] The first story is clad with Deer Island granite to a height of 4 ft (1.2 m).[57][58] The remainder of the facade contains Indiana Limestone and aluminum spandrel panels.[58] Some 212,000 cubic feet (6,000 m3) of limestone, 4,100 cubic feet (120 m3) of granite, and 6,000 spandrels were used in the construction. The limestone covered 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2).[59] The limestone blocks are laid slightly irregularly and contain striations for visual effect.[57] In addition, 10.38 million bricks were integrated into the facade.[60]

30 Rockefeller Plaza also had 6,045 windows upon its completion, with 19,700 panes between them, covering 168,340 square feet (15,639 m2) in total. Thirty-six of the windows measured 9 by 16 feet (2.7 by 4.9 m) and were storefront windows. Those on the mezzanine level were composed of 9-by-12-foot (2.7 by 3.7 m) panels flanked by smaller sidelights. Another 165 were casement windows, which had panes measuring 6 by 18 inches (150 by 460 mm); most of these were above the 65th floor. The remaining 5,824 were casement windows measuring 4 by 6 feet (1.2 by 1.8 m).[48] About 5,200 of these windows contained Venetian blinds, which were installed by the Mackin Venetian Blind Company.[61]

Entrances edit

Main entrance
 
Sound to the left of the main entrance
 
Wisdom above the main entrance
 
Light to the right of the main entrance
Components of Lee Lawrie's Wisdom, A Voice from the Clouds

At street level, the stonework is relatively sparsely decorated.[62][63] The main entrance of 30 Rockefeller Plaza was designed as a loggia of three arches: one at the center, measuring 37 feet (11 m) high by 14 feet (4.3 m) wide, and two on the sides, measuring 27 feet (8.2 m) high by 13 feet (4.0 m) wide.[64][65][66] Lee Lawrie designed the sculptural group Wisdom, A Voice from the Clouds, for the lintels of the three arches.[36][64][65] Lawrie's carved rendering of Wisdom is above the center arch, flanked by Sound on the left and Light on the right.[66][63][67][68] The Wisdom frieze above the entrance is accompanied by an inscription reading "Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the stability of thy times", from Isaiah 33:6 (KJV).[69][70] The sculptural groups are accompanied by polychrome decorations created by Léon-Victor Solon.[66] Lawrie's three renderings are complemented by two limestone bas-reliefs by Leo Friedlander: one of Production on the north elevation and one of Radio on the south elevation.[63][67][71][72]

 
1230 Avenue of the Americas entrance

1230 Avenue of the Americas, the annex building to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, contains a marquee[73] and two works of art on its exterior.[74] The recessed entrance portal is filled with a 79 by 14 ft (24.1 by 4.3 m) mosaic mural, Intelligence Awakening Mankind by Barry Faulkner.[75][76][77] The portal is topped by four 11.5 by 4 ft (3.5 by 1.2 m) limestone panels by Gaston Lachaise, each of which signifies an aspect of civilization as it related to the original Radio City complex.[78][79][80] The two panels on either side of the entrance are entitled The Conquest of Space and Gifts of Earth to Mankind; these respectively depict aspiration and life, two qualities that Lachaise believed were most important to humanity.[81] The two panels in the center are known as Genius Seizing the Light of the Sun (also known as Invention Seizing the Light of the Sun[78]) and The Spirit of Progress.[81] The panels are placed at the third story because, at the time of the building's construction, they could be seen from the elevated rail line above Sixth Avenue.[82]

Interior edit

30 Rockefeller Plaza was designed with about 2,100,000 square feet (200,000 m2) of rentable space in total.[33] The eastern tower contains the Rainbow Room restaurant on the 65th floor,[7] while the Rockefeller family office occupied the tower's 54th through 56th floors until 2014.[83] The tower is the headquarters of NBC[84] and houses NBC Studios, NBC News, MSNBC, and network flagship station WNBC.[83] 30 Rockefeller Plaza also contains offices for NBCUniversal Cable[85] and, until 1988, the NBC Radio Network.[86] Part of NBC's space also extends into the central part of the building.[57][31][87]

The superstructure uses 58,500 short tons (52,200 long tons; 53,100 t) of steel.[33][60] To transport visitors to the top floors, Westinghouse installed eight express elevators in the RCA Building. They moved at an average speed of 1,200 ft/min (370 m/min) and were so expensive that they constituted 13 percent of the building's entire construction cost.[88][89] One elevator reached a top speed of 1,400 ft/min (430 m/min) and was dubbed "the fastest passenger elevator ride on record".[89] These elevators cost about $17,000 a year to maintain by 1942.[90] The mechanical core also contains emergency-exit staircases, though there are fewer staircases on upper floors. For example, building plans indicate that the 12th story has three sets of emergency staircases, while the 60th story has two sets of staircases.[91]

Lobby edit

 
The lobby's main section along Rockefeller Plaza

The lobby's main entrance is from Rockefeller Plaza to the east, with revolving and double-leaf bronze-and-glass doors underneath a paneled bronze screen.[92] The doors are topped by a cast-glass wall designed by Lee Lawrie, which measures 15 feet (4.6 m) high by 55 feet (17 m) wide.[66][92] The wall is made of 240 glass blocks.[93][38] Each glass block measures 3 inches (76 mm) deep and 19 by 29 inches (480 by 740 mm) across.[66][92] Opposite the main entrance doors is an information desk made of Champlain gray marble. Four large ivory-marble piers with embedded light fixtures support the ceiling immediately above.[92]

The lobby continues north and south from the information desk. Stairways at either end lead up to the mezzanine, while stairs and escalators lead downstairs to the basement. Extending west from either end are two corridors, which flank five north–south elevator banks.[94] The elevator doors are made of bronze, and there are bronze and glass storefronts on the outer walls of these corridors.[95] The floor is made of brass-and-terrazzo mosaic.[71] The walls of these corridors are paneled in Champlain marble below the height of the storefronts and elevator doors.[92][71] A bronze molding runs above the storefronts and elevators, while the walls are made of plaster above that height. The outer walls of the west–east corridors (adjacent to the mezzanines) contain bronze service doors, while the inner walls and the elevator-bank walls contain murals. The ceilings of the corridors are carried by rows of piers.[92]

West of the elevator banks, two north–south corridors extend to side entrances on 49th and 50th Streets, which each contain two bronze sets of revolving doors.[96] The corridors continue west to the Sixth Avenue entrance.[39] Just west of the elevators, a staircase leads down to the basement and up to the NBC lobby.[39][96] The stair to the basement contains Champlain marble and ivory marble, while the stair to the mezzanine contains Champlain marble and bronze railings and moldings. Additional stairs to the basement and mezzanine are placed at the point where the corridors continue into 1250 Avenue of the Americas; they also contain Champlain marble and bronze railings and moldings.[39]

Lobby art edit
 
Lobby mezzanine

Josep Maria Sert was originally hired to paint four murals in the northern lobby corridor: Time; Spirit of Dance; Man's Triumph in Communication; Conquest of Disease; Abolition of Bondage; Fraternity of Men; and Contest-1940, depicting different aspects of the world and mankind.[97][98] Frank Brangwyn painted four murals on the southern corridor, all of which symbolize humans' relationship with spirituality; he complemented these murals with stencils of the themes that were represented.[99][95] Rockefeller Center's managers had asked Brangwyn to omit a depiction of Jesus Christ from one of the panels;[100][101] the artist ultimately depicted Jesus with his back turned.[102] Brangwyn's and Sert's corridor murals measure 17 by 25 feet (5.2 by 7.6 m) each.[103] Architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern described Brangwyn's murals as "insipid", a quality worsened by the fact that the themes were stenciled onto the murals. By contrast, Stern said: "Sert at least allowed the meaning of his paintings to fall into happy obscurity."[104]

After the building had opened, Sert was commissioned to paint the mural American Progress at the center of the lobby,[93][105][106] measuring 50 by 17 feet (15.2 by 5.2 m).[107] The mural was installed in 1937.[108][109][37] It depicts a vast allegorical scene of men constructing modern America and contains figures of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.[105][110][92] The space occupied by American Progress was originally taken up by Diego Rivera's Man at the Crossroads mural,[93][106][111][112] which was controversial because of its communist imagery and was destroyed in 1934.[113][114] Rockefeller officials commissioned a sixth mural from Sert, representing the past, present, and future, which they installed in the lobby in 1941.[49][115] The mural measures 100 by 50 feet (30 by 15 m) and is installed on the ceiling.[92][116]

Concourse and mezzanine edit

Below the lobby is the complex's shopping concourse,[12][117] connected to the lobby via escalators.[92] The building has a direct entrance to the New York City Subway's 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center station via the concourse.[118] Until 1950, the building's concourse had also contained Rockefeller Center's post office.[119]

The mezzanine contains balconies overlooking the lobby. The floors of the mezzanine are black terrazzo, while the walls are made of marble and plaster separated by a bronze molding. Offices from the outer walls open onto the mezzanine balconies. There are staircases from the lobby to both the concourse and mezzanine, west of the lobby's elevator banks.[120] When the building opened, it contained a rotunda at the mezzanine level, measuring 67 feet (20 m) across with a photomural surrounding it. The mural was taken apart in the 1950s and the rotunda itself was demolished in the 1970s.[121] A new rotunda was constructed from 2014 to 2015, accessed from the ground floor by a 16-foot-wide (4.9 m) staircase; the rotunda contains two LED displays, each measuring 60 feet (18 m) wide and 5 feet (1.5 m) tall.[121][122] From 1960 to October 1993, the building's mezzanine level housed the New York City weather forecast office of the National Weather Service.[123] The mezzanine level also contained a control room, from which all of Rockefeller Center's mechanical systems could be monitored.[124]

NBC Studios and headquarters edit

 
A sign for the Rainbow Room tops the NBC Studios marquee
Main article: NBC Studios (New York City)

When the building was constructed, RCA's chief engineer O. B. Hanson was faced with designing an area of the building that was large enough to host 35 studios with as few structural columns as possible. As such, the studios were all placed in the windowless center section of the building, which would have otherwise been used as an unprofitable office space.[31][87] The central part of the building could also use fewer columns, which was suitable for large broadcast studios but not for the bases of skyscrapers.[57] Over 1,500 mi (2,400 km) of utility wires stretched through this part of the building, which was powered by direct current.[87] Two floors were reserved for future TV studios, and five more stories were reserved for audience members and guests.[87] The floor, wall, and ceiling surfaces of the studios were suspended from the superstructure, insulating the studios.[38] In addition, there were double- and triple-height spaces for exhibitions, plays, and other events.[57]

NBC, ABC, and CBS (collectively the Big Three TV Networks) had offices on Sixth Avenue and studios in Midtown during the mid-20th century.[125] The first television shows at the NBC Studios were broadcast from studio 3H in 1935, and more TV studios were added after World War II as television gained popularity.[85] During the RCA Building's early years, NBC housed both the Red Network and the Blue Network (now ABC) there,[126] and WJZ-TV (now WABC-TV) and WJZ Radio (now WABC), as well as the headquarters of the ABC network, were also headquartered there for the first few years until ABC built their own facilities.[127] When the building opened, it also hosted daily tours of the NBC Studios;[128][129] the tours were canceled in 1977 due to declining attendance.[128] NBC was the only one of the Big Three that retained studios in Midtown by the mid-1980s.[125]

Studio 8H, which hosts Saturday Night Live,[130][131] is the largest of the studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, with a capacity of 1,200[132] or 1,400 guests.[133] Studio 8H was once the largest radio studio in the world and was originally home to the NBC Symphony Orchestra[134] before being converted into a television studio in 1950.[135][132] Another major studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza is Studio 6B, which hosted Texaco Star Theater, the first comedy-variety show on television to become popular.[136] The Tonight Show was also broadcast from Studio 6B until 1972, returning there in 2014 under the name The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[137][138] Tonight's companion program, Late Night (branded Late Night with Seth Meyers since 2014) is also taped in the building.[139] The Today Show was also broadcast from 30 Rockefeller Plaza until 1994, when it moved to 10 Rockefeller Plaza.[140]

Rockefeller family offices edit

The Rockefeller family's office, Room 5600, occupied the entire 56th floor.[141] The family's Rockefeller Foundation rented the entire floor below, and two other organizations supported by the Rockefellers also moved into the building.[141][142] Daniel Okrent, author of the book Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center, said the Rockefellers' offices resembled an "18th-century English baronial mansion".[82] The space was decorated with art by Paul Gauguin, Piet Mondrian, Paul Signac, and Joan Miró.[143]

By 1937, there were 392 employees of Room 5600. After World War II, Room 5600 comprised the entire 54th through 56th floors.[144] The family offices became a hub for the family's political activity, with ties to both the Democratic and Republican parties at the city, state, and national levels.[145] Visitors to Room 5600 have included Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Nelson Mandela, Richard Gere, and Bono.[83] Even in the late 1980s, when Room 5600 had downsized to 175 people, it still managed $900 million of Rockefeller family wealth.[146] The family moved out during 2014.[83][143]

Rainbow Room edit

Main article: Rainbow Room
 
Rainbow Room restaurant

The 65th floor of the building is an event room and restaurant named the Rainbow Room.[147] The space was designed by Wallace K. Harrison of Associated Architects.[148] Interior designer Elena Bachman Schmidt, a one-time apprentice of Elsie de Wolfe, contributed to the design of the interior decor, such as the furniture, curtains, and elevator doors. Vincente Minnelli was assigned to help Schmidt select the colors of the walls.[149][150] The restaurant opened in 1934,[151][152] and was the highest restaurant in the United States for decades, though it was closed during much of the 1940s.[153] The most recent version of the restaurant opened in 2014 after a restoration by Gabellini Sheppard Associates.[154]

The Rainbow Room occupies the eastern part of 30 Rockefeller Plaza's 65th floor, which covers 13,500 square feet (1,250 m2).[155][156][157] The central part of the floor has elevator banks, restrooms, a gallery, and a private dining room. The western part houses Bar SixtyFive and an outdoor terrace.[156] The dining room itself is a 4,464-square-foot (414.7 m2) space.[156][158] The restaurant has a 32-foot-wide (9.8 m) rotating dance floor.[159][160] The seats of the Rainbow Room are organized in tiers,[159] and there is also a platform for bands and a shallow balcony for entertainers.[156][159] There are stairs and a dumbwaiter behind the platform,[159] as well as several banquet rooms on the 64th floor.[161] Above the dance floor hang several concentric "rings" that recess into the ceiling.[159]

Roofs edit

Garden of the Nations edit

The roof of the building's central section contained a 0.75-acre (0.30 ha) "Garden of the Nations" (alternatively "Gardens of the Nations"[53]), which opened in April 1935 on the 11th floor.[162][56][163] The garden used 3,000 short tons (2,700 long tons) of soil; 100 short tons (89 long tons) of rock from as far as England; 100,000 bricks; 2,000 trees and shrubs; 4,000 small plants; and 20,000 bulbs for flowers.[164] Originally, the garden included thirteen nation-specific gardens, whose layouts were inspired by gardens in the respective countries they represented. Each of the different gardens were separated by barriers.[162] The "International Garden", a rock garden in the center of the themed gardens,[165] featured a meandering stream and 2,000 plant varieties.[166] The Garden of the Nations also contained a children's garden, a modern-style garden, and a shrub-and-vegetable patch.[167] The garden was staffed by hostesses who wore costumes, and the plantings lit up at night.[168]

Ralph Hancock and Raymond Hood designed the rooftop garden,[169][164][165] one of several in the complex.[170] Upon opening, the Garden of the Nations attracted many visitors because of its collection of exotic flora,[171] and it became the most popular garden in Rockefeller Center.[172] In its heyday, the Center charged admission fees for the Garden of the Nations.[169][173] However, the nation-themed gardens were demolished by 1938,[169][168] and the rock garden was left to dry up, supplanted by flower beds that were not open to the public.[173] In 1936, the central roof temporarily housed a prototype of an apartment, which was used to advertise the Rockefeller Apartments between 54th and 55th Streets.[174][175]

