ROCKEFELLER CENTER
49th to 52nd Streets
& Fifth to Seventh Avenues
Manhattan, New York
212.332.6868
www.rockefellercenter.com
Rockefeller Center is an art deco marvel consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering 11 acres in midtown Manhattan.
Named after the multi-millionaire, John D. Rockefeller (who leased the space from Columbia University in 1928), the original occupants were tenements and theaters. Rockefeller's plan was to revitalize the area with three huge office buildings and a new Metropolitan Opera House. Unfortunately, the stock market crash of 1929 helped scrap those original plans, but Rockefeller still wanted a commercial district, so he hired three architecture firms and a consulting firm, and ground was broken on the Rockefeller Center we see today in late 1929.
30 Rockefeller Plaza was the largest and first built. It is the centerpiece and probably best known building. Completed in 1934, 30 Rockefeller Plaza became the RCA headquarters. General Electric's initials now brighten the rooftop of the home of NBC.
ART IN THE CENTER
The arcade of Rockefeller Center is the most popular route of tourists. Entering on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, the center gardens make way to the sub-ground restaurant area which becomes an ice skating rink in the winter. All of this is watched upon by Paul Manship's 1934 statue, Prometheus. Surrounding the sub-ground area are the flags of all nations.
Directly across the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral is the two-ton statue of Atlas (a companion piece to Prometheus) and the largest sculptural work at Rockefeller Center. Atlas carries the heavens upon his shoulders as punishment for defying Zeus. Designed and cast in 1936 by Lee Lawrie and Rene Chambellan, the statue's exaggerated musculature and stylized body are characteristic of the Art Deco style.
The north-south axis of the armillary sphere on his shoulders points to the North Star as viewed from New York City. Laid across Atlas's shoulders is a wide, curved beam that displays a frieze of the traditional symbols for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Adjacent to Earth (over Atlas's right forearm) is a small crescent symbolizing the Moon. Affixed to one of the sphere's rings are symbols for twelve constellations through which the Sun passes during the year.
TOP OF THE ROCK
Top Of The Rock is an observation deck 70 stories above Rockefeller Center. The stunning views from the top provide a panorama of the New York City skyline – including the Empire State Building, Central Park, the Chrysler Building, all of New York City's bridges, and even a distant view of the Statue of Liberty.
The observation deck atop the 30 Rockefeller Plaza skyscraper, reopened to the public on November 1, 2005, after undergoing a $75 million renovation. It had been closed since 1986 to accommodate the renovation of the Rainbow Room. The deck, which is built to resemble the deck of an ocean liner, offers sightseers a bird's eye view of the city, competing with the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State Building.
© April L. Gustetter