1271 Avenue of the Americas is a 48-story skyscraper on
Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
(Avenue of the Americas), between
50th and
51st Streets, in the
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
neighborhood of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Designed by architect
Wallace Harrison
Wallace Kirkman Harrison (September 28, 1895 – December 2, 1981) was an American architect. Harrison started his professional career with the firm of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, participating in the construction of Rockefeller Center. He i ...
of
Harrison, Abramovitz, and Harris, the building was developed between 1956 and 1960 as part of
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...
. It was originally known as the Time & Life Building for its main tenant,
Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
, which also published ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' magazine.
1271 Avenue of the Americas contains an eight-story base that partially wraps around the main shaft, as well as a plaza with white-and-gray serpentine pavement and water fountains. The
facade consists of glass panels between limestone columns. The lobby contains serpentine floors; white-marble and stainless-steel walls; reddish-burgundy glass ceilings; and artwork by
Josef Albers
Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, ...
,
Fritz Glarner
Fritz Glarner (July 20, 1899 in Zurich – September 18, 1972 in Locarno) was a Swiss-American painter.
Glarner was a leading proponent of so-called Concrete Art, an artists' movement whose roots lead back to the painters of De Stijl and ...
, and Francis Brennan. The ground floor also includes storefronts and originally also housed La Fonda del Sol, a Latin American-themed restaurant. Each of the upper floors measures and consists of a column-free space around a mechanical core. The 48th floor originally contained the Hemisphere Club, a members-only restaurant during the day.
After Time Inc. expressed its intention to move from
1 Rockefeller Plaza in the 1950s, Rockefeller Center's owners proposed the skyscraper to meet the company's needs while retaining it as a tenant. Construction started in May 1957, the building was
topped out
In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlaye ...
during November 1958, and occupants began moving into their offices in late 1959. The
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
designated the Time-Life Building's lobby as a city landmark in 2002. Time Inc. vacated the building in 2015, and the building was subsequently renovated between 2015 and 2019.
Site
1271 Avenue of the Americas is on the western side of
Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
(officially Avenue of the Americas), between
50th and
51st Streets, in the
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
neighborhood of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
The
land lot
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the same thing) in ...
is rectangular and covers .
The site has a
frontage
Frontage is the boundary between a plot of land or a building and the road onto which the plot or building fronts. Frontage may also refer to the full length of this boundary. This length is considered especially important for certain types of ...
of on 50th and 51st Streets and a frontage of on Sixth Avenue.
Nearby buildings include
The Michelangelo
The Taft Hotel building is a 22-story pre-war Spanish Renaissance structure that occupies the eastern side of Seventh Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets, just north of Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. In ...
to the west, the
Axa Equitable Center to the northwest,
75 Rockefeller Plaza
75 Rockefeller Plaza is a skyscraper on the north side of 51st Street in New York City, originally built as a northern extension to Rockefeller Center.
History
In July 1944, the Rockefellers began planning a new 16-story tower to house the St ...
to the northeast,
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...
to the east,
30 Rockefeller Plaza
30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66 ...
to the southeast, and
1251 Avenue of the Americas to the south.
Just prior to the development of 1271 Avenue of the Americas, most of the site was occupied by a parking lot,
which had previously served as a
New York Railways Company
The New York Railways Company operated street railways in Manhattan, New York City, United States between 1911 and 1925. The company went into receivership in 1919 and control was passed to the New York Railways Corporation in 1925 after which a ...
trolley barn.
There was also a four-story building facing Sixth Avenue and a collection of single-story shops on 50th Street.
Rockefeller Center Inc. bought the plots on 50th and 51st Streets in the first week of August 1953, followed by those on Sixth Avenue the next week. One building on the site reportedly cost $2 million after its owner had
held out. Rockefeller Center's managers originally wanted to build an
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
studio or a
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
vehicle
showroom
A plumbing fixture showroom, Canada, 1921
A showroom, also referred to as a gallery, is a large space used to display products, entertainment or visual arts.
Marketing location
A showroom is a large space used to display products for sale, suc ...
on the site.