Primary roof edit

From 1937 onward, the roof of the eastern tower contained neon letters spelling "RCA".[176] The letters each measured 22 feet (6.7 m) wide by 24 feet (7.3 m) tall;[177] at the time of the building's completion, the letters were the world's highest neon signs.[178] These were replaced by "GE" letters in 1988.[179][180] The letters were replaced again with the new united Comcast/NBC logo, rendered in longer-lasting LED lighting.[83] The new signs consist of a 10 ft (3.0 m) tall Comcast wordmark and NBC logo on the northern and southern elevations, as well as a 17 ft (5.2 m) NBC logo on the building's western elevation.[181]

In 1960, a 12-foot-wide (3.7 m), 400-pound (180 kg) weather radar dish for the National Weather Service was installed atop the roof when the building became the NWS's headquarters.[182][183] KWO35, the NOAA Weather Radio station serving the majority of the Tri-State area, transmitted from atop the building and remained there until 2014. Due to interference with a U.S. Coast Guard radio channel, the transmitter was eventually relocated atop the MetLife Building.[184][185] The weather radar station was used as Doppler 4000 during WNBC-TV's local newscasts.[186] It was operational until February 1, 2017, when StormTracker 4, an S-band weather radar at Rutgers University's Cook Campus, started operating.[187]

Observation deck edit

Top of the Rock, the 70th-story observation deck atop the skyscraper, opened in 1933 and is 850 feet (260 m) above street level.[170][188][189] In addition to the deck, the attraction includes a triple-story observatory on the 67th to 69th floors.[189] Top of the Rock competes with the 86th-floor observation deck of the Empire State Building 200 feet (61 m) higher, as well as a distant view of the Empire State Building.[190] Top of the Rock is accessed from its own entrance on 50th Street, where two elevators (converted from freight elevator shafts) ascend to the 67th floor.[191] The shafts are illuminated, while the elevator cabs contain ceiling panels with historical photographs.[189] There is a double-height indoor observatory on the 67th floor, where escalators lead to the 69th floor. A 8.5-foot-tall (2.6 m) parapet of frameless safety glass runs around the perimeter of the deck; it dates to the 2005 renovation.[191]

The deck originally had dimensions of 190 by 21 feet (57.9 by 6.4 m)[188] and was decorated in the style of an ocean liner, with furnishings such as slatted chairs.[189] The observation deck was closed in 1986 because a renovation of the Rainbow Room had cut off the deck's only access point.[192] The observation deck has been known since 2005 as Top of the Rock, when it reopened after a renovation by Gabellini Sheppard Associates.[191] The original limestone and cast aluminum architectural details were conserved.[193] In 2011, the observation deck had 2.5 million visitors a year and grossed $25 million.[194] On the 69th story is the Beam, a ride themed to the photograph Lunch Atop a Skyscraper; the ride consists of a frame that rotates 12 feet (3.7 m) above the 69th-story terrace.[195][196] As of 2023, the 70th story was planned to include a rotating "skylift" ride, a spherical rooftop beacon, and new floor tiles with a celestial pattern.[197][198]

 
Panoramic view looking north from the Top of the Rock during the daytime, in 2011
 
Panoramic view looking south from the Top of the Rock at sunset, in 2005

History edit

Development edit

Planning edit

 
The construction of Rockefeller Center in December 1933, with the RCA Building at center

The construction of Rockefeller Center occurred between 1932 and 1940[b] on land that John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased from Columbia University.[201][202] The Rockefeller Center site was originally supposed to be occupied by a new opera house for the Metropolitan Opera.[203] By 1928, Benjamin Wistar Morris and designer Joseph Urban were hired to come up with blueprints for the house.[204] However, the new building was too expensive for the opera to fund by itself, and it needed an endowment.[28] The project ultimately gained the support of John D. Rockefeller Jr.[28][205] The planned opera house was canceled in December 1929 due to various issues, with the new opera house eventually being built at Lincoln Center, opening in 1966.[206][207][208]

With the lease still in effect, Rockefeller had to quickly devise new plans so that the three-block Columbia site could become profitable. Raymond Hood, Rockefeller Center's lead architect, came up with the idea to negotiate with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and its subsidiaries, National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO), to build a mass media entertainment complex on the site.[209][210] By May 1930, RCA and its affiliates had made an agreement with Rockefeller Center managers. RCA would lease 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2) of studio space; get naming rights to the western part of the development; and develop four theaters, at a cost of $4.25 million per year.[211] A skyscraper at 30 Rockefeller Plaza's current site was first proposed in the March 1930 version of the complex's blueprint,[212] and the current dimensions of the tower were finalized in March 1931.[213][214] The skyscraper would be named for RCA as part of the agreement;[211] the RCA name became official in May 1932.[215]

Construction edit

The designs for Radio City Music Hall and the RCA Building were submitted to the New York City Department of Buildings in August 1931, by which time both buildings were to open in 1932.[216] Work on the steel structure of the RCA Building started in March 1932.[199] Several artists were hired to design artwork for the RCA Building.[217] Lee Lawrie was hired to design the RCA Building's eastern entrance in June 1932, at which point the sunken plaza in front of the building was also announced.[64][65] The next month, Barry Faulkner was commissioned to create a large glass mosaic on the western entrance facing Sixth Avenue.[75] Gaston Lachaise received the commission for bas-reliefs on the Sixth Avenue entrance in September 1932.[78] The same month, Hood and the complex's manager John Todd traveled to Europe to interview five artists for the lobby.[104] Frank Brangwyn, Josep Maria Sert, and Diego Rivera were hired the following month,[104][218] despite John Rockefeller Jr.'s hesitance to hire Rivera, a prominent communist.[104][219] Henri Matisse had been reluctant to commission a highly visible lobby mural, and Pablo Picasso had refused to even meet with Hood and Todd.[104][220]

 
Lunch atop a Skyscraper, a 1932 photo by Charles Clyde Ebbets

Installation of the exterior stonework began in July 1932 and proceeded at a rate of 2,000 cubic feet (57 m3) per day.[221] Window installation began the same month.[48] The building's structural steel was up to the 64th floor by September 16, 1932.[222][81] The photograph Lunch atop a Skyscraper was taken on September 20, 1932, during the construction of the 69th floor;[223][224] it was part of a publicity stunt promoting the RCA Building.[225] The building was topped out on September 26, 1932, when an American flag was hoisted to the top of the primary 66-story tower on Rockefeller Plaza. The Indiana limestone cladding had been erected to the 15th floor on the Rockefeller Plaza wing, and the facade of the Sixth Avenue wing had been completed.[221] The stone was fabricated at four factories in New York state and then shipped to New York City. Two traveling cranes lifted the stone from the ground to two hoists 70 feet (21 m) high, which then raised the stone to the upper floors.[59] The stonework of the primary tower was completed on December 7, 1932, without fanfare.[59][226] Officials said at the time that they did not host a ceremony for the stonework's completion because the elevators only ran to the 55th floor.[226] It had taken only 102 workdays to install the 212,000 cubic feet (6,000 m3) of stonework.[59]

Rockefeller Plaza was added to the city's official street map in January 1933, and the RCA Building gained the address 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[11] The next month, John D. Rockefeller III honored 27 mechanics for their work on the RCA Building.[227][228] At the time, The New York Times reported that 1,600 workers were busy completing the interior work. According to the main contractors, the laborers, plasterers, and metal lathers involved in the project would need to be compensated the equivalent of 25,000 eight-hour workdays. The building would require 26,900 short tons (24,000 long tons; 24,400 t) of plasterwork, covering about 650,000 square yards (540,000 m2).[229] By April 6, 1933, there were 1,400 mechanics working to complete the RCA Building, which was 90 percent complete; the upper floors were mostly finished, but the base was still incomplete.[230] As late as April 24, more than 1,000 workers were still fitting out the RCA Building.[231][232] As a result of the Depression, building costs were cheaper than projected. The final cost of the first ten buildings, including the RCA Building, came to $102 million (equivalent to $1.8 billion in 2023 dollars[233]).[234]

Opening and early years edit

 
View of the top floors with RCA wordmark in 1943

Todd, Robertson, Todd Engineering Corporation, which was constructing Rockefeller Center, relocated to the RCA Building on April 22, 1933, becoming the first tenants.[231][232] The RCA Building was slated to officially open on May 1, 1933.[235] Its opening was delayed until mid-May because of a controversy over Rivera's Man at the Crossroads,[236] which in large part stemmed from the communist motifs of the mural.[237] On May 10, 1933, Rivera was ordered to stop all work on the mural,[238][239] which was covered in stretched canvas and left incomplete.[238][237][240] Brangwyn's murals were also incomplete at the time of the building's opening.[100] Rivera's mural remained covered until February 1934, when workmen peeled the mural off the wall.[114] Columbia University originally owned most of Rockefeller Center's land as well as the complex's buildings, including the RCA Building. However, Columbia received no rental income; Rockefeller Center's managers collected the rent and owned the land under the western part of the complex, including a section of the RCA Building West.[202]

The RCA offices moved to the RCA Building's 52nd and 53rd floors in June 1933.[241] The Rockefeller family took up space throughout the building to give potential tenants the impression of occupancy.[242][243] Their Rockefeller Foundation, as well as the General Education Board and the Spelman Fund of New York, had leased space,[244][243] and the Rockefeller family's Standard Oil Company moved into the RCA Building in 1934.[245] NBC was one of the first tenants in the new RCA Building and, with 35 studios packed into the base, it was also one of the largest tenants.[246] Westinghouse moved into the 14th through 17th floors of the RCA Building,[242][247] receiving the contract for the building's elevators as a result.[248] American Cyanamid took four floors and part of another.[249][250] Other space was taken by the Greek consulate,[251] the Chinese consulate,[252] the National Health Council,[253] and a branch of the Chase National Bank.[254] A double-height space at the center of the ground story, which had been difficult to rent, opened as the Municipal Art Exhibition in February 1934.[255][256] The space, referred to as the Forum,[257] had contained a large stairway leading up to a second-story balcony with exhibition rooms.[258] Despite the large number of tenants, Rockefeller Center was only 59 percent rented by the end of 1933.[248]

Shortly after the RCA Building's opening, there were plans to use the building above the 64th floor as a public "amusement center". That section of the building had several terraces, which could be used as a dance floor, observation deck and landscaped terrace gardens.[259][260] On the 65th floor, there was also a two-story space for a dining room with a high ceiling.[261] Frank W. Darling quit his job as head of Rye's Playland[262] to direct the programming for the proposed amusement space.[259][260] In July 1933, the managers opened an observation deck atop the RCA Building, which consisted of 190 by 21 ft (57.9 by 6.4 m) terraces on the 67th, 69th, and 70th floors.[188] The 40-cents-per-head observation deck saw 1,300 daily visitors by late 1935.[263] Meanwhile, the floors below the observation deck were planned as a restaurant, solarium, game room, and ballroom, which would later become the Rainbow Room.[188] The Rainbow Room opened on October 3, 1934.[151][152]

A revolving beacon was installed atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 1935, the first such beacon to be installed in Manhattan.[264] That September, the ground-floor retail space was fully leased.[265] The New York Museum of Science and Industry leased the Municipal Art Exhibition space shortly afterward after Nelson Rockefeller became a trustee of the museum.[266][267] Subsequently, Edward Durell Stone removed the partitions on the second floor of the exhibition space,[258] and the museum opened there in February 1936.[268][269] The central wall of the main lobby remained empty until 1937, when Jose Maria Sert's American Progress was installed.[108][109] At the time, the RCA Building was 84 percent leased.[270] By 1938, the NBC studios at the RCA Building received 700,000 annual visitors, while the observation deck had 430,000 annual visitors.[271]

1940s to 1970s edit

 
The building at night as seen from Channel Gardens

Two 24-ton cooling machines were installed in the basement of the RCA Building in 1940. The air-conditioning units supplemented the RCA Building's existing units and also served 1230 Sixth Avenue, 10 Rockefeller Plaza, and 1 Rockefeller Plaza.[272] The lobby was then renovated in 1941. As part of the project, an overpass at mezzanine level was removed, the lighting was brightened, and another mural by Jose Maria Sert was installed.[116] An air-raid siren was installed atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 1942 during World War II.[273][274] The Rainbow Room and Grill atop the RCA Building was closed at the end of that December because of staffing shortages.[275][276] In 1943, Rockefeller Center's managers purchased the lots at 1242–1248 Sixth Avenue and 73 West 49th Street, part of RCA Building West; these lots had previously been held under a long-term lease.[277] By the next year, the RCA Building was almost fully rented.[248][278]

During the war, the RCA Building's Room 3603 became the primary location of the U.S. operations of British Intelligence's British Security Co-ordination, organized by William Stephenson. It also served as the office of Allen Dulles, who later headed the Central Intelligence Agency.[279][280] The revolving beacon, which had been darkened during the war, was reactivated in 1945 after the air-raid siren was dismantled,[281] but the Rainbow Room restaurant remained closed until 1950.[153][282] The Museum of Science and Industry moved out of the RCA Building's lower floors in 1950. Rockefeller Center's managers hired Carson and Lundin to design two new levels of retail space with about 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of new floor area.[283] The retail space was twice as profitable as the museum; the remaining street-level space was transformed into a studio for the Today Show.[284] In mid-1953, Columbia bought all of Rockefeller Center's land along Sixth Avenue, including the western part of RCA Building West, for $5.5 million. Rockefeller Center then leased the land back from Columbia.[285][286][287]

The building's largest tenants, RCA and NBC, renewed their leases in 1958 for 24 years.[288] The National Weather Service's radar was placed on the roof in June 1960, adjacent to RCA's and NBC's antennas,[182][289] and the NWS offices relocated to the building that December.[290] The Singer Manufacturing Company became another major tenant, leasing six floors in 1961;[291][292] this required the installation of a dedicated air-conditioning system on the 58th floor for that company.[293] In addition, the Rainbow Room atop the building was refurbished in 1965.[294] An anti-Vietnam War bombing occurred on the 19th floor in 1969, causing substantial damage, though no one was hurt.[295][296] Also in 1969, the RCA sign atop the building was updated with RCA's new logo in neon lights.[178] The RCA Building maintained high occupancy through this time. Even at its lowest point during the 1973–1975 recession, the building was 88 percent occupied and Rockefeller Center's managers were able to lease space at the building above market rate.[248]

In 1973, the RCA sign atop the building was turned off to conserve energy, the first time it had not lit up since World War II.[177] The next January, RCA renewed its lease for 20 years, having previously considered relocating from New York City.[297][298] RCA's chief executive Robert Sarnoff also announced that the company would construct a "management and conference center" atop the central section of the building.[298][299] The conference center would have been designed by Ford & Earl Design Associates and Justin Lamb and would have been powered by solar heat.[174][300] RCA applied for permission to build the conference center in September 1975,[301] but the project was canceled after Sarnoff resigned that December.[302] The RCA Building's central location and consistent upkeep meant that it was 93 percent occupied by 1975, despite a relatively high vacancy rate in New York City office buildings.[303] Several law firms had moved into the building during this time.[304] Singer moved out of the RCA Building in 1978, freeing up a large block of office space,[305] but RCA and NBC renewed their leases on a combined 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m2) two years later.[306]

1980s and 1990s edit

 
View of the building's facade from the east, above Rockefeller Plaza

Columbia University was not making enough money from Rockefeller Center leases by the 1970s,[307] and the university started looking to sell the land beneath Rockefeller Center, including the RCA Building, in 1983.[308] That year, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) held hearings to determine how much of Rockefeller Center should be protected as a landmark.[309] The Rockefeller family and Columbia University acknowledged that the buildings were already symbolically landmarks, but their spokesman John E. Zuccotti recommended that only the block between 49th and 50th Streets be protected, including the RCA Building and RCA Building West.[c] By contrast, almost everyone else who supported Rockefeller Center's landmark status recommended that the entire complex be landmarked.[311][312][313] The LPC granted landmark status to the exteriors of all of the original complex's buildings, as well as the interiors of the International Building's and 30 Rockefeller Plaza's lobbies, on April 23, 1985.[313][314][315][d] Rockefeller Center's original buildings also became a National Historic Landmark in 1987.[316]

