Seagram Building
- Architects
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Philip Johnson
- Year
- 1958
- Style
- International Style
- City
- Manhattan, NY
The Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd streets, was completed in 1958 as the headquarters of the Seagram Company, a Canadian distiller. Designed in the International Style by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with Philip Johnson, Ely Jacques Kahn, and Robert Allan Jacobs, the 515-foot, 38-story tower became one of the defining works of corporate modern architecture, shaped in large part by Phyllis Lambert, daughter of Seagram CEO Samuel Bronfman.
the building
Bronze and glass curtain wall. The exterior is a glass curtain wall with vertical mullions of bronze and horizontal spandrels of Muntz metal, giving the tower its distinctive warm-toned skin over a strict structural grid.
The public plaza. On Park Avenue, the tower is set back behind a pink-granite public plaza with two fountains, leading to a tall elevator lobby designed to echo the plaza's proportions.
Restaurants at the base. The lowest stories originally held the Four Seasons Restaurant, replaced in 2017 by the Grill and Pool restaurants, alongside the Brasserie restaurant, which the Lobster Club succeeded in 1995.
the style
The Seagram Building is one of the most prominent American examples of the International Style, built as an exercise in functionalist aesthetics for a corporate client. Mies van der Rohe's structural grid, rendered in bronze and glass, became a widely imitated template for postwar office towers.
More on International Stylethe architect
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the building with Philip Johnson, along with Ely Jacques Kahn and Robert Allan Jacobs. The commission, guided by Phyllis Lambert, produced one of Mies's most influential American works.
significance
The Seagram Building is a New York City Individual Landmark (LP-01664), listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register of Historic Places, designated on 10/3/1989.
nearby
- Lever House
- General Electric Building
- Citigroup Center
- Saint Bartholomew's Church and Community House
- Citicorp Center (now 601 Lexington Avenue) including Saint Peter's Church
- Central Synagogue