Architecture
The building was designed by
Harrison & Abramovitz
Harrison & Abramovitz (also known as Harrison, Fouilhoux & Abramovitz; Harrison, Abramovitz, & Abbe; and Harrison, Abramovitz, & Harris) was an American architectural firm based in New York and active from 1941 through 1976. The firm was a partner ...
, a firm composed of
Wallace Harrison
Wallace Kirkman Harrison (September 28, 1895 – December 2, 1981) was an American architect. Harrison started his professional career with the firm of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, participating in the construction of Rockefeller Center. He i ...
and
Max Abramovitz
Max Abramovitz (May 23, 1908 – September 12, 2004) was an American architect. He was best known for his work with the New York City firm Harrison & Abramovitz.
Life
Abramovitz was the son of Romanian Jewish immigrant parents. He graduate ...
.
It was constructed by John Lowry and the
George A. Fuller Company
George A. Fuller (1851 – December 14, 1900) was an American architect often credited as being the "inventor" of modern skyscrapers and the modern contracting system.
Early life and career
Fuller was born in Templeton, Massachusetts, near W ...
.
In addition,
Syska Hennessy
Syska Hennessy is a global Consultant, consulting, engineering and Building commissioning, commissioning firm for the built environment. Established in 1928, Syska Hennessy was ranked the 161st-largest U.S. design firm by Engineering News-Record, E ...
was hired as the mechanical engineer and
Edwards & Hjorth was hired as the structural engineer.
1271 Avenue of the Americas was planned as a 48-story slab,
measuring around .
The slab is flanked by shorter segments with
setbacks at the third and eighth stories.
The north and west edges of the tower are flanked by a seven-story section of the base.
An auditorium designed by
Gio Ponti
Giovanni "Gio" Ponti ( ͡ʒo18 November 1891 – 16 September 1979) was an Italian architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, teacher, writer and publisher.
During his career, which spanned six decades, Ponti built more tha ...
, with colored triangles, was installed on the eighth-floor setback. The neighboring
Roxy Theater was acquired as part of the building's development, allowing the building's floor area to be increased under the limits set by the
1916 Zoning Resolution.
Furthermore, a provision under the 1916 Zoning Resolution had allowed structures to rise without setbacks above a given level if all subsequent stories covered no more than 25 percent of the land lot.
Facade
1271 Avenue of the Americas'
facade is made mostly of glass, which at the time of the building's construction cost the same as a wall made mostly of limestone. The use of a glass facade permitted a higher degree of flexibility on each story compared to a limestone wall of the same size.
Before the current facade design was selected, several alternatives were considered. Time Inc. wanted a flush exterior wall, but this was rejected because exterior columns would protrude into the floor area. Another alternative entailed an "accordion wall" with windows that sloped inward toward their tops, juxtaposed with spandrels that sloped outward. The accordion wall, which would have been framed by flat columns, was unfeasible because it reduced floor area, required modifications to drapes and air-conditioning, and was not aesthetically desirable to the architects.
At ground level, there is a canopy over the 51st Street entrance.
The glass curtain wall covers either
or in total.
On all stories, the facade includes structural columns with limestone cladding.
The limestone columns frame the glass curtain wall and also serve as an architectural allusion to the other buildings at Rockefeller Center. In addition, more than of stainless-steel
flashing was placed on the facade. The stainless-steel flashing was meant to last for as long as the building existed; on the setbacks at the base, the flashing was buried inside corners along the roof deck.
The limestone columns are spaced at intervals of .
There are five vertical
bays of windows between each set of limestone columns, each separated by two narrow aluminum
mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
s flanking the center pane and two larger air-conditioning risers between the outer panes.
Originally, each glass pane measured wide and tall.
The
spandrel
A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...
s between the windows on different stories consist of a plate, behind which is a screen made of aluminum mesh. Mechanical pipes and ducts, as well as the floor plates, are hidden behind the spandrels.
The windows had initially been planned as square panes, but the windowsills were lowered so they were only above each floor slab. This also allowed each spandrel to be covered by a standard glass pane.