Columbia had agreed to sell the land to the Rockefeller Group, an investment company owned by the Rockefeller family,[317] for $400 million in February 1985.[308][318] The Rockefeller Group formed Rockefeller Center Inc. that July to manage the RCA Building and other properties.[319][317] By late 1985, NBC began planning to relocate, leaving half the RCA Building's space vacant.[320][321] The network needed 1 million square feet (93,000 m2) of space and the RCA Building's facilities required hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations.[320] The same year, General Electric acquired RCA/NBC and began looking to save money.[322] The developers of Harmon Meadow and Television City had both made offers to NBC, but demand for office space in New York City was starting to decrease, which led the building's owners to focus on keeping NBC at the RCA Building.[322][323] NBC agreed to stay at 30 Rockefeller Plaza at the end of 1987 after city and state officials offered $72 million in tax exemptions, $800 million in industrial bonds, and sales-tax deferments on $1.1 billion worth of purchases.[324][325] These incentives would not need to be repaid as long as NBC stayed at the building until 2002, or for 15 years.[324] NBC extended its lease by 35 years so that it would last into 2022 and secured an option to buy the western and central sections of the skyscraper.[325]

Meanwhile, the Rockefeller Group had begun expanding the Rainbow Room. The observation deck closed in 1986 because the expansion cut off the only access between the observation deck and its elevators.[192] The Rainbow Room also reopened in December 1987 after the Rockefeller Group conducted an extensive renovation.[326] The RCA Building was renamed the GE Building in July 1988, and the signage atop the building was changed accordingly, despite concerns that it could be confused with the General Electric Building on 570 Lexington Avenue.[179][180] Mitsubishi Estate, a real estate subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Group, purchased a majority stake in the Rockefeller Group in 1988, including the GE Building and Rockefeller Center's other structures.[327][328] Despite the renaming, 30 Rockefeller Plaza continued to be popularly known as the RCA Building.[178] Subsequently, Rockefeller Center transferred some of the unused air rights above the British Empire Building and La Maison Francaise to the Rockefeller Plaza West skyscraper on Seventh Avenue.[329][330] In exchange, the Rockefeller Group had to preserve the original buildings between 49th and 50th Streets[c] under a more stringent set of regulations than the rest of the complex. While the GE Building's air rights were unaffected, the structure fell under the new regulations.[331]

 
View with GE wordmark, 2005

The Rockefeller Group filed for bankruptcy protection in May 1995 after missing several mortgage payments.[332][333] That November, John Rockefeller Jr.'s son David and a consortium led by Goldman Sachs agreed to buy Rockefeller Center's buildings for $1.1 billion,[334] beating out Sam Zell and other bidders.[335] The transaction included $306 million for the mortgage and $845 million for other expenses.[336] As that sale progressed, GE and Goldman Sachs discussed selling part of the GE Building to its namesake, allowing GE to lower its occupancy costs on the 1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m2) that it occupied.[337][338] In May 1996, GE bought the space for $440 million, as well as an option to renew the lease on the Today Show studios at 10 Rockefeller Plaza.[339] Before either transaction was finalized, GE subleased 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of that space.[340][341] Goldman Sachs made numerous upgrades to the building and allowed brokers to finalize leases more quickly.[248] In addition to GE, other large tenants at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in the late 1990s included law firm Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine and Chadbourne & Parke.[342] Cipriani S.A. took over the Rainbow Room in 1998.[343]

2000s to present edit

Tishman Speyer, led by David Rockefeller's close friend Jerry Speyer and the Lester Crown family of Chicago, bought the original 14 buildings and land in December 2000 for $1.85 billion, including the GE Building.[336][327] The next year, Tishman Speyer began planning a renovation of the rooftop observation deck, which would be rebranded Top of the Rock.[191] Kostow Greenwood Architects also started designing a renovation for NBC Studios.[344] The observation deck plans were announced publicly in November 2003.[345] Two existing elevator shafts were lengthened so that the observation deck could be accessed without going through the Rainbow Room to get to the "shuttle" elevators. In addition, a ground-floor entrance was created on 50th Street and a three-level storefront was converted into an observation deck entrance.[191] The deck reopened in November 2005 after a renovation by Gabellini Sheppard Associates.[346][193]

During the late 2000s, the building retained an 85 percent occupancy rate.[248] The WNBC-TV newsroom was renovated during 2008,[347] after NBC had announced earlier the same year that it would start a 24-hour news channel.[348] In addition, Tishman Speyer hired EverGreene Architectural Arts to restore the lobby, and a two-year restoration commenced in 2009.[37] The Rainbow Room closed that year after Rockefeller Center Inc. ended Cipriani's lease,[349] and the LPC designated the Rainbow Room as an interior landmark in 2012.[350] Comcast, which had bought a 51 percent ownership stake in NBCUniversal in 2009,[351] bought the remaining ownership stake from GE in 2013.[352] The sale included NBC's portion of 30 Rockefeller Plaza and the building's naming rights;[352] by then, GE occupied only two stories in the building.[353] The Rainbow Room reopened in October 2014 under new management,[354] and the rotunda above the lobby was restored starting in 2014.[121]

In June 2014, the LPC granted Comcast permission to modify 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[181][355] Comcast planned to rename the building and replace the signage on the roof.[181][178] Additionally, a new marquee was added to the Sixth Avenue entrance, advertising it as the home of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[181][73] The GE signage was dismantled starting in September 2014,[353] and 30 Rockefeller Plaza was officially renamed the Comcast Building on July 1, 2015.[356] Toy store FAO Schwarz opened a store at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in November 2018.[357][358] In April 2022, the LPC approved Tishman Speyer's proposal to install additional visitor attractions at Top of the Rock.[197][198] One of the attractions, the Beam, opened in December 2023.[195][196]

Impact edit

See also: Rockefeller Center § Reception

As Rockefeller Center was being developed, Variety magazine wrote: "The main building of the Rockefeller Center group is a notable structure and forms a fitting climax to half a decade of super-skyscraper construction, which, with this one exception, was abruptly brought to an end" by the 1929 crash.[33] A Hearst's International magazine article described the RCA Building as "soaring to an incredible petrous peak", with the sunken plaza "shimmering in brilliant floodlight" at its base.[359] After 30 Rockefeller Plaza was completed, the Federal Writers' Project observed in 1939: "Its huge, broad, flat north and south facades, its almost unbroken mass, and its thinness are the features that impelled observers to nickname it the 'Slab'."[39][67] According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the RCA Building's massing "marked the emergence of a new form of the skyscraper", namely the slab-like form.[49]

Architectural critic Paul Goldberger said, "Nothing is more attuned to romantic fantasies of New York than the RCA Building's black granite lobby, the Rainbow Room's ornamental framing of a 70-story view...".[360] Goldberger wrote that the RCA Building's form was "made sumptuous by its mounting setbacks", contrasting with the "smaller and bulkier" International Building and other structures in the complex.[361] In 2009, a Crain's New York reporter wrote: "NBC, which owns its space, lends the building a certain panache. So do the art, Christmas tree, gardens and immaculate condition of the center."[248]

As the central building of Rockefeller Center, 30 Rockefeller Plaza is widely known.[49] The building was also commonly nicknamed 30 Rock,[248][362] which inspired the title of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013).[363][364] Additionally, numerous movies and TV series that feature Rockefeller Center in their establishing shots have used imagery of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[365] Such films have included Nothing Sacred in 1937, How to Marry a Millionaire in 1953, and Manhattan in 1979.[366] Two films have also discussed the destruction of Rivera's Man at the Crossroads in the lobby: The Cradle Will Rock in 1999 and Frida in 2002.[367] Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, an attraction at the Universal Studios Florida amusement park, is also based on 30 Rockefeller Plaza's design.[368]

Several later buildings were inspired by 30 Rockefeller Plaza and its design features, including 525 William Penn Place in Pittsburgh (also designed by Harrison & Abramovitz),[369] the Wells Fargo Center in Minneapolis,[370][371] and the NBC Tower in Chicago.[372][373] In particular, the critics Paul Goldberger and Rick Kogan wrote that the NBC Tower's buttresses, setbacks, and vertical stripes were similar to those at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[373][374] Goldberger also said that the architect John Portman may have used the RCA Building as an inspiration for San Francisco's Embarcadero Center and Atlanta's Peachtree Center but that, in both cases, Portman's towers "look more like sliding planes than the sumptuous, carved-out mountain that the RCA Building's form evokes".[371]

Buildings inspired by 30 Rockefeller Plaza

See also edit

References edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ As per the 1916 Zoning Act, the wall of any given tower that faces a street could only rise to a certain height, proportionate to the street's width, at which point the building had to be set back by a given proportion. This system of setbacks would continue until the tower reaches a floor level in which that level's floor area was 25% that of the ground level's area. After that 25% threshold was reached, the building could rise without restriction.[44] This law was superseded by the 1961 Zoning Resolution.[45]
  2. ^ 30 Rockefeller Center was the first building to start construction, in September 1932.[199] The last building was completed in 1940.[200]
  3. ^ a b Namely 1250 Avenue of the Americas, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the British Empire Building, La Maison Francaise, the Channel Gardens, and the Lower Plaza[310]
  4. ^ The final exterior landmark designation covers 12 buildings as well as the Channel Gardens, Rockefeller Plaza, and Lower Plaza. These are 1230, 1250, and 1270 Avenue of the Americas; 1, 10, 30, 50, and 75 Rockefeller Plaza; the British Empire Building; the International Building; La Maison Francaise; and Radio City Music Hall.[310]

