Rockefeller Center
- Architects
- Raymond Hood Wallace Harrison
- Style
- Art Deco
- City
- Manhattan, NY
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings spanning 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in Midtown Manhattan. Columbia University leased the land in 1928 to John D. Rockefeller Jr., who developed it after plans for a new Metropolitan Opera House on the site fell through when the Met could not afford to move. Construction began in 1931 and the first buildings opened in 1933, with the core of the complex finished by 1939. It has been described as one of the greatest building projects of the Great Depression era.
the building
The original Art Deco core. The 14 original Art Deco buildings span the area between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, split by a large sunken square and the private street Rockefeller Plaza.
Later additions. 75 Rockefeller Plaza was added across 51st Street at the north end of Rockefeller Plaza, and four International Style buildings were later built on the west side of Sixth Avenue.
the style
The original complex is a defining example of Art Deco architecture, an integrated commercial development that broke from the single-tower model of earlier Midtown office buildings.
More on Art Decothe architect
The complex was designed by Raymond Hood and Wallace Harrison, both major American architects of the era.
significance
Rockefeller Center is a National Historic Landmark, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a New York City Landmark.
nearby
- 30 Rockefeller Plaza
- Radio City Music Hall
- 1270 Avenue of the Americas
- Saks Fifth Avenue
- Exxon Building
- Saint Patrick's Cathedral Complex