In the late 2010s, new low-emissivity glazed panels with thermal breaks were installed.
The new glass panes retain the original width but measure high.
Plaza
The eastern part of the site was planned with a plaza.
The plaza measures long and wide and is flanked by the eight-story base.
The southern part of the site also has a promenade that is about wide.
The plaza is paved with serpentine pavers similar to those found on the sidewalks of
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
's
Copacabana Beach
Copacabana () is a ''bairro'' (neighbourhood) located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is most prominently known for its 4 km (2.5 miles) balneario beach, which is one of the most famous in the wor ...
,
a tribute to its location along Avenue of the Americas.
Harrison had believed the pavers would bring variety to the building's design. The original pavers, designed by Port Morris Tile & Marble Corporation, were removed in 2001 because they were too slippery; the same company reproduced the pattern in rougher terrazzo.
In the late 2010s, the sidewalk pattern was extended from the lot line to the
curb
A curb (North American English), or kerb (Commonwealth English except Canada; see spelling differences), is the edge where a raised sidewalk or road median/central reservation meets a street or other roadway.
History
Although curbs have ...
line.
A seating parapet in the plaza surrounded a pool with four jets,
measuring about .
Another six pools, measuring each, were placed within the plaza.
Each pool had a mat made of lead for waterproofing, which in turn was covered by cement and terrazzo. After the late-2010s renovation, the 50th Street pools were removed and a fountain was installed at the corner of 50th Street and Sixth Avenue.
Trees and shrubs were originally also planted on the 50th Street side, while three flagpoles were placed on the section of the plaza facing Sixth Avenue.
Also within the plaza is an entrance to the
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
's
47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center station, serving the .
In 1972, the Association for a Better New York hired William Crovello to create a sculpture called ''Cubed Curve''. The sculpture was supposedly inspired by a fluid brush stroke. According to ''The New York Times'', the sculpture marked Time Inc.'s "presence at the center of the media universe". It was moved in 2018 to
Ursinus College
Ursinus College is a private liberal arts college in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869 and occupies a 170-acre campus.
History
19th century
In 1867, members of the German Reformed Church began plans to establish a college w ...
in
Collegeville, Pennsylvania, because the building was being renovated.
Interior
![Rockefeller Center Mar 2022 136](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Rockefeller_Center_Mar_2022_136.jpg)
1271 Avenue of the Americas was built with about of rentable space.
According to the
New York City Department of City Planning
The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...
, the building has a gross floor area of .
The interior design was contracted to a variety of architects such as
Alexander Girard
Alexander Girard (May 24, 1907 – December 31, 1993), affectionately known as Sandro, was an architect, interior designer, furniture designer, industrial designer, and a textile designer.
Early life
He was born in New York City to an American ...
,
Gio Ponti
Giovanni "Gio" Ponti ( ͡ʒo18 November 1891 – 16 September 1979) was an Italian architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, teacher, writer and publisher.
During his career, which spanned six decades, Ponti built more tha ...
,
Charles Eames,
William Tabler, and
George Nelson & Company.
Thirty elevators serve the building within the mechanical core.
Internally, 1271 Avenue of the Americas was divided into eight zones for air-conditioning. Floors 8, 9, and 16 through 34 were occupied by Time Inc. and contained their own thermostats to accommodate the nonstandard working hours of Time Inc. employees. In conjunction with the building's construction, Rockefeller Center's central air-conditioning system was upgraded in 1957 to provide 6,000 tons of cooling capacity to the building every hour. The cooling systems had to operate all year because Time Inc.'s equipment generated large amounts of heat. The original cooling system was powered by steam, but electric and natural gas cooling systems had been added by 2000.
The mechanical spaces are concealed by partial-width windows on the facade.
There are three basement stories.
The first basement has a passageway leading to Rockefeller Center's underground concourse and the 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center station.
The two other basements are not accessible to the public and are used for storage, maintenance, and service functions.
Ground floor
= Lobby
=
1271 Avenue of the Americas' lobby is surrounded by commercial spaces on all sides; with the
superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
incorporated in the core and exterior, Harrison could design the lobby with more flexibility.