Citations edit

  1. ^ . National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. September 18, 2007. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Adams 1985, p. 11.
  3. ^ a b Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1985, p. 1.
  4. ^ a b Postal 2012, p. 1.
  5. ^ . Emporis. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016.
  6. ^ a b c "1271 Avenue of the Amer, 10020". New York City Department of City Planning. from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.
  8. ^ a b Krinsky 1978, p. 4.
  9. ^ a b Reynolds 1994, p. 301.
  10. ^ Bowen, Croswell (April 1, 1970). "Topics: In Search of Sixth Avenue". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  11. ^ a b "' Rockefeller Plaza' Joins City Directory; Center's New Street and Promenade Named". The New York Times. January 16, 1933. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Adams 1985, p. 177.
  13. ^ Krinsky 1978, pp. 32–33.
  14. ^ Krinsky 1978, p. 64.
  15. ^ "Rockefeller City to Have Big Plaza" (PDF). The New York Times. June 10, 1932. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  16. ^ Brown, Nicole (March 18, 2019). "Why do some buildings have their own ZIP codes? NYCurious". amNewYork. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  17. ^ "Rockefeller Site For Opera Dropped" (PDF). The New York Times. December 6, 1929. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  18. ^ Dowd, Maureen (February 6, 1985). "Columbia Is to Get $400 Million in Rockefeller Center Land Sale". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  19. ^ a b c Okrent 2003, pp. 93–94, map p. 92.
  20. ^ Alpern & Durst 1996, pp. 38, 40.
  21. ^ a b Okrent 2003, pp. 88–89.
  22. ^ a b Kurutz, Steven (February 24, 2022). "Can a Cool Bar Make It in Rockefeller Center?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
  23. ^ Tomasson, Robert E. (October 13, 1975). "An Old Bar Gives Way To an Imitation Old Bar". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  24. ^ Montagner, Anna (March 9, 2022). "Have a Drink at Pete Davidson's New Midtown Bar". PAPER. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
  25. ^ a b Alpern & Durst 1996, p. 38.
  26. ^ Fowler, Glenn (September 6, 1962). "Tiny Corner in Radio City Is Sold; Investors Get Parcel That One Family Held 110 Years 50th St. Plot, Bought in 1852 for $1,600, Brings $380,000". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  27. ^ Federal Writers' Project 1939, p. 334.
  28. ^ a b c Adams 1985, p. 13.
  29. ^ Robins 2017, p. 112.
  30. ^ "Comcast Building". The Skyscraper Center. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. October 28, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  31. ^ a b c d e Adams 1985, p. 59.
  32. ^ Krinsky 1978, p. 53.
  33. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "New RCA Building of 69 Stories Rivals the Towering Empire State". Variety. Vol. 109, no. 2. December 20, 1932. p. 60. ProQuest 1529011229.
  34. ^ Krinsky 1978, p. 110.
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January 01, 1970
rockefeller, plaza, building, comcast, building, redirect, here, other, building, manhattan, general, electric, building, other, buildings, general, electric, building, disambiguation, philadelphia, building, comcast, center, officially, comcast, building, for. GE Building and Comcast Building redirect here For the other GE Building in Manhattan see General Electric Building For other GE buildings see General Electric Building disambiguation For the Philadelphia building see Comcast Center 30 Rockefeller Plaza officially the Comcast Building formerly RCA Building and GE Building is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City United States Completed in 1933 the 66 story 850 ft 260 m building was designed in the Art Deco style by Raymond Hood Rockefeller Center s lead architect 30 Rockefeller Plaza was known for its main tenant the Radio Corporation of America RCA from its opening in 1933 until 1988 and then for General Electric until 2015 when it was renamed for its current owner Comcast The building also houses the headquarters and New York studios of television network NBC the headquarters is sometimes called 30 Rock a nickname that inspired the NBC sitcom of the same name The tallest structure in Rockefeller Center the building is the 28th tallest in New York City and the 65th tallest in the United States and was the third tallest building in the world when it opened 30 Rockefeller Plaza Comcast Building As the Comcast Building February 2022Former namesRCA Building 1933 1988 GE Building 1988 2015 Alternative names30 RockNBCUniversal BuildingGeneral informationStatusCompletedTypeOffices and television studios NBC Location30 Rockefeller PlazaNew York New York 10112Coordinates40 45 32 N 73 58 45 W 40 75889 N 73 97917 W 40 75889 73 97917Completed1933OwnerNBCUniversal floors 2 16 Tishman Speyer all other floors HeightRoof850 ft 260 m Technical detailsFloor count66Floor area2 099 985 sq ft 195 095 0 m2 Lifts elevators60Design and constructionArchitect s Raymond HoodDeveloperJohn D Rockefeller Jr Structural engineerEdwards amp Hjorth H G Balcom amp AssociatesArchitectural style s Modern Art DecoU S Historic districtContributing propertyDesignatedDecember 23 1987Reference no 87002591 1 Designated entityRockefeller CenterNew York City LandmarkDesignatedApril 23 1985 2 Reference no 1446 2 Designated entityFacade Rockefeller CenterNew York City LandmarkDesignatedApril 23 1985 3 Reference no 1448 3 Designated entityInterior LobbyNew York City LandmarkDesignatedOctober 16 2012 4 Reference no 2505 4 Designated entityInterior Rainbow RoomReferences 5 30 Rockefeller Plaza s massing consists of three parts the main 66 story tower to the east a windowless section at the center and a 16 story annex to the west Though the building was designed to conform with the 1916 Zoning Resolution it rises mostly as a slab with setbacks mostly for aesthetic value The facade is made of limestone with granite at the base as well as about 6 000 windows separated by aluminum spandrels In addition to its offices and studios 30 Rockefeller Plaza contains the Rainbow Room restaurant and an observation deck called Top of the Rock 30 Rockefeller Plaza also includes numerous artworks and formerly contained the mural Man at the Crossroads by Diego Rivera The entire Rockefeller Center complex is a New York City designated landmark and a National Historic Landmark and parts of 30 Rockefeller Plaza s interior are also New York City landmarks 30 Rockefeller Plaza was developed as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center and work on its superstructure started in March 1932 The first tenant moved into the building on April 22 1933 but its official opening was delayed due to controversy over Man at the Crossroads The Rainbow Room and the observation deck opened in the mid 1930s and retail space was added to the ground floor in the 1950s The building remained almost fully occupied through the 20th century and was renamed for GE in 1988 Since the late 1990s NBC has owned most of the lower floors while Tishman Speyer has operated the rest of the building 30 Rockefeller Plaza was extensively renovated in 2014 and was renamed for Comcast in 2015 Contents 1 Site 1 1 Holdout buildings 2 Architecture 2 1 Form 2 2 Facade 2 2 1 Entrances 2 3 Interior 2 3 1 Lobby 2 3 1 1 Lobby art 2 3 1 2 Concourse and mezzanine 2 3 2 NBC Studios and headquarters 2 3 3 Rockefeller family offices 2 3 4 Rainbow Room 2 4 Roofs 2 4 1 Garden of the Nations 2 4 2 Primary roof 2 4 3 Observation deck 3 History 3 1 Development 3 1 1 Planning 3 1 2 Construction 3 2 Opening and early years 3 3 1940s to 1970s 3 4 1980s and 1990s 3 5 2000s to present 4 Impact 5 See also 6 References 6 1 Notes 6 2 Citations 6 3 Sources 7 External linksSite editBuildings of Rockefeller Center nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 100m110yds nbsp 17 nbsp 16 nbsp 15 nbsp 14 nbsp 13 nbsp 12 nbsp 11 nbsp 10 nbsp 9 nbsp 8 nbsp 7 nbsp 6 nbsp 5 nbsp 4 nbsp 3 nbsp 2 nbsp 1 nbsp viewtalkeditBuildings and structures in Rockefeller Center 1 1 Rockefeller Plaza2 10 Rockefeller Plaza3 La Maison Francaise4 British Empire Building5 30 Rockefeller Plaza6 International Building7 50 Rockefeller Plaza8 1230 Avenue of the Americas9 Radio City Music Hall10 1270 Avenue of the Americas11 75 Rockefeller Plaza12 600 Fifth Avenue13 608 Fifth Avenue14 1271 Avenue of the Americas15 1251 Avenue of the Americas16 1221 Avenue of the Americas17 1211 Avenue of the Americas 30 Rockefeller Plaza is part of the Rockefeller Center complex in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City 6 7 It was intended as the central structure of Rockefeller Center both physically and symbolically 8 9 The land lot is nearly rectangular and covers 107 766 sq ft 10 011 8 m2 bounded by Sixth Avenue officially Avenue of the Americas 10 to the west 50th Street to the north Rockefeller Plaza to the east and 49th Street to the south The site has a frontage of 545 ft 166 m on 49th and 50th Streets and a frontage of 175 46 ft 53 m on Sixth Avenue 6 The main entrance is on Rockefeller Plaza a private pedestrian street running through the complex parallel to Fifth and Sixth Avenues 11 12 13 In front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza s main entrance below ground level is the Lower Plaza 14 15 The building is assigned its own ZIP Code 10112 it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes as of 2019 update 16 Across Sixth Avenue the building faces 1221 Avenue of the Americas to the southwest 1251 Avenue of the Americas to the west and 1271 Avenue of the Americas to the northwest Radio City Music Hall 1270 Avenue of the Americas and 50 Rockefeller Plaza are directly to the north Across Rockefeller Plaza are the International Building to the northeast La Maison Francaise and the British Empire Building to the east and 1 Rockefeller Plaza and 608 Fifth Avenue to the southeast In addition 10 Rockefeller Plaza is to the south 6 The site was previously part of the campus of Columbia University 17 which retained ownership of most of the land well after the complex was built 18 Holdout buildings edit The northwest and southwest corners of 30 Rockefeller Plaza were built around two holdout structures on Sixth Avenue 19 20 The owners of the parcel on Sixth Avenue and 49th Street at the southwest corner of 30 Rockefeller Plaza had demanded an exorbitant price for their property upon learning of the planned skyscraper 21 The holdout building had contained Hurley s restaurant which had opened around the 1890s and subsequently became a popular meeting place for NBC performers and executives The restaurant was later connected by a direct passageway to 30 Rockefeller Plaza s studios 22 Rockefeller Center acquired the building in the mid 20th century and ended the restaurant s lease in 1975 23 but the new lessees continued to run Hurley s until 1999 22 As of March 2022 update the holdout building contains Pebble Bar 24 The other tenant who occupied a plot on Sixth Avenue and 50th Street at 30 Rockefeller Plaza s northwest corner never received a sale offer due to a misunderstanding 21 The grocer John F Maxwell would only sell his property at 50th Street if he received 1 million Because of a miscommunication the Rockefeller family was told that Maxwell would never sell and Maxwell himself said that he had never been approached by the Rockefellers 25 19 Consequently Maxwell kept his property until his death in 1962 upon which Columbia bought the building 26 Rockefeller Center purchased the Maxwell family s lease in 1970 25 19 Architecture edit30 Rockefeller Plaza was designed by the Associated Architects of Rockefeller Center composed of the firms of Corbett Harrison amp MacMurray Hood Godley amp Fouilhoux and Reinhard amp Hofmeister Raymond Hood was the complex s lead architect 27 28 The Associated Architects designed all of Rockefeller Center s buildings in the Art Deco style 29 Developed as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center 30 Rockefeller Plaza opened in 1933 as the RCA Building 7 30 Rockefeller Plaza is 872 ft 266 m tall and was built as a single structure occupying the entire block between Sixth Avenue and Rockefeller Plaza 8 As of December 2023 update the building is the 31st tallest in New York City and the 65th tallest in the United States 30 The design was influenced by Rockefeller Center manager John Todd s desire for the building to use its air rights to their maximum potential 31 32 30 Rockefeller Plaza rises to a flat roof unlike some of the other skyscrapers built in New York City around the same time These included the Chrysler Building 70 Pine Street and 40 Wall Street which used spires to reach their maximum heights 33 Hartley Burr Alexander a mythology and symbology professor who oversaw Rockefeller Center s art program led the installation of artwork throughout the complex 34 35 36 The building s artwork was designed around the concept of new frontiers depicting modern society 37 Form edit nbsp Seen in 2007 The massing of 30 Rockefeller Plaza is designed in three parts 9 38 39 The easternmost section contains a 66 story tower 31 with two stories of retail on the west and east 39 The tower is surrounded by a shorter U shaped section to the north west and south 33 Some sources give 30 Rockefeller Plaza s height as 70 stories but this arises from a hyperbolic press release by Merle Crowell the complex s publicist during construction 40 At the middle of the site was a windowless nine story section which housed NBC s studios 38 39 The western part of the site steps up again to a 16 story tower 38 31 39 The western section at 1250 Avenue of the Americas formerly also known as RCA Building West is accessed mainly from Sixth Avenue 41 The facade of the annex rises straight from the sidewalk with notches at the corners because the corner lots were private properties at the time of the building s construction in 1935 42 The massing was influenced by the 1916 Zoning Resolution which restricted the height that the street side exterior walls of New York City buildings could rise before they needed to incorporate setbacks that recessed the buildings exterior walls away from the streets 43 33 a The base of the building could only rise to 120 feet 37 m before it had to taper to a tower covering 25 percent of the site 44 33 The eastern tower appeared to violate this principle since it measured 103 by 327 feet 31 by 100 m but the base measured only 200 by 535 feet 61 by 163 m The base does not occupy its entire plot which measures 200 by 670 feet 61 by 204 m 33 The tower section was recessed so far into the block that it could have risen without any setbacks Hood decided to include setbacks anyway as they represented a sense of future a sense of energy a sense of purpose according to architecture expert Alan Balfour 46 Above the lowest stories the north and south elevations rise straight up for 33 stories before setting back gradually 38 There are three setbacks each on the north south and east elevations 47 Hood also created a guideline that all of the office space in the complex would be no more than 27 ft 8 2 m from a window 48 49 which was the maximum distance that sunlight could permeate the windows of a building at New York City s latitude 50 51 The setbacks on the northern and southern sides of 30 Rockefeller Plaza allow the building to comply with Hood s guideline 33 39 52 The setbacks correspond to the tops of the elevator banks inside this arrangement is repeated on the facade of the International Building 47 Similarly 30 Rockefeller Plaza also contains notches at its corners 47 33 The eastern elevation s setbacks were included exclusively for aesthetic purposes 52 By contrast the layout and massing of Rockefeller Center s other buildings were intended to maximize rental profit 53 Facade edit 30 Rockefeller Plaza s limestone facade includes spandrels with quadruple leaf motifs in a Gothic inspired style 54 55 influenced the design of the rest of the complex 56 The first story is clad with Deer Island granite to a height of 4 ft 1 2 m 57 58 The remainder of the facade contains Indiana Limestone and aluminum spandrel panels 58 Some 212 000 cubic feet 6 000 m3 of limestone 4 100 cubic feet 120 m3 of granite and 6 000 spandrels were used in the construction The limestone covered 600 000 square feet 56 000 m2 59 The limestone blocks are laid slightly irregularly and contain striations for visual effect 57 In addition 10 38 million bricks were integrated into the facade 60 30 Rockefeller Plaza also had 6 045 windows upon its completion with 19 700 panes between them covering 168 340 square feet 15 639 m2 in total Thirty six of the windows measured 9 by 16 feet 2 7 by 4 9 m and were storefront windows Those on the mezzanine level were composed of 9 by 12 foot 2 7 by 3 7 m panels flanked by smaller sidelights Another 165 were casement windows which had panes measuring 6 by 18 inches 150 by 460 mm most of these were above the 65th floor The remaining 5 824 were casement windows measuring 4 by 6 feet 1 2 by 1 8 m 48 About 5 200 of these windows contained Venetian blinds which were installed by the Mackin Venetian Blind Company 61 Entrances edit Main entrance nbsp Sound to the left of the main entrance nbsp Wisdom above the main entrance nbsp Light to the right of the main entranceComponents of Lee Lawrie s Wisdom A Voice from the Clouds At street level the stonework is relatively sparsely decorated 62 63 The main entrance of 30 Rockefeller Plaza was designed as a loggia of three arches one at the center measuring 37 feet 11 m high by 14 feet 4 3 m wide and two on the sides measuring 27 feet 8 2 m high by 13 feet 4 0 m wide 64 65 66 Lee Lawrie designed the sculptural group Wisdom A Voice from the Clouds for the lintels of the three arches 36 64 65 Lawrie s carved rendering of Wisdom is above the center arch flanked by Sound on the left and Light on the right 66 63 67 68 The Wisdom frieze above the entrance is accompanied by an inscription reading Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the stability of thy times from Isaiah 33 6 KJV 69 70 The sculptural groups are accompanied by polychrome decorations created by Leon Victor Solon 66 Lawrie s three renderings are complemented by two limestone bas reliefs by Leo Friedlander one of Production on the north elevation and one of Radio on the south elevation 63 67 71 72 nbsp 1230 Avenue of the Americas entrance 1230 Avenue of the Americas the annex building to 30 Rockefeller Plaza contains a marquee 73 and two works of art on its exterior 74 The recessed entrance portal is filled with a 79 by 14 ft 24 1 by 4 3 m mosaic mural Intelligence Awakening Mankind by Barry Faulkner 75 76 77 The portal is topped by four 11 5 by 4 ft 3 5 by 1 2 m limestone panels by Gaston Lachaise each of which signifies an aspect of civilization as it related to the original Radio City complex 78 79 80 The two panels on either side of the entrance are entitled The Conquest of Space and Gifts of Earth to Mankind these respectively depict aspiration and life two qualities that Lachaise believed were most important to humanity 81 The two panels in the center are known as Genius Seizing the Light of the Sun also known as Invention Seizing the Light of the Sun 78 and The Spirit of Progress 81 The panels are placed at the third story because at the time of the building s construction they could be seen from the elevated rail line above Sixth Avenue 82 Interior