1221 Avenue of the Americas

Coordinates: 40°45′33″N 73°58′54″W / 40.75917°N 73.98167°W / 40.75917; -73.98167
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

1221 Avenue of the Americas
International style
Location1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
U.S.
Coordinates40°45′33″N 73°58′54″W / 40.75917°N 73.98167°W / 40.75917; -73.98167
Construction started1966
Completed1969
Opening1972
OwnerRockefeller Group (Mitsubishi Estate)
Height
Roof674 feet (205 m)
Top floor640 feet (200 m)
Technical details
Floor count51
Floor area2,199,982 sq ft (204,385 m2)
Lifts/elevators36
Design and construction
Architect(s)Wallace Harrison
References
[1]

1221 Avenue of the Americas (formerly also known as the McGraw-Hill Building) is an

Avenue of the Americas) in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 51-floor structure has a seven-story base and a simple, cuboid massing. The facade has no decoration and consists of red granite
piers alternating with glass stripes to underline the tower's verticality.

The building is set back 115 feet (35 m) from Sixth Avenue, with a sunken courtyard dominated by Sun Triangle, an 49-foot (15 m) abstract steel sculpture by Athelstan Spilhaus. The tower's lobby is clad in dark red terrazzo and red marble, with aphorisms by Plato and John F. Kennedy.[2]

Background

Buildings of Rockefeller Center
Map
100m
110yds
none
17
1211 Avenue of the Americas
16
1221 Avenue of the Americas
15
1251 Avenue of the Americas
14
1271 Avenue of the Americas
13
608 Fifth Avenue
12
600 Fifth Avenue
11
75 Rockefeller Plaza
10
1270 Avenue of the Americas
9
Radio City Music Hall
8
1230 Avenue of the Americas
7
50 Rockefeller Plaza
6
International Building
5
30 Rockefeller Plaza
4
British Empire Building
3
La Maison Francaise
2
10 Rockefeller Plaza
1

The building was part of the later Rockefeller Center expansion (1960s–1970s) dubbed the "XYZ Buildings".[3] Their plans were first drawn in 1963 by the Rockefeller family's architect, Wallace Harrison, of the architectural firm Harrison & Abramovitz.[4] Their letters correspond to their height. 1251 Avenue of the Americas is the "X" Building as it is the tallest at 750 ft (229 m) and 54 stories, and was the first completed, in 1971. The "Y" is 1221 Avenue of the Americas, which was the second tower completed (1973) and is the second in height (674 ft and 51 stories). The "Z" Building, the shortest and the youngest, is 1211 Avenue of the Americas with 45 stories (592 ft).[5]

The building serves as the executive headquarters for professional services and accountancy firm

Sirius XM Satellite Radio, whose headquarters and broadcast facility are in the building, and the law firms Mayer Brown and White & Case
.

The sunken courtyard contains a large metal triangle designed by Athelstan Spilhaus and fabricated by Tyler Elevator Products, arranged so the Sun aligns with its sides at solstices and equinoxes.[8] When built, the southwestern corner held a display of scale models of planets in the Solar System. A mosaic map of the Earth survives in the northwestern corner.

In 2009, the structure earned a LEED green-building certification.[9] A renovation of the plaza and retail space was announced in 2017,[10] and the $50 million project was underway by 2022.[11]

  • Sunken courtyard
    Sunken courtyard
  • World maps and sculpture Sun Triangle
    World maps and sculpture Sun Triangle

1999 elevator incident

After entering an express elevator serving floors 39-50 at approximately 11:00 p.m. (

power dip caused it to stop between the 13th and 14th floors. White was not rescued until approximately 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 17, nearly 41 hours later, after security guards spotted him in the elevator surveillance cameras.[12][13] In 2008, The New Yorker uploaded a video, originally called "Trapped in an Elevator for 41 Hours",[14] which contained surveillance-camera footage of White being trapped in the elevator.[15][16]

In popular culture

The buildings are featured in the title sequence of

Sirius XM Radio, and many radio shows broadcast from the building including The Howard Stern Show. The plaza and sculpture are also featured as part of the New York City Level of the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Emporis building ID 114548". Emporis. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020.
  2. ^ "THE McGRAW-HILL BUILDING II (1221 Sixth Ave.)". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  3. ISBN 9781568981819
    . Retrieved December 28, 2018. Celanese Building.
  4. ISBN 978-0-19-502404-3
    .
  5. ISBN 978-1-56898-545-9
    .
  6. ^ "Joseph B. Ucuzoglu Chief Executive Officer Deloitte Global". Deloitte. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  7. ^ Martin, Timothy W. (July 8, 2015). "McGraw Hill Moves Downtown, Says Goodbye to Namesake Building". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  8. ^ Natural History Magazine Archived July 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Sun triangle
  9. USGBC. Archived from the original
    on December 25, 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  10. ^ Nonko, Emily (November 7, 2017). "One of Midtown's sunken public plazas will get a modern revamp". Curbed NY. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  11. ^ "Manhattan public plaza, retail gateway receiving $50M renovation". Construction Specifier. March 28, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  12. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  13. ^ Paumgarten, Nick (July 28, 2014). "Up and Then Down". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  14. ^ "Bad Break: Trapped in an Elevator for 41 Hours". NPR. April 23, 2008. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  15. ^ "Video surfaces of man stuck in elevator for 41 hours - ABC7 New York - ABC7 New York". ABC7 New York. March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  16. ^ "Video surfaces of man stuck in elevator for 41 hours". New York Daily News. April 22, 2008. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  17. ^ "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2: NY City - All Park Goals, Gaps, and Challenges". Push Square. March 26, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.

External links

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