Originally, the lobby was planned to include a covered shopping and exhibit hall on 50th Street and a north–south passage between 50th and 51st Streets. These details were changed significantly in the final plan.
The lobby has two entrances to the south on 50th Street, one on either side of the core, as well as an entrance to the north on 51st Street, along the east side of the core. The core itself has two west–east passages connected by elevator banks. The more northerly of the east–west passages has stairs and escalators to the second story and the basement.
Until the 1990s, the southern passage had been a narrow hallway because there were two storefronts next to it.
A "breezeway" led east to Sixth Avenue, but this had been closed by 2002.
Time Inc.'s reception area was within the lobby behind the fountain.
![Rockefeller Center Mar 2022 140](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Rockefeller_Center_Mar_2022_140.jpg)
The lobby has the same pavement as the plaza outside the building.
This pavement consists of white serpentine terrazzo tiles bordered with stainless steel and aligned from west to east. The pavement, installed by the American Mosaic & Tile Company, was meant to relate with the plaza.
The floors had originally been made of
cementitious
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...
terrazzo. The southern section of the lobby had been expanded in the 1990s, over the site of the storefronts there, but the extended floor did not match the original pavement. The entire lobby was resurfaced in the late 2010s with marble-based terrazzo tiles that matched the original pavement design. Because the marble tiles had contained natural veins of black rock, contractors manually removed the veins before installing the tiles.
The walls are largely made of plate-glass windows and white marble panels.
Around the core, the walls are made of stainless steel rectangular panels.
The steel panels are designed to complement the floor colors and are arranged in a checkerboard pattern.
The ceiling throughout the lobby is high.
The ceiling is made of dark maroon glass tiles, finished in a matte covering, with white lighting coves in some tiles.
Manufactured by American-Saint Gobain Corporation, the glass tiles are suspended from washers at each corner and are designed to be removed for maintenance.
In the late 2010s, the original glass ceiling was replaced with reddish-burgundy tiles that matched the original color.
The lobby walls contain large murals by
Josef Albers
Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, ...
and
Fritz Glarner
Fritz Glarner (July 20, 1899 in Zurich – September 18, 1972 in Locarno) was a Swiss-American painter.
Glarner was a leading proponent of so-called Concrete Art, an artists' movement whose roots lead back to the painters of De Stijl and ...
,
both of whom Harrison had known for many years.
Glarner's mural, entitled ''Relational Painting No. 88,'' measures and is mounted east of the elevators.
It includes overlapping red, yellow, blue, gray, and black geometric shapes on a white background.
Albers's mural, entitled ''Portals,'' measures and is mounted west of the elevators.
''Portals'' includes alternating bands of white and brown glass, which surround a set of bronze and nickel plates in a way that gives the impression of depth.
''Relational Painting No. 88'' was installed in April 1960, while ''Portals'' was installed twelve months later.
Another artwork by ''
Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' art director Francis Brennan was installed north of the elevators in January 1965. Brennan's work consists of a relief measuring , which contains all the letters of the alphabet in the Caslon 471 typeface.
= Storefronts
=
When 1271 Avenue of the Americas opened, there was a
Manufacturers Trust
Manufacturers Hanover Corporation was the bank holding company formed as parent of Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, a large New York bank formed by a merger in 1961. After 1969, Manufacturers Hanover Trust became a subsidiary of Manufac ...
bank branch within the northeast corner of the base, next to the lobby.
There had also been two storefronts along the southern end of the lobby, next to the west–east corridor there, but the storefronts were removed in the 1990s.
Along the lobby's west side was La Fonda del Sol (the Inn of the Sun), a Latin American-themed restaurant operated by Joseph Baum of
Restaurant Associates
Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including off ...
.
The interiors were designed by
Alexander Girard
Alexander Girard (May 24, 1907 – December 31, 1993), affectionately known as Sandro, was an architect, interior designer, furniture designer, industrial designer, and a textile designer.