edit 30 Rockefeller Plaza was designed with about 2 100 000 square feet 200 000 m2 of rentable space in total 33 The eastern tower contains the Rainbow Room restaurant on the 65th floor 7 while the Rockefeller family office occupied the tower s 54th through 56th floors until 2014 83 The tower is the headquarters of NBC 84 and houses NBC Studios NBC News MSNBC and network flagship station WNBC 83 30 Rockefeller Plaza also contains offices for NBCUniversal Cable 85 and until 1988 the NBC Radio Network 86 Part of NBC s space also extends into the central part of the building 57 31 87 The superstructure uses 58 500 short tons 52 200 long tons 53 100 t of steel 33 60 To transport visitors to the top floors Westinghouse installed eight express elevators in the RCA Building They moved at an average speed of 1 200 ft min 370 m min and were so expensive that they constituted 13 percent of the building s entire construction cost 88 89 One elevator reached a top speed of 1 400 ft min 430 m min and was dubbed the fastest passenger elevator ride on record 89 These elevators cost about 17 000 a year to maintain by 1942 90 The mechanical core also contains emergency exit staircases though there are fewer staircases on upper floors For example building plans indicate that the 12th story has three sets of emergency staircases while the 60th story has two sets of staircases 91 Lobby edit nbsp The lobby s main section along Rockefeller Plaza The lobby s main entrance is from Rockefeller Plaza to the east with revolving and double leaf bronze and glass doors underneath a paneled bronze screen 92 The doors are topped by a cast glass wall designed by Lee Lawrie which measures 15 feet 4 6 m high by 55 feet 17 m wide 66 92 The wall is made of 240 glass blocks 93 38 Each glass block measures 3 inches 76 mm deep and 19 by 29 inches 480 by 740 mm across 66 92 Opposite the main entrance doors is an information desk made of Champlain gray marble Four large ivory marble piers with embedded light fixtures support the ceiling immediately above 92 The lobby continues north and south from the information desk Stairways at either end lead up to the mezzanine while stairs and escalators lead downstairs to the basement Extending west from either end are two corridors which flank five north south elevator banks 94 The elevator doors are made of bronze and there are bronze and glass storefronts on the outer walls of these corridors 95 The floor is made of brass and terrazzo mosaic 71 The walls of these corridors are paneled in Champlain marble below the height of the storefronts and elevator doors 92 71 A bronze molding runs above the storefronts and elevators while the walls are made of plaster above that height The outer walls of the west east corridors adjacent to the mezzanines contain bronze service doors while the inner walls and the elevator bank walls contain murals The ceilings of the corridors are carried by rows of piers 92 West of the elevator banks two north south corridors extend to side entrances on 49th and 50th Streets which each contain two bronze sets of revolving doors 96 The corridors continue west to the Sixth Avenue entrance 39 Just west of the elevators a staircase leads down to the basement and up to the NBC lobby 39 96 The stair to the basement contains Champlain marble and ivory marble while the stair to the mezzanine contains Champlain marble and bronze railings and moldings Additional stairs to the basement and mezzanine are placed at the point where the corridors continue into 1250 Avenue of the Americas they also contain Champlain marble and bronze railings and moldings 39 Lobby art edit nbsp Lobby mezzanine Josep Maria Sert was originally hired to paint four murals in the northern lobby corridor Time Spirit of Dance Man s Triumph in Communication Conquest of Disease Abolition of Bondage Fraternity of Men and Contest 1940 depicting different aspects of the world and mankind 97 98 Frank Brangwyn painted four murals on the southern corridor all of which symbolize humans relationship with spirituality he complemented these murals with stencils of the themes that were represented 99 95 Rockefeller Center s managers had asked Brangwyn to omit a depiction of Jesus Christ from one of the panels 100 101 the artist ultimately depicted Jesus with his back turned 102 Brangwyn s and Sert s corridor murals measure 17 by 25 feet 5 2 by 7 6 m each 103 Architectural writer Robert A M Stern described Brangwyn s murals as insipid a quality worsened by the fact that the themes were stenciled onto the murals By contrast Stern said Sert at least allowed the meaning of his paintings to fall into happy obscurity 104 After the building had opened Sert was commissioned to paint the mural American Progress at the center of the lobby 93 105 106 measuring 50 by 17 feet 15 2 by 5 2 m 107 The mural was installed in 1937 108 109 37 It depicts a vast allegorical scene of men constructing modern America and contains figures of Abraham Lincoln Mahatma Gandhi and Ralph Waldo Emerson 105 110 92 The space occupied by American Progress was originally taken up by Diego Rivera s Man at the Crossroads mural 93 106 111 112 which was controversial because of its communist imagery and was destroyed in 1934 113 114 Rockefeller officials commissioned a sixth mural from Sert representing the past present and future which they installed in the lobby in 1941 49 115 The mural measures 100 by 50 feet 30 by 15 m and is installed on the ceiling 92 116 Concourse and mezzanine edit Below the lobby is the complex s shopping concourse 12 117 connected to the lobby via escalators 92 The building has a direct entrance to the New York City Subway s 47th 50th Streets Rockefeller Center station via the concourse 118 Until 1950 the building s concourse had also contained Rockefeller Center s post office 119 The mezzanine contains balconies overlooking the lobby The floors of the mezzanine are black terrazzo while the walls are made of marble and plaster separated by a bronze molding Offices from the outer walls open onto the mezzanine balconies There are staircases from the lobby to both the concourse and mezzanine west of the lobby s elevator banks 120 When the building opened it contained a rotunda at the mezzanine level measuring 67 feet 20 m across with a photomural surrounding it The mural was taken apart in the 1950s and the rotunda itself was demolished in the 1970s 121 A new rotunda was constructed from 2014 to 2015 accessed from the ground floor by a 16 foot wide 4 9 m staircase the rotunda contains two LED displays each measuring 60 feet 18 m wide and 5 feet 1 5 m tall 121 122 From 1960 to October 1993 the building s mezzanine level housed the New York City weather forecast office of the National Weather Service 123 The mezzanine level also contained a control room from which all of Rockefeller Center s mechanical systems could be monitored 124 NBC Studios and headquarters edit nbsp A sign for the Rainbow Room tops the NBC Studios marquee Main article NBC Studios New York City When the building was constructed RCA s chief engineer O B Hanson was faced with designing an area of the building that was large enough to host 35 studios with as few structural columns as possible As such the studios were all placed in the windowless center section of the building which would have otherwise been used as an unprofitable office space 31 87 The central part of the building could also use fewer columns which was suitable for large broadcast studios but not for the bases of skyscrapers 57 Over 1 500 mi 2 400 km of utility wires stretched through this part of the building which was powered by direct current 87 Two floors were reserved for future TV studios and five more stories were reserved for audience members and guests 87 The floor wall and ceiling surfaces of the studios were suspended from the superstructure insulating the studios 38 In addition there were double and triple height spaces for exhibitions plays and other events 57 NBC ABC and CBS collectively the Big Three TV Networks had offices on Sixth Avenue and studios in Midtown during the mid 20th century 125 The first television shows at the NBC Studios were broadcast from studio 3H in 1935 and more TV studios were added after World War II as television gained popularity 85 During the RCA Building s early years NBC housed both the Red Network and the Blue Network now ABC there 126 and WJZ TV now WABC TV and WJZ Radio now WABC as well as the headquarters of the ABC network were also headquartered there for the first few years until ABC built their own facilities 127 When the building opened it also hosted daily tours of the NBC Studios 128 129 the tours were canceled in 1977 due to declining attendance 128 NBC was the only one of the Big Three that retained studios in Midtown by the mid 1980s 125 Studio 8H which hosts Saturday Night Live 130 131 is the largest of the studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza with a capacity of 1 200 132 or 1 400 guests 133 Studio 8H was once the largest radio studio in the world and was originally home to the NBC Symphony Orchestra 134 before being converted into a television studio in 1950 135 132 Another major studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza is Studio 6B which hosted Texaco Star Theater the first comedy variety show on television to become popular 136 The Tonight Show was also broadcast from Studio 6B until 1972 returning there in 2014 under the name The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 137 138 Tonight s companion program Late Night branded Late Night with Seth Meyers since 2014 update is also taped in the building 139 The Today Show was also broadcast from 30 Rockefeller Plaza until 1994 when it moved to 10 Rockefeller Plaza 140 Rockefeller family offices edit The Rockefeller family s office Room 5600 occupied the entire 56th floor 141 The family s Rockefeller Foundation rented the entire floor below and two other organizations supported by the Rockefellers also moved into the building 141 142 Daniel Okrent author of the book Great Fortune The Epic of Rockefeller Center said the Rockefellers offices resembled an 18th century English baronial mansion 82 The space was decorated with art by Paul Gauguin Piet Mondrian Paul Signac and Joan Miro 143 By 1937 there were 392 employees of Room 5600 After World War II Room 5600 comprised the entire 54th through 56th floors 144 The family offices became a hub for the family s political activity with ties to both the Democratic and Republican parties at the city state and national levels 145 Visitors to Room 5600 have included Frank Sinatra Shirley MacLaine Nelson Mandela Richard Gere and Bono 83 Even in the late 1980s when Room 5600 had downsized to 175 people it still managed 900 million of Rockefeller family wealth 146 The family moved out during 2014 83 143 Rainbow Room edit Main article Rainbow Room nbsp Rainbow Room restaurant The 65th floor of the building is an event room and restaurant named the Rainbow Room 147 The space was designed by Wallace K Harrison of Associated Architects 148 Interior designer Elena Bachman Schmidt a one time apprentice of Elsie de Wolfe contributed to the design of the interior decor such as the furniture curtains and elevator doors Vincente Minnelli was assigned to help Schmidt select the colors of the walls 149 150 The restaurant opened in 1934 151 152 and was the highest restaurant in the United States for decades though it was closed during much of the 1940s 153 The most recent version of the restaurant opened in 2014 after a restoration by Gabellini Sheppard Associates 154 The Rainbow Room occupies the eastern part of 30 Rockefeller Plaza s 65th floor which covers 13 500 square feet 1 250 m2 155 156 157 The central part of the floor has elevator banks restrooms a gallery and a private dining room The western part houses Bar SixtyFive and an outdoor terrace 156 The dining room itself is a 4 464 square foot 414 7 m2 space 156 158 The restaurant has a 32 foot wide 9 8 m rotating dance floor 159 160 The seats of the Rainbow Room are organized in tiers 159 and there is also a platform for bands and a shallow balcony for entertainers 156 159 There are stairs and a dumbwaiter behind the platform 159 as well as several banquet rooms on the 64th floor 161 Above the dance floor hang several concentric rings that recess into the ceiling 159 Roofs edit Garden of the Nations edit The roof of the building s central section contained a 0 75 acre 0 30 ha Garden of the Nations alternatively Gardens of the Nations 53 which opened in April 1935 on the 11th floor 162 56 163 The garden used 3 000 short tons 2 700 long tons of soil 100 short tons 89 long tons of rock from as far as England 100 000 bricks 2 000 trees and shrubs 4 000 small plants and 20 000 bulbs for flowers 164 Originally the garden included thirteen nation specific gardens whose layouts were inspired by gardens in the respective countries they represented Each of the different gardens were separated by barriers 162 The International Garden a rock garden in the center of the themed gardens 165 featured a meandering stream and 2 000 plant varieties 166 The Garden of the Nations also contained a children s garden a modern style garden and a shrub and vegetable patch 167 The garden was staffed by hostesses who wore costumes and the plantings lit up at night 168 Ralph Hancock and Raymond Hood designed the rooftop garden 169 164 165 one of several in the complex 170 Upon opening the Garden of the Nations attracted many visitors because of its collection of exotic flora 171 and it became the most popular garden in Rockefeller Center 172 In its heyday the Center charged admission fees for the Garden of the Nations 169 173 However the nation themed gardens were demolished by 1938 169 168 and the rock garden was left to dry up supplanted by flower beds that were not open to the public 173 In 1936 the central roof temporarily housed a prototype of an apartment which was used to advertise the Rockefeller Apartments between 54th and 55th Streets 174 175 Primary roof edit From 1937 onward the roof of the eastern tower contained neon letters spelling RCA 176 The letters each measured 22 feet 6 7 m wide by 24 feet 7 3 m tall 177 at the time of the building s completion the letters were the world s highest neon signs 178 These were replaced by GE letters in 1988 179 180 The letters were replaced again with the new united Comcast NBC logo rendered in longer lasting LED lighting 83 The new signs consist of a 10 ft 3 0 m tall Comcast wordmark and NBC logo on the northern and southern elevations as well as a 17 ft 5 2 m NBC logo on the building s western elevation 181 In 1960 a 12 foot wide 3 7 m 400 pound 180 kg weather radar dish for the National Weather Service was installed atop the roof when the building became the NWS s headquarters 182 183 KWO35 the NOAA Weather Radio station serving the majority of the Tri State area transmitted from atop the building and remained there until 2014 Due to interference with a U S Coast Guard radio channel the transmitter was eventually relocated atop the MetLife Building 184 185 The weather radar station was used as Doppler 4000 during WNBC TV s local newscasts 186 It was operational until February 1 2017 when StormTracker 4 an S band weather radar at Rutgers University s Cook Campus started operating 187 Observation deck edit Top of the Rock the 70th story observation deck atop the skyscraper opened in 1933 and is 850 feet 260 m above street level 170 188 189 In addition to the deck the attraction includes a triple story observatory on the 67th to 69th floors 189 Top of the Rock competes with the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building 200 feet 61 m higher as well as a distant view of the Empire State Building 190 Top of the Rock is accessed from its own entrance on 50th Street where two elevators converted from freight elevator shafts ascend to the 67th floor 191 The shafts are illuminated while the elevator cabs contain ceiling panels with historical photographs 189 There is a double height indoor observatory on the 67th floor where escalators lead to the 69th floor A 8 5 foot tall 2 6 m parapet of frameless safety glass runs around the perimeter of the deck it dates to the 2005 renovation 191 The deck originally had dimensions of 190 by 21 feet 57 9 by 6 4 m 188 and was decorated in the style of an ocean liner with furnishings such as slatted chairs 189 The observation deck was closed in 1986 because a renovation of the Rainbow Room had cut off the deck s only access point 192 The observation deck has been known since 2005 as Top of the Rock when it reopened after a renovation by Gabellini Sheppard Associates 191 The original limestone and cast aluminum architectural details were conserved 193 In 2011 the observation deck had 2 5 million visitors a year and grossed 25 million 194 On the 69th story is the Beam a ride themed to the photograph Lunch Atop a Skyscraper the ride consists of a frame that rotates 12 feet 3 7 m above the 69th story terrace 195 196 As of 2023 update the 70th story was planned to include a rotating skylift ride a spherical rooftop beacon and new floor tiles with a celestial pattern 197 198 nbsp Panoramic view looking north from the Top of the Rock during the daytime in 2011 nbsp Panoramic view looking south from the Top of the Rock at sunset in 2005History editDevelopment edit Planning edit nbsp The construction of Rockefeller Center in December 1933 with the RCA Building at center The construction of Rockefeller Center occurred between 1932 and 1940 b on land that John D Rockefeller Jr leased from Columbia University 201 202 The Rockefeller Center site was originally supposed to be occupied by a new opera house for the Metropolitan Opera 203 By 1928 Benjamin Wistar Morris and designer Joseph Urban were hired to come up with blueprints for the house 204 However the new building was too expensive for the opera to fund by itself and it needed an endowment 28 The project ultimately gained the support of John D Rockefeller Jr 28 205 The planned opera house was canceled in December 1929 due to various issues with the new opera house eventually being built at Lincoln Center opening in 1966 206 207 208 With the lease still in effect Rockefeller had to quickly devise new plans so that the three block Columbia site could become profitable Raymond Hood Rockefeller Center s lead architect came up with the idea to negotiate with the Radio Corporation of America RCA and its subsidiaries National Broadcasting Company NBC and Radio Keith Orpheum RKO to build a mass media entertainment complex on the site 209 210 By May 1930 RCA and its affiliates had made an agreement with Rockefeller Center managers RCA would lease 1 000 000 sq ft 93 000 m2 of studio space get naming rights to the western part of the development and develop four theaters at a cost of 4 25 million per year 211 A skyscraper at 30 Rockefeller Plaza s current site was first proposed in the March 1930 version of the complex s blueprint 212 and the current dimensions of the tower were finalized in March 1931 213 214 The skyscraper would be named for RCA as part of the agreement 211 the RCA name became official in May 1932 215 Construction edit The designs for Radio City Music Hall and the RCA Building were submitted to the New York City Department of Buildings in August 1931 by which time both buildings were to open in 1932 216 Work on the steel structure of the RCA Building started in March 1932 