1 Rockefeller Plaza (formerly the Time & Life Building and the General Dynamics Building) is a 36-story building located on the east side of

Rockefeller Plaza Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 14 original Art De ...

between 48th and 49th Streets in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Completed in 1937, the tower is part of

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 14 original Art De ...

and, like the rest of the complex, was built in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style.

Design

The 36-story tower at 1 Rockefeller Plaza, on the east side of the plaza between 48th and 49th Streets, is the original Time & Life Building. The tower contains a 10th-floor setback on the 48th Street side, while its 49th Street side is actually set back from the street, rising as a slab. The Rockefeller Plaza side is almost a slab except for the 10th-story setback, and the eastern side connects to 600 Fifth Avenue via a seven-story annex. Its north-south axis aligns with the since-modified alignment of the International Building. One Rockefeller's artwork was designed for a generic tenant, with a general life theme.

Artwork

The artwork included Lawrie's bas-relief of

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

, a robed figure, and an eagle above the entrance, signifying human progress. In addition, Attilio Piccirilli's "Joy of Life" limestone relief, depicts a hedonistic

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

enjoying wine. The entrance portal is decorated with

C. Paul Jennewein Carl Paul Jennewein (December 2, 1890 – February 22, 1978) was a German-born American sculptor. Early career Jennewein was born in Stuttgart in Germany. At the age of seventeen, he immigrated to the United States in 1907. He was apprent ...

's limestone carvings of industry and agriculture.

Carl Milles Carl Milles (; 23 June 1875 – 19 September 1955) was a Swedes, Swedish sculpture, sculptor. He was married to artist Olga Milles (née Granner) and brother to Ruth Milles and half-brother to the architect Evert Milles. Carl Milles sculpted the ...

created a three-part wood-and-silver sculpture near the top of the lobby's western wall. It is called "Människan och Naturen" or "Man and Nature" and was created from 1938 to 1941. The right-hand carving depicts a wooden faun pushing nature away, while the left-side carving consists of a wooden nymph in the foliage, and the central carving depicts a wooden man on horseback listening to a metal Mexican nightingale that every hour on the hour opens its beak and sings a recording of a Mexican Nightingale from the Bronx Zoo.

History

Rockefeller Center occupies three blocks in Midtown Manhattan bounded by Fifth and Sixth Avenues to the east and west, between 48th Street to the south and 51st Street to the north. By 1936, most of the complex had been completed. Rockefeller Center Inc. only needed to develop three empty plots in the middle of the complex's northern and southern blocks. The site of 1 Rockefeller Plaza, located on the southern block, was being used as a

parking lot A parking lot or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface. In most jurisdi ...

, and at the time, it was the city's largest parking facility. In 1936,

Time Inc. Time Inc. (also referred to as Time & Life, Inc. later on, after their two onetime flagship magazine publications) was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New ...

expressed interest in moving out of their

Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is a , Art Deco skyscraper in the East Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Located at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, it is the tallest brick building in the world wit ...

offices into a larger headquarters, having just launched their ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine. Rockefeller Center's managers persuaded Time to move to a proposed skyscraper on part of the southern empty lot, located on Rockefeller Plaza between 48th and 49th Streets, by promising the company seven floors and a penthouse; space to expand; a 20-year lease; and the right to name the building after themselves. Excavation for a new building at 1 Rockefeller Plaza, numbered 9 Rockefeller Plaza at the time, started in June 1936. The original plans stipulated a 32-story building, but the height was increased to 36 stories with the use of setbacks on the 48th Street elevation. The number of setbacks was minimized, which increased rentable space within the building, and the original blueprints for the plot were retained for the Time & Life Building. The steelwork for that building was laid on September 25, 1936, and was complete by November 28, forty-three working days later. The Time & Life Building, as it was known, opened on April 1, 1937, along with the final block of Rockefeller Plaza abutting the building, between 48th and 49th Streets. ''Time'' moved into the building in 1938. Time Inc's lease stipulated that nothing else could be constructed within of the Time & Life Building's uppermost floors. The original tenants included the

Girl Scouts of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, a year after she ...

and

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, but Time Inc. itself did not move into the building for another year after its completion. In 1960, the building was renamed for

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

after Time Inc. had moved into 1271 Avenue of the Americas, the new Time-Life Building located three blocks away. The tower was renamed for its street address after General Dynamics moved to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

in 1971.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

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External links

Official site
Rockefeller Center {{Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center Art Deco architecture in Manhattan Art Deco skyscrapers 1937 establishments in New York City 1930s architecture in the United States Office buildings completed in 1937