Early life
He was born in New York City to an American ...
and furniture by
Charles Eames.
La Fonda had an elaborate entry foyer and a set of dining spaces leading to the largest dining room.
The dining rooms were decorated with Latin American artifacts, and each of the dining rooms was furnished in vivid colors with at least two hues of fabrics. It closed in 1971 and was replaced with a bank branch.
The branch, originally for the
Seaman's Bank for Savings
Seaman's Furniture was an American chain of furniture stores based in Woodbury, New York.
History
The company was founded by Julius Seaman in 1933 with its first store in Brooklyn, New York. The chain was in business for more than 70 years unt ...
, had round steel columns as well as green marble counters with flecks of white.
The businesses in the modern lobby include
The Capital Grille
The Capital Grille is an American restaurant chain of upscale steakhouses owned by Darden Restaurants. The brand has locations in twenty-five states, the District of Columbia, and Mexico City.
History
The original Capital Grille was founded ...
and
Ted's Montana Grill
Ted's Montana Grill is an American restaurant chain. The company was founded by media mogul and bison rancher Ted Turner along with restaurateur George McKerrow Jr. with the help of corporate chef Chris Raucci as a for-profit effort to stop the ex ...
.
Upper floors
=Offices
=
![Curtiss-Wright, Time Life Building, Ave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Curtiss-Wright%2C_Time_Life_Building%2C_Ave._of_the_Americas._LOC_gsc.5a27425.jpg)
The seven lowest stories each have about .
Each of the upper stories has around of space, largely uninterrupted by columns.
These were among the largest floor plates of any office building in New York City since World War II. This arrangement was inspired by the
PSFS Building
The PSFS Building, now known as the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, is a skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A National Historic Landmark, the building was the first International style skyscraper constructed in the United States. ...
in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, Pennsylvania.
All stairs and elevators are placed in a service core, leaving the outer section of each floor available for use.
This improved the efficiency of each floor by allowing an open plan for the offices.
The arrangement of the building allowed high flexibility in planning interior offices. An office module in the building generally measured , though these could be combined as necessary.
The firm Designs for Business was responsible for the design of Time Inc.'s space, which originally spanned 21 stories.
Time Inc. had to fit multiple small rooms and cubicles on each of its floors, but the company was largely able to fit these rooms and cubicles within the modular system.
Square aluminum posts were installed in Time Inc.'s space, through which partition panels could be installed. The panels themselves were made of a myriad of materials including wood, plastic, burlap, and glass, though they were initially not soundproof. Mockups of the offices were manufactured at
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast ...
, as well as in Time Inc.'s earlier headquarters at
1 Rockefeller Plaza.
The elevator lobbies on each of Time Inc.'s stories had different decorations.
The 28th floor also had a photo gallery where photojournalist
Alfred Eisenstaedt
Alfred Eisenstaedt (December 6, 1898 – August 23, 1995) was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. He began his career in Germany prior to World War II but achieved prominence as a staff photographer for ''Life'' magazine af ...
worked.
After Charles Eames designed the chairs for Time Inc.'s offices, he created a new chair design in 1961, which was nicknamed the Time-Life Chair. Eames designed them as a favor to
Henry Luce
Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine magnate who founded ''Time'', ''Life'', ''Fortune'', and ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the America ...
, who had allowed Eames to use photos from the Time-Life archives for the pavilion he designed at the 1959
American National Exhibition
The American National Exhibition (July 25 to Sept. 4, 1959) was an exhibition of American art, fashion, cars, capitalism, model homes and futuristic kitchens that attracted 3 million visitors to its Sokolniki Park, Moscow venue during its six-wee ...
in Moscow. The chairs remain in production, though the original design with four legs at the base has been revised to include a fifth leg for stability and to meet updated product codes.
In 2015, one original Time-Life Chair cost $6,000, while the five-legged replicas retailed for $3,000 each.
Other offices in the building originally included the second-story offices of the
Gilman Paper Company The Gilman Paper Company was an American paper producer founded by Isaac Gilman in the 1880s in the village of Fitzdale, Vermont, which would later be renamed Gilman, Vermont.