199 Several artists were hired to design artwork for the RCA Building 217 Lee Lawrie was hired to design the RCA Building s eastern entrance in June 1932 at which point the sunken plaza in front of the building was also announced 64 65 The next month Barry Faulkner was commissioned to create a large glass mosaic on the western entrance facing Sixth Avenue 75 Gaston Lachaise received the commission for bas reliefs on the Sixth Avenue entrance in September 1932 78 The same month Hood and the complex s manager John Todd traveled to Europe to interview five artists for the lobby 104 Frank Brangwyn Josep Maria Sert and Diego Rivera were hired the following month 104 218 despite John Rockefeller Jr s hesitance to hire Rivera a prominent communist 104 219 Henri Matisse had been reluctant to commission a highly visible lobby mural and Pablo Picasso had refused to even meet with Hood and Todd 104 220 nbsp Lunch atop a Skyscraper a 1932 photo by Charles Clyde Ebbets Installation of the exterior stonework began in July 1932 and proceeded at a rate of 2 000 cubic feet 57 m3 per day 221 Window installation began the same month 48 The building s structural steel was up to the 64th floor by September 16 1932 222 81 The photograph Lunch atop a Skyscraper was taken on September 20 1932 during the construction of the 69th floor 223 224 it was part of a publicity stunt promoting the RCA Building 225 The building was topped out on September 26 1932 when an American flag was hoisted to the top of the primary 66 story tower on Rockefeller Plaza The Indiana limestone cladding had been erected to the 15th floor on the Rockefeller Plaza wing and the facade of the Sixth Avenue wing had been completed 221 The stone was fabricated at four factories in New York state and then shipped to New York City Two traveling cranes lifted the stone from the ground to two hoists 70 feet 21 m high which then raised the stone to the upper floors 59 The stonework of the primary tower was completed on December 7 1932 without fanfare 59 226 Officials said at the time that they did not host a ceremony for the stonework s completion because the elevators only ran to the 55th floor 226 It had taken only 102 workdays to install the 212 000 cubic feet 6 000 m3 of stonework 59 Rockefeller Plaza was added to the city s official street map in January 1933 and the RCA Building gained the address 30 Rockefeller Plaza 11 The next month John D Rockefeller III honored 27 mechanics for their work on the RCA Building 227 228 At the time The New York Times reported that 1 600 workers were busy completing the interior work According to the main contractors the laborers plasterers and metal lathers involved in the project would need to be compensated the equivalent of 25 000 eight hour workdays The building would require 26 900 short tons 24 000 long tons 24 400 t of plasterwork covering about 650 000 square yards 540 000 m2 229 By April 6 1933 there were 1 400 mechanics working to complete the RCA Building which was 90 percent complete the upper floors were mostly finished but the base was still incomplete 230 As late as April 24 more than 1 000 workers were still fitting out the RCA Building 231 232 As a result of the Depression building costs were cheaper than projected The final cost of the first ten buildings including the RCA Building came to 102 million equivalent to 1 8 billion in 2023 dollars 233 234 Opening and early years edit nbsp View of the top floors with RCA wordmark in 1943 Todd Robertson Todd Engineering Corporation which was constructing Rockefeller Center relocated to the RCA Building on April 22 1933 becoming the first tenants 231 232 The RCA Building was slated to officially open on May 1 1933 235 Its opening was delayed until mid May because of a controversy over Rivera s Man at the Crossroads 236 which in large part stemmed from the communist motifs of the mural 237 On May 10 1933 Rivera was ordered to stop all work on the mural 238 239 which was covered in stretched canvas and left incomplete 238 237 240 Brangwyn s murals were also incomplete at the time of the building s opening 100 Rivera s mural remained covered until February 1934 when workmen peeled the mural off the wall 114 Columbia University originally owned most of Rockefeller Center s land as well as the complex s buildings including the RCA Building However Columbia received no rental income Rockefeller Center s managers collected the rent and owned the land under the western part of the complex including a section of the RCA Building West 202 The RCA offices moved to the RCA Building s 52nd and 53rd floors in June 1933 241 The Rockefeller family took up space throughout the building to give potential tenants the impression of occupancy 242 243 Their Rockefeller Foundation as well as the General Education Board and the Spelman Fund of New York had leased space 244 243 and the Rockefeller family s Standard Oil Company moved into the RCA Building in 1934 245 NBC was one of the first tenants in the new RCA Building and with 35 studios packed into the base it was also one of the largest tenants 246 Westinghouse moved into the 14th through 17th floors of the RCA Building 242 247 receiving the contract for the building s elevators as a result 248 American Cyanamid took four floors and part of another 249 250 Other space was taken by the Greek consulate 251 the Chinese consulate 252 the National Health Council 253 and a branch of the Chase National Bank 254 A double height space at the center of the ground story which had been difficult to rent opened as the Municipal Art Exhibition in February 1934 255 256 The space referred to as the Forum 257 had contained a large stairway leading up to a second story balcony with exhibition rooms 258 Despite the large number of tenants Rockefeller Center was only 59 percent rented by the end of 1933 248 Shortly after the RCA Building s opening there were plans to use the building above the 64th floor as a public amusement center That section of the building had several terraces which could be used as a dance floor observation deck and landscaped terrace gardens 259 260 On the 65th floor there was also a two story space for a dining room with a high ceiling 261 Frank W Darling quit his job as head of Rye s Playland 262 to direct the programming for the proposed amusement space 259 260 In July 1933 the managers opened an observation deck atop the RCA Building which consisted of 190 by 21 ft 57 9 by 6 4 m terraces on the 67th 69th and 70th floors 188 The 40 cents per head observation deck saw 1 300 daily visitors by late 1935 263 Meanwhile the floors below the observation deck were planned as a restaurant solarium game room and ballroom which would later become the Rainbow Room 188 The Rainbow Room opened on October 3 1934 151 152 A revolving beacon was installed atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 1935 the first such beacon to be installed in Manhattan 264 That September the ground floor retail space was fully leased 265 The New York Museum of Science and Industry leased the Municipal Art Exhibition space shortly afterward after Nelson Rockefeller became a trustee of the museum 266 267 Subsequently Edward Durell Stone removed the partitions on the second floor of the exhibition space 258 and the museum opened there in February 1936 268 269 The central wall of the main lobby remained empty until 1937 when Jose Maria Sert s American Progress was installed 108 109 At the time the RCA Building was 84 percent leased 270 By 1938 the NBC studios at the RCA Building received 700 000 annual visitors while the observation deck had 430 000 annual visitors 271 1940s to 1970s edit nbsp The building at night as seen from Channel Gardens Two 24 ton cooling machines were installed in the basement of the RCA Building in 1940 The air conditioning units supplemented the RCA Building s existing units and also served 1230 Sixth Avenue 10 Rockefeller Plaza and 1 Rockefeller Plaza 272 The lobby was then renovated in 1941 As part of the project an overpass at mezzanine level was removed the lighting was brightened and another mural by Jose Maria Sert was installed 116 An air raid siren was installed atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 1942 during World War II 273 274 The Rainbow Room and Grill atop the RCA Building was closed at the end of that December because of staffing shortages 275 276 In 1943 Rockefeller Center s managers purchased the lots at 1242 1248 Sixth Avenue and 73 West 49th Street part of RCA Building West these lots had previously been held under a long term lease 277 By the next year the RCA Building was almost fully rented 248 278 During the war the RCA Building s Room 3603 became the primary location of the U S operations of British Intelligence s British Security Co ordination organized by William Stephenson It also served as the office of Allen Dulles who later headed the Central Intelligence Agency 279 280 The revolving beacon which had been darkened during the war was reactivated in 1945 after the air raid siren was dismantled 281 but the Rainbow Room restaurant remained closed until 1950 153 282 The Museum of Science and Industry moved out of the RCA Building s lower floors in 1950 Rockefeller Center s managers hired Carson and Lundin to design two new levels of retail space with about 10 000 square feet 930 m2 of new floor area 283 The retail space was twice as profitable as the museum the remaining street level space was transformed into a studio for the Today Show 284 In mid 1953 Columbia bought all of Rockefeller Center s land along Sixth Avenue including the western part of RCA Building West for 5 5 million Rockefeller Center then leased the land back from Columbia 285 286 287 The building s largest tenants RCA and NBC renewed their leases in 1958 for 24 years 288 The National Weather Service s radar was placed on the roof in June 1960 adjacent to RCA s and NBC s antennas 182 289 and the NWS offices relocated to the building that December 290 The Singer Manufacturing Company became another major tenant leasing six floors in 1961 291 292 this required the installation of a dedicated air conditioning system on the 58th floor for that company 293 In addition the Rainbow Room atop the building was refurbished in 1965 294 An anti Vietnam War bombing occurred on the 19th floor in 1969 causing substantial damage though no one was hurt 295 296 Also in 1969 the RCA sign atop the building was updated with RCA s new logo in neon lights 178 The RCA Building maintained high occupancy through this time Even at its lowest point during the 1973 1975 recession the building was 88 percent occupied and Rockefeller Center s managers were able to lease space at the building above market rate 248 In 1973 the RCA sign atop the building was turned off to conserve energy the first time it had not lit up since World War II 177 The next January RCA renewed its lease for 20 years having previously considered relocating from New York City 297 298 RCA s chief executive Robert Sarnoff also announced that the company would construct a management and conference center atop the central section of the building 298 299 The conference center would have been designed by Ford amp Earl Design Associates and Justin Lamb and would have been powered by solar heat 174 300 RCA applied for permission to build the conference center in September 1975 301 but the project was canceled after Sarnoff resigned that December 302 The RCA Building s central location and consistent upkeep meant that it was 93 percent occupied by 1975 despite a relatively high vacancy rate in New York City office buildings 303 Several law firms had moved into the building during this time 304 Singer moved out of the RCA Building in 1978 freeing up a large block of office space 305 but RCA and NBC renewed their leases on a combined 1 2 million square feet 110 000 m2 two years later 306 1980s and 1990s edit nbsp View of the building s facade from the east above Rockefeller Plaza Columbia University was not making enough money from Rockefeller Center leases by the 1970s 307 and the university started looking to sell the land beneath Rockefeller Center including the RCA Building in 1983 308 That year the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission LPC held hearings to determine how much of Rockefeller Center should be protected as a landmark 309 The Rockefeller family and Columbia University acknowledged that the buildings were already symbolically landmarks but their spokesman John E Zuccotti recommended that only the block between 49th and 50th Streets be protected including the RCA Building and RCA Building West c By contrast almost everyone else who supported Rockefeller Center s landmark status recommended that the entire complex be landmarked 311 312 313 The LPC granted landmark status to the exteriors of all of the original complex s buildings as well as the interiors of the International Building s and 30 Rockefeller Plaza s lobbies on April 23 1985 313 314 315 d Rockefeller Center s original buildings also became a National Historic Landmark in 1987 316 Columbia had agreed to sell the land to the Rockefeller Group an investment company owned by the Rockefeller family 317 for 400 million in February 1985 308 318 The Rockefeller Group formed Rockefeller Center Inc that July to manage the RCA Building and other properties 319 317 By late 1985 NBC began planning to relocate leaving half the RCA Building s space vacant 320 321 The network needed 1 million square feet 93 000 m2 of space and the RCA Building s facilities required hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations 320 The same year General Electric acquired RCA NBC and began looking to save money 322 The developers of Harmon Meadow and Television City had both made offers to NBC but demand for office space in New York City was starting to decrease which led the building s owners to focus on keeping NBC at the RCA Building 322 323 NBC agreed to stay at 30 Rockefeller Plaza at the end of 1987 after city and state officials offered 72 million in tax exemptions 800 million in industrial bonds and sales tax deferments on 1 1 billion worth of purchases 324 325 These incentives would not need to be repaid as long as NBC stayed at the building until 2002 or for 15 years 324 NBC extended its lease by 35 years so that it would last into 2022 and secured an option to buy the western and central sections of the skyscraper 325 Meanwhile the Rockefeller Group had begun expanding the Rainbow Room The observation deck closed in 1986 because the expansion cut off the only access between the observation deck and its elevators 192 The Rainbow Room also reopened in December 1987 after the Rockefeller Group conducted an extensive renovation 326 The RCA Building was renamed the GE Building in July 1988 and the signage atop the building was changed accordingly despite concerns that it could be confused with the General Electric Building on 570 Lexington Avenue 179 180 Mitsubishi Estate a real estate subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Group purchased a majority stake in the Rockefeller Group in 1988 including the GE Building and Rockefeller Center s other structures 327 328 Despite the renaming 30 Rockefeller Plaza continued to be popularly known as the RCA Building 178 Subsequently Rockefeller Center transferred some of the unused air rights above the British Empire Building and La Maison Francaise to the Rockefeller Plaza West skyscraper on Seventh Avenue 329 330 In exchange the Rockefeller Group had to preserve the original buildings between 49th and 50th Streets c under a more stringent set of regulations than the rest of the complex While the GE Building s air rights were unaffected the structure fell under the new regulations 331 nbsp View with GE wordmark 2005 The Rockefeller Group filed for bankruptcy protection in May 1995 after missing several mortgage payments 332 333 That November John Rockefeller Jr s son David and a consortium led by Goldman Sachs agreed to buy Rockefeller Center s buildings for 1 1 billion 334 beating out Sam Zell and other bidders 335 The transaction included 306 million for the mortgage and 845 million for other expenses 336 As that sale progressed GE and Goldman Sachs discussed selling part of the GE Building to its namesake allowing GE to lower its occupancy costs on the 1 600 000 sq ft 150 000 m2 that it occupied 337 338 In May 1996 GE bought the space for 440 million as well as an option to renew the lease on the Today Show studios at 10 Rockefeller Plaza 339 Before either transaction was finalized GE subleased 100 000 square feet 9 300 m2 of that space 340 341 Goldman Sachs made numerous upgrades to the building and allowed brokers to finalize leases more quickly 248 In addition to GE other large tenants at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in the late 1990s included law firm Donovan Leisure Newton amp Irvine and Chadbourne amp Parke 342 Cipriani S A took over the Rainbow Room in 1998 343 2000s to present edit Tishman Speyer led by David Rockefeller s close friend Jerry Speyer and the Lester Crown family of Chicago bought the original 14 buildings and land in December 2000 for 1 85 billion including the GE Building 336 327 The next year Tishman Speyer began planning a renovation of the rooftop observation deck which would be rebranded Top of the Rock 191 Kostow Greenwood Architects also started designing a renovation for NBC Studios 344 The observation deck plans were announced publicly in November 2003 345 Two existing elevator shafts were lengthened so that the observation deck could be accessed without going through the Rainbow Room to get to the shuttle elevators In addition a ground floor entrance was created on 50th Street and a three level storefront was converted into an observation deck entrance 191 The deck reopened in November 2005 after a renovation by Gabellini Sheppard Associates 346 193 During the late 2000s the building retained an 85 percent occupancy rate 248 The WNBC TV newsroom was renovated during 2008 347 after NBC had announced earlier the same year that it would start a 24 hour news channel 348 In addition Tishman Speyer hired EverGreene Architectural Arts to restore the lobby and a two year restoration commenced in 2009 37 The Rainbow Room closed that year after Rockefeller Center Inc ended Cipriani s lease 349 and the LPC designated the Rainbow Room as an interior landmark in 2012 350 Comcast which had bought a 51 percent ownership stake in NBCUniversal in 2009 351 bought the remaining ownership stake from GE in 2013 352 The sale included NBC s portion of 30 Rockefeller Plaza and the building s naming rights 352 by then GE occupied only two stories in the building 353 The Rainbow Room reopened in October 2014 under new management 354 and the rotunda above the lobby was restored starting in 2014 121 In June 2014 the LPC granted Comcast permission to modify 30 Rockefeller Plaza 181 355 Comcast planned to rename the building and replace the signage on the roof 181 178 Additionally a new marquee was added to the Sixth Avenue entrance advertising it as the home of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 181 73 The GE signage was dismantled starting in September 2014 353 and 30 Rockefeller Plaza was officially renamed the Comcast Building on July 1 2015 356 Toy store FAO Schwarz opened a store at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in November 2018 357 358 In April 2022 the LPC approved Tishman Speyer s proposal