Midtown Manhattan Landmarks

Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan

Rockefeller Center is a group of Art Deco buildings in Midtown Manhattan, between 48th and 51st Streets and Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Built during the Great Depression, it is a National Historic Landmark, and it includes Radio City Music Hall, the Channel Gardens and the Lower Plaza with its golden Prometheus.

The Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center, with a fountain and planted beds leading to the tower beyond — Photo: hibino · CC BY 2.0 · Source

Quick facts

Where: Between 48th and 51st Streets and Fifth and Sixth Avenues, Midtown Manhattan
Built: construction began in 1931; the original 14 buildings were completed on November 1, 1939
Architects: the Associated Architects, a group of three firms led in design by Raymond Hood
Financed by: John D. Rockefeller Jr.
Style: Art Deco, in buff Indiana limestone
Status: National Historic Landmark (1987)

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History

Rockefeller Center began as a plan for a new Metropolitan Opera house. After the 1929 stock market crash the Opera pulled out, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. went ahead with a commercial center instead, leasing the land from Columbia University at about $3.5 million a year. The project was first called Metropolitan Square and was renamed Rockefeller Center in late 1931. About 75,000 union-wage jobs were created during construction.

The design came from the Associated Architects, formed in 1930 from three firms: Reinhard & Hofmeister, Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, and Hood, Godley & Fouilhoux. Raymond Hood proposed RCA as the anchor tenant and added the setbacks and rooftop gardens, which the National Historic Landmark nomination describes as among the first landscaped skyscrapers. Radio City Music Hall opened on December 27, 1932, and was the world's largest indoor theater when it was finished, with 6,200 seats. Rockefeller drove the last rivet at the completion ceremony on November 1, 1939.

The center is also known for its art. Diego Rivera's 1934 fresco Man at the Crossroads in the RCA Building was destroyed because of its radical content. Isamu Noguchi's stainless steel panel News, on the Associated Press Building, is described as among the finest works in the art program.

What to look for

The Channel Gardens, a promenade of six pools between the British Empire Building and La Maison Française
Paul Manship's gilded bronze Prometheus in the Lower Plaza, 18 feet below street level
The flags of nearly 200 United Nations member nations around the plaza
Noguchi's News panel above 50 Rockefeller Plaza
The Atlas figure in the courtyard of the International Building

Visiting Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center is a short ride south of The Plaza Hotel and a short ride from Columbus Circle. The complex includes Top of the Rock, Radio City Music Hall, NBC Studios and the Rainbow Room. Hours, prices and events change, so check before your visit.