History
Gilman Paper Company's founder, Isaac Gilman, emigrated from U ...
, designed by SLS-Environetics and connected to the lobby by an escalator. The vestibule at the top of the escalators had stainless-steel wall and a carpet that extended across the floor and part of the walls. Gilman's reception area had an angular reception desk and lighting fixtures made of stainless steel. Gilman's offices had ceilings measuring tall, with angular furniture, sculpted ducts and lighting elements, exposed structural beams, and a color-coding scheme to distinguish the different departments.
=Auditorium
=
Gio Ponti designed an auditorium at the setback above the eighth floor, along with an adjoining kitchen, dining room, reception area, and lounge. This space was meant for meetings with advertisers and corporate and sales functions.
The space was arranged with walls at irregular angles and originally had colored
glass-block walls and Sicilian paintings. The auditorium itself had a domed ceiling, while the ceiling in the adjoining spaces contained brass motifs. The floors were yellow with green and blue streaks, and geometric wooden furniture was specially designed for the space.
The auditorium was closed by 1981, when the furniture was sold; it was redesigned by
Davis, Brody & Associates in 1983.
=Hemisphere Club and Tower Suite
=
![Hemisphere Club, Time-Life Building, Rockefeller Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Hemisphere_Club%2C_Time-Life_Building%2C_Rockefeller_Center._LOC_gsc.5a27661.jpg)
The Hemisphere Club and Tower Suite shared a space on the 48th floor and was designed by George Nelson & Company.
During the day, the Hemisphere Club was a 250-seat
private club
A club is an association of people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities. There are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious c ...
for executives that, when the building opened, charged $1,000 for initiation and $360 in annual fees thereafter.
This made the Hemisphere Club one of several private clubs at the tops of New York City skyscrapers. In the evenings, the restaurant space opened to the public as the Tower Suite, which originally offered meals for $8.50 per person.
The restaurant was operated by Restaurant Associates. George Nelson designed special chairs for the restaurant, which apparently were never manufactured.
Since the windows split the view from the 48th floor into many sections, the space was designed with window
embrasure
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...
s.
''The New Yorker'' reported several years after the Tower Suite's opening that "a butler in a black tailcoat and a maid in a fluffy white apron" visited every table seven days a week. When the restaurant opened,
Craig Claiborne
Craig Claiborne (September 4, 1920 January 22, 2000) was an American restaurant critic, food journalist and book author. A long-time food editor and restaurant critic for ''The New York Times'', he was also the author of numerous cookbooks and ...
of ''The New York Times'' called it "for the most part, excellent"; by 1970, ''New York'' magazine called it "the baneful cumulus atop Time Inc."
According to ''New York Times'' food critic
Florence Fabricant, the Tower Suite may have originated the trend of servers introducing themselves to guests. When business at the Hemisphere Club declined with the construction of taller buildings in the area, the space was renovated so it could function as a dining hall at night.
Dinners at the Tower Suite cost $11.50 per person in 1970,
but they had increased to $70–130 per person by 1990. The Hemisphere Club closed in the 1990s.
History
Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
had been housed at
1 Rockefeller Plaza since 1937, when that building had opened as part of the
construction of Rockefeller Center
The construction of the Rockefeller Center complex in New York City was conceived as an urban renewal project in the late 1920s, spearheaded by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to help revitalize Midtown Manhattan. Rockefeller Center is on one of Colum ...
. As early as 1946, it had sought to develop the site of the
Marguery Hotel at 270 Park Avenue for a 35-story headquarters designed by Harrison & Abramovitz, though the plans did not come to fruition.
By 1953, Time Inc. was set to outgrow its existing space in 1 Rockefeller Plaza within a year, and it wanted to have its headquarters in a single building.
Time Inc. seriously considered relocating to
Westchester County
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
, a northern suburb of New York City, as well as to a suburb of Philadelphia.
By November 1955,
the company decided to stay in New York City because of the large number of transportation options there.