to install additional visitor attractions at Top of the Rock 197 198 One of the attractions the Beam opened in December 2023 195 196 Impact editSee also Rockefeller Center Reception As Rockefeller Center was being developed Variety magazine wrote The main building of the Rockefeller Center group is a notable structure and forms a fitting climax to half a decade of super skyscraper construction which with this one exception was abruptly brought to an end by the 1929 crash 33 A Hearst s International magazine article described the RCA Building as soaring to an incredible petrous peak with the sunken plaza shimmering in brilliant floodlight at its base 359 After 30 Rockefeller Plaza was completed the Federal Writers Project observed in 1939 Its huge broad flat north and south facades its almost unbroken mass and its thinness are the features that impelled observers to nickname it the Slab 39 67 According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat the RCA Building s massing marked the emergence of a new form of the skyscraper namely the slab like form 49 Architectural critic Paul Goldberger said Nothing is more attuned to romantic fantasies of New York than the RCA Building s black granite lobby the Rainbow Room s ornamental framing of a 70 story view 360 Goldberger wrote that the RCA Building s form was made sumptuous by its mounting setbacks contrasting with the smaller and bulkier International Building and other structures in the complex 361 In 2009 a Crain s New York reporter wrote NBC which owns its space lends the building a certain panache So do the art Christmas tree gardens and immaculate condition of the center 248 As the central building of Rockefeller Center 30 Rockefeller Plaza is widely known 49 The building was also commonly nicknamed 30 Rock 248 362 which inspired the title of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock 2006 2013 363 364 Additionally numerous movies and TV series that feature Rockefeller Center in their establishing shots have used imagery of 30 Rockefeller Plaza 365 Such films have included Nothing Sacred in 1937 How to Marry a Millionaire in 1953 and Manhattan in 1979 366 Two films have also discussed the destruction of Rivera s Man at the Crossroads in the lobby The Cradle Will Rock in 1999 and Frida in 2002 367 Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon an attraction at the Universal Studios Florida amusement park is also based on 30 Rockefeller Plaza s design 368 Several later buildings were inspired by 30 Rockefeller Plaza and its design features including 525 William Penn Place in Pittsburgh also designed by Harrison amp Abramovitz 369 the Wells Fargo Center in Minneapolis 370 371 and the NBC Tower in Chicago 372 373 In particular the critics Paul Goldberger and Rick Kogan wrote that the NBC Tower s buttresses setbacks and vertical stripes were similar to those at 30 Rockefeller Plaza 373 374 Goldberger also said that the architect John Portman may have used the RCA Building as an inspiration for San Francisco s Embarcadero Center and Atlanta s Peachtree Center but that in both cases Portman s towers look more like sliding planes than the sumptuous carved out mountain that the RCA Building s form evokes 371 Buildings inspired by 30 Rockefeller Plaza nbsp 525 William Penn Place nbsp NBC Tower nbsp Wells Fargo Center nbsp Peachtree Center nbsp Embarcadero CenterSee also edit nbsp Architecture portal nbsp New York City portal nbsp NRHP portal Architecture of New York City Art Deco architecture of New York City List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 14th to 59th StreetsReferences editNotes edit As per the 1916 Zoning Act the wall of any given tower that faces a street could only rise to a certain height proportionate to the street s width at which point the building had to be set back by a given proportion This system of setbacks would continue until the tower reaches a floor level in which that level s floor area was 25 that of the ground level s area After that 25 threshold was reached the building could rise without restriction 44 This law was superseded by the 1961 Zoning Resolution 45 30 Rockefeller Center was the first building to start construction in September 1932 199 The last building was completed in 1940 200 a b Namely 1250 Avenue of the Americas 30 Rockefeller Plaza the British Empire Building La Maison Francaise the Channel Gardens and the Lower Plaza 310 The final exterior landmark designation covers 12 buildings as well as the Channel Gardens Rockefeller Plaza and Lower Plaza These are 1230 1250 and 1270 Avenue of the Americas 1 10 30 50 and 75 Rockefeller Plaza the British Empire Building the International Building La Maison Francaise and Radio City Music Hall 310 Citations edit Rockefeller Center National Historic Landmark summary listing National Park Service September 18 2007 Archived from the original on October 11 2012 a b Adams 1985 p 11 a b Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1985 p 1 a b Postal 2012 p 1 Emporis building ID 115419 Emporis Archived from the original on April 22 2016 a b c 1271 Avenue of the Amer 10020 New York City Department of City Planning Archived from the original on July 15 2021 Retrieved March 20 2020 a b c White Norval Willensky Elliot Leadon Fran 2010 AIA Guide to New York City 5th ed New York Oxford University Press p 325 ISBN 978 0 19538 386 7 a b Krinsky 1978 p 4 a b Reynolds 1994 p 301 Bowen Croswell April 1 1970 Topics In Search of Sixth Avenue The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 16 2021 a b Rockefeller Plaza Joins City Directory Center s New Street and Promenade Named The New York Times January 16 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 a b Adams 1985 p 177 Krinsky 1978 pp 32 33 Krinsky 1978 p 64 Rockefeller City to Have Big Plaza PDF The New York Times June 10 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 11 2017 Brown Nicole March 18 2019 Why do some buildings have their own ZIP codes NYCurious amNewYork Retrieved July 8 2022 Rockefeller Site For Opera Dropped PDF The New York Times December 6 1929 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 10 2017 Dowd Maureen February 6 1985 Columbia Is to Get 400 Million in Rockefeller Center Land Sale The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 a b c Okrent 2003 pp 93 94 map p 92 Alpern amp Durst 1996 pp 38 40 a b Okrent 2003 pp 88 89 a b Kurutz Steven February 24 2022 Can a Cool Bar Make It in Rockefeller Center The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 11 2022 Tomasson Robert E October 13 1975 An Old Bar Gives Way To an Imitation Old Bar The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 10 2022 Montagner Anna March 9 2022 Have a Drink at Pete Davidson s New Midtown Bar PAPER Retrieved March 11 2022 a b Alpern amp Durst 1996 p 38 Fowler Glenn September 6 1962 Tiny Corner in Radio City Is Sold Investors Get Parcel That One Family Held 110 Years 50th St Plot Bought in 1852 for 1 600 Brings 380 000 The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Federal Writers Project 1939 p 334 a b c Adams 1985 p 13 Robins 2017 p 112 Comcast Building The Skyscraper Center Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat October 28 2015 Retrieved December 18 2023 a b c d e Adams 1985 p 59 Krinsky 1978 p 53 a b c d e f g h i j New RCA Building of 69 Stories Rivals the Towering Empire State Variety Vol 109 no 2 December 20 1932 p 60 ProQuest 1529011229 Krinsky 1978 p 110 Outline is Drawn of Radio City Art PDF The New York Times December 6 1931 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 11 2017 a b Stern Gilmartin amp Mellins 1987 p 651 a b c Vogel Carol July 26 2009 Stripping Away the Darkness as Murals Are Reborn The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 11 2022 a b c d e f Rockefeller Center National Register of Historic Places National Park Service December 23 1987 p 9 a b c d e f g h i Stern Gilmartin amp Mellins 1987 p 650 Okrent 2003 p 271 Adams 1985 pp 80 Adams 1985 p 77 Krinsky 1978 pp 16 17 a b Kayden amp Municipal Art Society 2000 p 8 Kayden amp Municipal Art Society 2000 pp 11 12 Balfour 1978 p 39 a b c Reynolds 1994 p 302 a b c Glaziers Install 19 700 Panes in RCA Building All Outside Windows Above Ground Floor Fitted Much Plate Glass Used New York Herald Tribune February 24 1932 p 30 ProQuest 1240053177 a b c d Zaknic Ivan Smith Matthew Rice Dolores B Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat 1998 100 of the world s tallest buildings Gingko Press p 126 ISBN 3 927258 60 1 OCLC 40110184 Okrent 2003 pp 161 162 Balfour 1978 p 38 a b Balfour 1978 p 40 a b Marshall 2005 p 125 Krinsky 1978 p 138 Karp amp Gill 1982 p 62 a b Adams 1985 p 61 a b c d e Reynolds 1994 p 303 a b Adams 1985 p 72 a b c d Finish Exterior of RCA Skyscraper Workmen Set Last Stones on Parapet of 70 Story Building in Rockefeller Center The New York Times December 8 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 12 2022 a b Rockefeller City to Use 39 100 000 Bricks Enough to Build More Than 2 500 Dwellings The New York Times January 1 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 Venetian Blinds in RCA Building The New York Times April 26 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 Marshall 2005 p 122 a b c Adams 1985 pp 64 66 a b c Lawrie to Do Entrance for RCA Building Wisdom A Voice From the Clouds the Title for Sculptor s Composition Taken From Proverbs Artist Silent on Work for the Rockefeller Center Proposed Sunken Plaza for Rockefeller Center New York Herald Tribune June 10 1932 p 17 ProQuest 1114513116 a b c Rockefeller City to Have Big Plaza New Street and Sunken Square to Be Built at Foot of 70 Story Skyscraper The New York Times June 10 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 12 2022 a b c d e Architectural Forum 1933 p 275 a b c Federal Writers Project 1939 p 336 Roussel 2006 pp 55 56 Adams 1985 p 64 Roussel 2006 p 55 a b c Architectural Forum 1933 p 276 Roussel 2006 pp 72 73 a b Carter Bill November 25 2014 Jimmy Fallon s Name Goes on 30 Rock Marquee The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 12 2022 Adams 1985 pp 78 80 a b Huge Glass Mosaic to Adorn RCA Unit Symbolic Design by Faulkner Will Cover Walls of Loggia in Rockefeller Center The New York Times July 13 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 12 2022 Adams 1985 pp 78 79 Roussel 2006 p 75 a b c Lachaise Designs RCA Building Art Four Sculptural Panels on 6th Av Side to Express Spirit of Modern Inventive Progress The New York Times September 19 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 12 2022 Adams 1985 pp 79 80 Roussel 2006 p 77 78 a b c RCA Building Panel Designs Half Completed New York Herald Tribune September 19 1932 p 16 ProQuest 1114731116 a b Kimmelman Michael April 15 2020 Rockefeller Center s Art Deco Marvel A Virtual Tour The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 25 2022 a b c d e Roberts Sam November 24 2014 Why Are Rockefellers Moving From 30 Rock We Got a Deal The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 16 2017 Contact Us NBCUniversal Archived from the original on September 3 2017 Retrieved November 16 2017 a b Alleman 2013 p 59 Blau Eleanor October 8 1988 Radio City Without Radio WNBC Is Gone The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 12 2022 a b c d Okrent 2003 p 363 Okrent 2003 p 256 a b Elevator Speeds 1 400 Feet a Minute Levy Whisked to 65th Floor of RCA Building in Record Time of 37 1 Seconds The New York Times July 14 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved December 7 2017 RCA Rainbow Room Success Under Native Utican PDF Utica Observer April 26 1942 p 6 Retrieved December 7 2017 via Fultonhistory com Architectural Forum 1933 p 278 a b c d e f g h i Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1985 p 15 a b c Robins 2017 p 116 Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1985 p 25 a b Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1985 p 16 a b Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1985 p 17 Roussel 2006 pp 60 69 Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1985 pp 15 16 Roussel 2006 p 71 a b RCA Building Bars Jesus From Mural Brangwyn British Artist Now Finds Difficulty in Finishing Sermon on Mount Work The New York Times September 15 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 Art Symbolization of Christ Causes Misunderstanding Newsweek Vol 2 no 8 September 23 1933 pp 33 34 ProQuest 1796833221 Mural of Christ Hung in Radio City Figure With Back Turned Is Said to Be Brangwyn s Original Conception The New York Times December 5 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 Rockefeller Center Murals Show Man s Triumphs New York Herald Tribune June 11 1933 p F7 ProQuest 1114643367 a b c d e Stern Gilmartin amp Mellins 1987 p 652 a b Okrent 2003 pp 319 320 a b Marshall 2005 p 123 Describes 9 Murals for RCA Building R M Hood Architect Home on the Rex After Conferring With Painters in Europe The New York Times December 23 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 12 2022 a b Sert Mural Placed in the RCA Building Filling of Space That Once Had Disputed Rivera Work Ends Long Controversy The New York Times December 21 1937 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 a b Sert Replaces Rivera Work at RCA Building Spaniard Executes Mural for Panel Job Abandoned in Row Over Lenin s Head Is Opposite Main Door Sepia Monochrome Is Like His 4 Adjacent Paintings New York Herald Tribune December 21 1937 p 19 ProQuest 1223337099 Roussel 2006 p 58 Balfour 1978 p 181 Okrent 2003 p 302 Okrent 2003 p 315 a b Rivera RCA Mural is Cut From Wall Rockefeller Center Destroys Lenin Painting at Night and Replasters Space PDF The New York Times February 13 1934 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved November 11 2017 Uncover RCA Murals Sixth Sert Work in Rockefeller Center Building Is Ready The New York Times March 22 1941 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 a b RCA Building Lobby Undergoes Changes Redecoration and Lighting Plan Includes New Sert Mural The New York Times January 17 1941 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 The Robot City Nobody Sees PDF The New York Times June 18 1944 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved November 27 2017 MTA Neighborhood Maps Midtown West PDF Metropolitan Transportation Authority 2018 Retrieved October 1 2018 Post Office to Move Rockefeller Center Branch to Go to 610 Fifth Ave Soon The New York Times September 5 1950 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1985 pp 16 17 a b c Dunlap David W June 25 2014 At 30 Rock Recreating Rotunda With a Nod to the Past The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 Lobby Digital Displays NBC 30 Rockefeller Plaza Diversified September 18 2018 Retrieved February 13 2022 New York NY History National Weather Service Archived from the original on May 12 2015 Retrieved May 9 2015 Berger Meyer June 18 1944 The Robot City Nobody Sees It lies deep below Rockefeller Center and there many machines work for men The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 a b Morgan Tom August 2 1986 Networks Moves Mark the End of Broadcast Row The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 10 2022 Sterling C H O Dell C 2010 The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio Taylor amp Francis p 639 ISBN 978 1 135 17684 6 Archived from the original on July 24 2020 Retrieved December 5 2017 30 Eventful Years Broadcasting Telecasting Vol 41 no 15 October 8 1951 p 105 ProQuest 1401195186 a b NBC s Guided Tour of Old Studios To Lapse Into Nostalgia Sunday The New York Times August 29 1977 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 25 2022 Okrent 2003 p 365 Saturday Night Live to return to Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center TODAY com September 10 2020 Retrieved February 25 2022 Itzkoff Dave September 10 2020 Saturday Night Live to Return Oct 3 With New Live Episodes The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 25 2022 a b Hughes Allen January 8 1980 Aura of Toscanini to Fill His Studio 8H Tonight Converted for Television The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 25 2022 Okrent 2003 pp 363 364 Bertel Dick Corcoran Ed September 1972 Aldo Gisalbert The Golden Age of Radio Season 3 Episode 6 Broadcast Plaza Inc WTIC Hartford Conn Archived from the original on April 1 2016 Retrieved April 28 2016 Room for Television New York Herald Tribune October 11 1950 p 34 ProQuest 1327419390 Lovece Frank June 3 1994 As the Toyota Comedy Festival gets under way we tour New York s most famous comedy landmarks Newsday p 105 Retrieved February 25 2022 via newspapers com Watch Tonight Show studio s makeover in 60 seconds TODAY com March 31 2014 Retrieved February 25 2022 Carter Bill February 16 2014 Tonight Show Returns to New York After Nearly 42 Years The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on February 20 2014 Retrieved February 21 2014 White Peter August 18 2020 Late Night With Seth Meyers To Return To Studio On September 8 Deadline Archived from the original on November 17 2020 Retrieved January 25 2021 NBC Will Return Today To Street Level Studio Wall Street Journal November 8 1993 ISSN 0099 9660 ProQuest 398398868 a b Okrent 2003 p 259 Philanthropies Rent RCA Building Space Three Organizations Supported by Rockefeller Will Move Headquarters on May 1 PDF The New York Times March 27 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved November 16 2017 a b Makarechi Kia November 24 2014 Rockefeller Family Leaving 30 Rockefeller Center for the First Time Vanity Fair Retrieved March 11 2022 Okrent 2003 p 386 Okrent 2003 p 388 Warren James July 23 1986 Fortune Takes an Impressive Look Into Pockets of the Rockefellers Chicago Tribune Retrieved March 11 2022 Rainbow Room New York zagat com Archived from the original on October 18 2014 Retrieved January 26 2015 Balfour 1978 p 24 Okrent 2003 p 368 Postal 2012 p 7 a b Postal 2012 p 8 a b Night Spots Gardens Rockefeller Night Spot in RCA Building Makes a Lavish Debut The Billboard Vol 46 no 41 October 13 1934 p 12 ProQuest 1032058796 a b Postal 2012 p 9 Fabricant Florence October 1 2014 A New York Classic Returns The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on October 7 2016 Retrieved February 14 2017 30 Rockefeller Plaza 65th Floor Rainbow Room SixtyFive American Institute of Architects 2017 Retrieved February 9 2018 a b c d Rainbow Room June 2016 Floor Plan PDF image Postal 2012 p 15 Postal 2012 p 5 a b c d e Postal 2012 p 6 Music Parisienne Time October 8 1934 Retrieved December 9 2017 Postal 2012 p 3 a b Babylon Outdone by RCA s Gardens New York Post April 16 1935 p 7 Retrieved November 20 2017 via Fultonhistory com Balfour 1978 pp 125 137 a b New York s Hanging Gardens PDF Albany Times Union 1934 Retrieved November 20 2017 a b Gardens of the World Atop Radio City New York Watches the Growth of a New Venture in the Realm of Horticulture PDF The New York Times September 2 1934 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 20 2017 Balfour 1978 p 53 Balfour 1978 p 52 a b Deitz Paula December 16 1982 Design Notebook The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 13 2022 a b c Stern Gilmartin amp Mellins 1987 p 647 a b Reynolds 1994 pp 301 302 Krinsky 1978 p 91 Okrent 2003 p 355 a b Adams 1985 p 186 a b Adams 1985 p 67 Rockefeller Suites Provide Recreation Excavations Finished and Steel Work Will Start at Once on Apartments PDF The New York Times March 27 1936 