1938: Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center is a group of twelve buildings forming an entertainment and business center extending from 48th to 51st Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in New York City. The main structure is the RCA (Radio Corporation of America) Building, 70 stories, 850 feet high, with the largest gross area, at the present time, of any office building in the world. It contains the head-quarters and home studios of the National Broadcasting Company. Its observation roofs in clear weather afford a fifty-mile view. Flanking the RCA Building are the Center Theater and the Radio City Music Hall, the latter with a seating capacity of 6,200 people. Both theaters are equipped with the most modern stage devices; the Music Hall has a large three-section stage elevator with a turntable forty-seven feet in diameter. To accompany the presentation of each new motion picture, the Music Hall staff produces a new spectacle costing about $50,000, employing a ballet, a chorus and a world famous troupe of precision dancers. Other buildings of the Rockefeller Center group are the British Empire Building, La Maison Française and Palazzo d'Italia, each devoted to commercial enterprises of their respective nations. Two International Buildings are designed to serve other foreign businesses and the remaining structures house theatrical, publishing and news-gathering concerns as their chief tenants. Two miles of underground concourses connect the different buildings.

The buildings express the functional character of modern American architecture. The decoration, executed by distinguished contemporary sculptors and by internationally famous artists, has stirred much discussion. Among the more notable art works are: Paul Manship's fountain figure of Prometheus, Lee Lawrie's statue of Atlas, the glass sculptures of Attilio Piccirilli, and the murals of Frank Brangwyn and Jose Maria Sert. Over 48,000 square feet of gardens, horticulturally typical of many foreign nations, add charm to the set-backs of the high buildings and the rooftops of the lower structures. Permanent and special exhibitions attract thousands to the Center annually. Its convenient location and many features have made it one of the major tourist points of interest in the city. More than 2,500,000 sight-seeing visitors each year pay for guided tours of the buildings, the gardens, the radio studios, the restaurants, and the observation roofs.

The buildings are owned by Rockefeller Center, Inc.; the whole project is a result of the interest of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in city planning. The major portion of the land is leased from Columbia University. Construction was started in 1931. The first ten buildings were completed between 1932 and 1935; two additional buildings were opened in 1937 and 1938. Two more are projected to complete the development. The investment upon completion of the twelfth building was slightly more than $100,000,000.