Construction
![Sixth Avenue - panoramio (24)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Sixth_Avenue_-_panoramio_%2824%29.jpg)
Once Rockefeller Center Inc.'s managers learned of Time Inc.'s predicament, they hired Harrison & Abramovitz to create plans for a building on Rockefeller Center Inc's vacant plot that could house both NBC and Time.
The plans involved creating several elevation drawings as well as a 15-minute film.
NBC ultimately dropped out of the project because its CEO, David Sarnoff, dissented.
Rockefeller Center Inc. acquired the Roxy Theater in August 1956. That December, officials announced the construction of the Time-Life Building.
When the plans were announced, Time had leased in the building,
and
American Cyanamid
American Cyanamid Company was a leading American conglomerate which became one of the nation's top 100 manufacturing companies during the 1970s and 1980s, according to the Fortune 500 listings at the time. It started in fertilizer, but added ...
,
Shell Oil Company
Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 ...
,
McCann-Erickson
McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McCann, expe ...
, and
Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...
had already made lease agreements for other floors.
The developers had already ordered 27,000 tons of structural steel to be delivered in early 1958.
Time Inc. and Rockefeller Center formed a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
, Rock-Time Inc., to share the tower's rent income;
Rockefeller Center had the majority stake of 55 percent and Time Inc. had the remaining 45 percent.
Harrison & Abramovitz filed plans for the building in March 1957.
A
groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...
ceremony occurred on May 16, 1957, marking the start of excavation. By the following month, the building was 70 percent leased, and
Curtiss-Wright
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and v ...
and
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
had become tenants. The Rockefeller Center Sidewalk Superintendents' Club, composed of members of the public who wanted to observe Rockefeller Center's construction, was revived after having been dormant for seventeen years. The actress
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
presided over the club's inaugural ceremonies that July. The excavations involved blasting rock to the layer of Manhattan schist deep.
By November 1957, the excavations were largely complete; the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
had leased offices and two tenants had expanded their lease commitments. Rockefeller Center Inc. chairman
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
and Time Inc. president
Roy E. Larsen
Roy Edward Larsen (April 20, 1899 – September 9, 1979) was an American publishing executive who worked for Time Inc. for 56 years. Following founders Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, Larsen was credited with being responsible for the company's growt ...
announced details of the design the same month. Construction on the Time-Life Building's superstructure started in April 1958. That August, the
Equitable Life Assurance Society loaned the project's developers $50 million. At the time, it was the largest-ever financing on a single real-estate parcel. The structure topped out in November of that year. The next April, Time Inc. sublet six of the 21 floors under its control.
The building was 92 percent leased by then, including the space that was being sublet.
The Time-Life Building's cornerstone was laid in June 1959, at the southeast corner of the building, after the superstructure had been completed.
Late 20th century
The first tenant, the American Cyanamid Company, began moving into the tower in October 1959. Over the next couple of months, tenants began moving into the building and the final interior design elements were installed. By that December, the construction fence around 1271 Avenue of the Americas had been dismantled and several companies had occupied their space. Additional leases were announced in January 1960, including one storefront. A passageway from the basement to the subway station opened the next month.
''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' magazine moved into the building that April, writing that its new headquarters was "a victory in the fight to improve down-at-the-heels Sixth Avenue".
Ultimately, Time Inc. was able to sublet part of its space to more than forty firms. By late 1961, the building was almost completely occupied.
La Fonda del Sol had moved out of the Time & Life Building to a smaller location by early 1971. The restaurant space was replaced by a Seaman's Trust bank branch. The bank was so popular that, in three weeks, it performed six months' worth of transactions.
Although ''Life'' magazine shuttered in 1972, the building retained its name and the former ''Life'' space was quickly taken by the company's other publications, such as ''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' and ''
Money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
''. A U.S. Steakhouse restaurant designed by
Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects
Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman & Associates Architects LLC (formerly Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects) is a New York City-based architectural firm founded in 1967 by architects Charles Gwathmey and Robert Siegel.