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved November 17 2017 Loftiest Sign Is Lighted Whalen Turns on RCA s 24 Foot Letters Over Rockefeller Plaza PDF The New York Times June 29 1937 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved November 17 2017 a b RCA Sign to Be Put Out The New York Times December 16 1973 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 21 2022 a b c d Roberts Sam June 13 2014 Comcast Seeking to Replace G E s Initials Atop 30 Rock The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 11 2022 a b RCA Building Is to Get New Name GE Building Wall Street Journal July 15 1988 p 22 ISSN 0099 9660 ProQuest 135336547 a b Hevesi Dennis July 14 1988 30 Rock RCA NBC No G E The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 15 2020 a b c d Bid Farewell to 30 Rock s GE Sign Comcast Will Top the Tower Curbed com June 18 2014 Archived from the original on September 23 2015 Retrieved June 19 2014 a b Radar for Weather Hoisted 70 Floors To R C A Tower The New York Times June 14 1960 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Loory Stuart H August 21 1960 Weather Radar s Radius 250 Miles 12 Foot Dish Antenna Installed 69 Stories Up on RCA Building New York Herald Tribune p A4 ProQuest 1324118135 IEM PNS from NWS OKX National Weather Service Archived from the original on February 28 2014 Retrieved April 8 2014 Gay Mara March 2 2014 National Weather Alerts Bleed Into Coast Guard Radio Channel The Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on March 14 2016 Retrieved March 13 2017 New York NY Tour NWS of the Past National Weather Service Archived from the original on June 26 2015 Retrieved June 25 2015 NYC NBC debuts new radar taunts other stations in promo NewscastStudio February 1 2017 Archived from the original on January 29 2021 Retrieved January 25 2021 a b c d R C A Observatory Opened to Public Many View New Panorama of City and Environs From Rockefeller Center Unit PDF The New York Times July 19 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved December 5 2017 a b c d Sanger Elizabeth May 5 2005 Top of the Rock to Open Newsday p 52 Retrieved March 11 2022 via newspapers com Empire State Building vs Top of the Rock bug co uk February 5 2010 Archived from the original on July 5 2011 Retrieved July 16 2010 a b c d e Dunlap David W March 11 2005 An Old View Is New Again 70 Stories Up The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved December 7 2017 a b Dunlap David W June 18 1986 A Quiet Place at RCA s Summit Drifts Onto the Pages of the Past The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 a b Merkel Jayne June 2006 Top of the rock observatory Architectural Design Vol 76 no 3 pp 110 117 doi 10 1002 ad 276 Bagli Charles V December 25 2011 Nice View and the Profits Surpass All Horizons The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 a b Rahmanan Anna December 1 2023 Recreate this historical photo on top of Rockefeller Center right now Time Out New York Retrieved December 4 2023 a b The Beam at Rockefeller Center lets visitors recreate iconic New York City photo CBS New York December 1 2023 Retrieved December 4 2023 a b Top of the Rock skylift attraction gets green light from Landmarks The Architect s Newspaper April 29 2022 Retrieved June 11 2022 a b a new skylift rooftop attraction is coming to NYC s top of the rock Designboom May 4 2022 Retrieved June 11 2022 a b First Steel Column Erected in 70 Story Rockefeller Unit The New York Times March 8 1932 p 43 Retrieved November 15 2017 Airline Building is Dedicated Here Governors of 17 States Take Part by Pressing Keys PDF The New York Times October 16 1940 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 21 2017 Glancy 1992 p 431 a b Kaiser Charles March 21 1976 The Truth Is Columbia Owns Rockefeller Center Buildings Too The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 25 2022 Radio City Music Hall PDF New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission March 28 1978 p 3 Archived PDF from the original on November 16 2017 Retrieved November 15 2017 Okrent 2003 p 21 Krinsky 1978 pp 31 32 Rockefeller Site for Opera Dropped PDF The New York Times December 6 1929 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 10 2017 Balfour 1978 p 11 Krinsky 1978 pp 16 48 50 Krinsky 1978 p 50 Adams 1985 p 29 a b Okrent 2003 p 142 Rockefeller Begins Work in the Fall on 5th Av Radio City PDF The New York Times June 17 1930 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 10 2017 Krinsky 1978 p 57 Radio City to Create a New Architecture Model and Ground Plan of the Radio City PDF The New York Times March 6 1931 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 11 2017 The RCA Building Broadcasting Vol 2 no 10 May 15 1932 p 15 ProQuest 1529145214 7 000 000 Building Begun in Radio City PDF The New York Times August 12 1931 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved November 11 2017 Stern Gilmartin amp Mellins 1987 pp 651 652 Rockefeller City Gets Alien Artists Frank Brangwyn Jose Maria Sert and Diego Rivera to Do Nine Mural Panels The New York Times October 10 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 12 2022 Balfour 1978 p 152 Balfour 1978 pp 151 152 a b Steel Frame Is Completed On Mean Rockefeller Unit The New York Times September 27 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 12 2022 Rockefeller Centre Employs 5 000 Men Steel Frame Is Up to 64th Floor on Central Building of the Development PDF The New York Times September 16 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved November 12 2017 Gambino Megan September 20 2012 Lunch Atop a Skyscraper Photograph The Story Behind the Famous Shot Smithsonian Archived from the original on December 1 2017 Retrieved December 5 2017 Lunch Atop a Skyscraper 100 Photographs The Most Influential Images of All Time Time Archived from the original on February 4 2021 Retrieved January 31 2021 Hotz Amy November 10 2003 A Photo Finished Star News Archived from the original on October 3 2013 Retrieved May 6 2022 a b Last Stone Set At 70 Story RCA Building Work on Exterior of Unit at Rockefeller Center Finished Without Ceremony Erection Sets a Record Structure World s Largest in Amount of Floor Space New York Herald Tribune December 8 1932 p 4 ProQuest 1221345811 Craftsmen Lauded by Rockefeller 3d Size and Cost of Center Not So Vital as Quality of Work He Says at Ceremony The New York Times February 2 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 R C A Building Workers Get Merit Awards John D Rockefeller 3d Presents Prizes to 27 Employees of Contracting Firms New York Herald Tribune February 2 1933 p 28 ProQuest 1222088599 1 600 Work in Skyscraper Interior Construction Pushed on Seventy Story RCA Building The New York Times February 5 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 12 2022 Rockefeller Edifice Nearing Completion First Tenants Will Move Into 70 Story RCA Building About May 1 The New York Times April 6 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 a b Offices Are Opened in RCA Skyscraper Work Nearing Completion on Main Building in Rockefeller Center The New York Times April 23 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 a b Real Estate News R C A Building Gets Its First Business Firm Builders of 70 Story Skyscraper Locate on the 2d Floor of Structure New York Herald Tribune April 24 1933 p 25 ProQuest 1240067338 Johnston Louis Williamson Samuel H 2023 What Was the U S GDP Then MeasuringWorth Retrieved November 30 2023 United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series Okrent 2003 p 198 Two Skyscrapers Will Open This Week RCA and John Street Buildings Ready PDF The New York Times April 30 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved November 11 2017 Balfour 1978 p 185 a b Diego Rivera s Man at the crossroads PBS Retrieved August 7 2013 a b Rockefellers Ban Lenin in the RCA Mural and Dismiss Rivera PDF The New York Times May 10 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved December 4 2017 Rockefeller Center Ousts Rivera and Boards Up Mural Mexican Artist Refuses to Delete Lenin Head on RCA Building Panel New York Herald Tribune May 10 1933 p 1 ProQuest 1222128627 Okrent 2003 p 313 R C A Chiefs to Move to Rockefeller Plaza National Broadcasting Co to Follow Later The New York Times June 2 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 a b Okrent 2003 p 257 a b Philanthropies Rent RCA Building Space Three Organizations Supported by Rockefeller Will Move Headquarters on May 1 The New York Times March 27 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 RCA Building Leases Wall Street Journal March 28 1933 p 5 ISSN 0099 9660 ProQuest 131080577 Oil Institute to Move American Petroleum Leases Quarters in the RCA Building PDF The New York Times January 26 1934 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved November 16 2017 Okrent 2003 p 362 Rent 75 000 Sq Ft In RCA Skyscraper The Westinghouse Companies Lease Large Space in Rockefeller Building The New York Times April 17 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 a b c d e f g h Agovino Theresa May 4 2009 Quality location rule at 30 Rock Crain s New York Business Vol 25 no 19 p 20 ProQuest 219175149 Leases Four Floors in the RCA Building American Cyanamid Company to Move to Rockefeller Center About April 1 The New York Times January 13 1934 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 Chemical Firm Takes Space in R C A Building American Cyanamid Co to Occupy Four Floors and Part of Fifth in Tower New York Herald Tribune January 13 1934 p 24 ProQuest 1243049599 New Offices Taken by Greek Consulate Quarters in RCA Building Leased Expanding Liquor Firms Add to Rental Activity The New York Times October 4 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 Chinese Consul Takes Offices in RCA Building The New York Times October 26 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 Health Council in RCA Building Fifteen Units of National Body to Be Consolidated in New Quarters The New York Times December 15 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 Chase Branch for RCA Building The New York Times August 18 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 4 000 Applaud As Mile of Art Is Put on View LaGuardia Opens Record Exhibition in Rockefeller Center Galleries New York Herald Tribune February 28 1934 p 1 ProQuest 1114856148 City Art Exhibit Opened by Mayor He Buys 20 Works to Show Pleasure at Display in Rockefeller Center The New York Times February 28 1934 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 60 000 Gifts Aid Museum Science and Industry Exhibits to Occupy Space in RCA Building The New York Times January 16 1936 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 a b Stern Gilmartin amp Mellins 1987 p 660 a b Play Spot Planned Atop Rca Building Rockefeller Center Considering Public Dining and Dancing Rooms on Upper Stories PDF The New York Times May 24 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved December 7 2017 a b 6 Story Center For Play to Top R C A Building Director of Rye Playland to Create Entertainment Spot 64 Stories in Air Details Are Not Ready Darling to Continue Guidance of Westchester Park New York Herald Tribune May 24 1933 p 16 ProQuest 1114796868 Night Club to Open Atop Rca Building Stately 2 Story Dining Room 65 Floors Up Will Be Ready for Use in October PDF The New York Times August 22 1934 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved December 7 2017 Quits as Playland Head Darling to Be Succeeded as Park Director by H F O Malley PDF The New York Times October 1 1933 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved December 7 2017 Okrent 2003 p 254 Beacon Is Installed Atop R C A Building Manhattan s First Airway Guide Commemorates Record Flight of Tomlinson The New York Times May 18 1935 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 R C A Shops 100 Rented Ground Floor of Rockefeller Center Building Out of Market New York Herald Tribune September 16 1935 p 32 ProQuest 1247413672 Krinsky 1978 p 90 Museum Gets New Home for Expansion Plan Science and Industry Group to Enlarge Its Exhibits at Rockefeller Center New York Herald Tribune October 19 1935 p 29 ProQuest 1222051066 New Museum Is an Eden for Gadget Hounds Science and Industry Hall Opening Tomorrow Is Full of Push Buttons Visitors Have Free Hand Anti Friction Device Is Not All It Used To Be New York Herald Tribune February 11 1936 p 12 ProQuest 1330121606 Boy Einstein First to Visit New Museum 9 Year Old Student to Get Piece of Rare Alloy Thousands View the Exhibits The New York Times February 13 1936 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Rockefeller Will Finish Center At Once to Provide New Jobs Three Final Buildings Costing 12 000 000 to Be Started Soon as Evidence of Continuing Faith in Future of American Business The New York Times January 19 1938 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Robbins L H February 13 1938 Our City Within a City Rockefeller Center a Magnet for Sight seers Is Even Now a World s Fair in Its Own Right The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 13 2022 Cooling Plant Expanded Largest Air Conditioned System for Rockefeller Center The New York Times March 31 1940 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 8 Mile Siren Gets Test on Saturday First of Ten Big Noisemakers for Air Raid Warnings to Go Atop RCA Building The New York Times July 1 1942 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 City Installing Super Siren on RCA Building 100 Horsepower It Throws Raid Warning 12 Miles Will Be Tested Saturday A E F in Northern Ireland Prepares for a Second Front New York Herald Tribune June 30 1942 p 8 ProQuest 1264413324 Rainbow Room and Grill To Close for Duration PDF The New York Times December 20 1942 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved December 9 2017 Okrent 2003 p 413 Rockefellers Buy 6th Ave Buildings Acquire 3 Valuable Corners Opposite Their Development Besides Other Properties Deal Stirs Speculation Seen As Part Of Post War Expansion Plans Also Linked To Improvement Of Street PDF The New York Times August 4 1943 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 22 2017 Rockefeller City Now 99 Rented Fourteen Big Buildings Contain 3 540 235 Square Feet of Rentable Office Space The New York Times January 21 1944 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Okrent 2003 p 411 Srodes James June 25 1999 Allen Dulles Master of Spies Washington Regnery Publishing Inc pp 207 210 ISBN 9780895263148 Retrieved March 6 2014 RCA Building Beacon On The New York Times October 30 1945 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Hughes Alice October 10 1950 Art Music Drama Pitch For Hospitalized Veterans PDF Buffalo Courier Express p 11 Retrieved December 9 2017 via Fultonhistory com Major Space Alteration Planned in RCA Building New York Herald Tribune March 16 1950 p 40 ProQuest 1327169981 Okrent 2003 p 424 Krinsky 1978 pp 108 109 Columbia Buys Another Rockefeller Center Plot New York Herald Tribune August 13 1953 p 8 ProQuest 1322504709 Cooper Lee E August 13 1953 Columbia Adds 5 500 000 Land To Its Rockefeller Center Holding Area Is Bought Then Rented Back to Sellers Who Also Get a Longer Lease The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Leases Renewed by R C A and N B C Rockefeller Center Tenants Sign Agreement to Rent Quarters Until 1982 The New York Times June 30 1958 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Cook Philip S June 8 1960 Weather Gear Moved Atop RCA Bldg Bureau s New Home To Be Ready Aug 1 New York Herald Tribune p 7 ProQuest 1325302942 Anderson David December 29 1960 Weather Bureau Moves Smoothly 50 Year Pile of Records Is Shifted From Battery to Rockefeller Plaza Office The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Singer Rents Six Floors In Center Firm Will Move There in 1962 New York Herald Tribune November 17 1961 p 38 ProQuest 1325841053 Singer to Move Uptown Sell Broadway Building The New York Times November 16 1961 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Miller Jerry September 1 1963 Air Conditioners Hoisted High Free Space for Rental Purposes The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Rainbow Room and Grill Up Up and Away From It All 65 Story High Cafe Is a Refuge From Ye Ye and Frug PDF The New York Times July 28 1965 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved December 10 2017 Bryson William Damski Melvin November 11 1969 Blasts Rock 3 Buildings In the City Newsday p 1 ProQuest 918216347 Clines Francis X November 12 1969 Bombs Here Linked To 4 Earlier Blasts Letter Attacks War Bombs Used Yesterday Similar to Those in Earlier Blasts 2 Letters Sent Monday Predicted the Explosions PDF The New York Times p 1 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on October 29 2021 Retrieved May 6 2020 Horsley Carter B January 17 1974 RCA Building to Get an Addition Using Solar Energy The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 25 2022 a b RCA to Remain In Manhattan The Hartford Courant January 17 1974 p 67 ProQuest 555973270 RCA Slates Meeting Room Partially Heated by the Sun Wall Street Journal January 17 1974 p 22 ISSN 0099 9660 ProQuest 133871668 Krinsky 1978 p 148 Fowler Glenn September 4 1975 Center in RCA Building to Draw On Sun for Heating and Cooling The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Smith Gene December 5 1975 Sarnoff Project Scrapped by RCA The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Horsley Carter B August 3 1975 Move outs Weaken Prewar Buildings The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 25 2022 Goldstein Tom March 7 1974 Law Firms Shifting From Wall St The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 25 2022 Sterba James P June 14 1978 Singer Co Is Moving to Stamford To Surprise of New York Officials The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 25 2022 Realty News Rockefeller Center Park Place Broadway Lease The New York Times January 27 1980 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 25 2022 Okrent 2003 p 428 a b Dowd Maureen February 6 1985 Columbia Is To Get 400 Million In Rockefeller Center Land Sale The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 26 2022 Lake Katharine April 18 1983 Rockefeller Center landmarking proposed New York Daily News p 106 Retrieved March 13 2022 via newspapers com a b Glancy 1992 p 425 Dunlap David W September 21 1983 Rockefeller Center a Jewel but Is All of It a Landmark The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 14 2022 Wiener Caryn Eve September 21 1983 6 Block Landmark Viewed as Too Costly Newsday p 25 Retrieved March 13 2022 via newspapers com a b Stern Fishman amp Tilove 2006 p 576 Adams 1985 pp 270 271 Collins T J April 24 1985 Rockefeller Center a Landmark for Real Newsday p 23 Retrieved March 10 2022 via newspapers com Glancy 1992 p 426 a b Lipman Joanne July 30 1985 Rockefellers Mortgage Site In New York For 1 1 Billion Loan Firm Gets Option to Buy 60 Of Rockefeller Center Wall Street Journal p 3 ISSN 0099 9660 ProQuest 135025391 Lipman Joanne February 5 1985 Columbia University Plans to Sell Land At Rockefeller Center for 400 Million Wall Street Journal p 1 ISSN 0099 9660 ProQuest 397882539 Prokesch Steven E July 30 1985 Rockefeller Group Sets 1 1 Billion Financing The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 10 2022 span, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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