The firm's work ranges from art ...
opened in the building in 1975 and was slightly renovated a few years later. By 1981, Time Inc. occupied about of space and some of its divisions, such as
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
, had to be housed in other buildings. The eighth-floor auditorium was renovated in 1983.
An electric cooling system was also added in the early 1980s to supplement the original steam-powered cooling system.
Time Inc. sold its 45 percent ownership stake in December 1986 to the Rockefeller Group, which by then was the majority owner, for $118 million. Time Inc. planned to use some of the proceeds from the sale for other purchases such as stock buybacks.
In the same transaction, Time Inc. extended its lease from 1997 to 2007, with an option to extend its lease by another ten years, to 2017.
Time Inc. executed its option to extend its lease in 1999.
At the time, the company occupied 80 percent of the Time & Life Building and it had rented space at the adjacent 135 West 50th Street. The two buildings were to be connected internally on the second floor as part of a $190 million renovation.
A natural-gas cooling system was added in 2000; at the time, it was New York City's only building with three cooling sources.
21st century
![51st St 6th Av td 03 - 1271 Avenue of the Americas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/51st_St_6th_Av_td_03_-_1271_Avenue_of_the_Americas.jpg)
By August 2001, Time Inc. was part of
AOL Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
and occupied 98 percent of the building's space. That month, AOL Time Warner subsidiary
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
and the Rockefeller Group agreed to convert a former
Chase Manhattan Bank
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fina ...
branch at the base into a two-story CNN television studio. In July 2002, the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
designated the lobby interior as a city landmark.
Municipal Art Society
The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city.
The organization was ...
executive director Frank E. Sanchis III prompted Rockefeller Center's owner at the time, the Rockefeller Group, to support the preservation of the lobby. At the time, the lobby was being renovated by
Swanke Hayden Connell Architects
Swanke Hayden Connell Architects was an international architecture, interiors and historic preservation firm with U.S. headquarters in New York City.
History
The firm was founded in New York in 1906 by Alexander Stewart Walker (1876-1952) and Leo ...
for $40 million. The renovation involved combining two storefronts into a waiting lounge, as well as creating a secure area around the elevators.
The CNN studio opened in September 2002, with scenic design by
Production Design Group. The Ted's Montana Grill restaurant opened in 2006 on the ground level.
In May 2014, Time Inc. announced it was planning to leave the Time & Life Building for the
Brookfield Place complex in
lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
. The following year, Time Inc. moved out of its offices, and the Rockefeller Group announced a $325 million renovation for the entire building, designed by
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is an American architecture, architectural firm based in New York City, founded in 1955 by I. M. Pei and other associates. .
As part of the renovation, the architects created a new entrance on Sixth Avenue, repaved the plaza, and replaced the facade. The Rockefeller Group also restored the lobby and renamed the building to its address.
Time Inc. removed a time capsule that had been embedded in the building since its cornerstone was laid. In addition, Glarner's and Albers's paintings were restored, and the floors, ceilings, and signs were modified to match the original design.
The building was completely vacant by the beginning of 2018.
The renovation was nearly completed by 2019 and was fully leased at that time. However, with the
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City
The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City was confirmed on March 1, 2020, though later research showed that the novel coronavirus had been circulating in New York City since January, with cases of community transmission confirme ...
the following year, the building stood largely empty for months. Following the completion of the renovation, the building received a
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a
green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
(LEED) Gold certification in 2020.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the building was again fully leased by May 2021. The Greek restaurant Avra Estiatorio leased a two-story space at the base, which opened in June 2022.
Tenants
*
American International Group
American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...
*
Bessemer Trust
Bessemer Trust is a private, independent multi-family office that oversees more than $140 billion for over 2,500 families, foundations and endowments. Founded in 1907, the firm has its headquarters in New York City, with 19 regional offices elsew ...
*
Blank Rome
*
Greenhill & Co.
*
H.I.G. Capital
*
Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins LLP is an American multinational law firm. Founded in 1934 in Los Angeles, California, Latham is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue. As of 2021, Latham is also one of the most profitable law firms in the world ...
*
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
including a two-level MLB Store at the building's base
*
Mizuho Financial Group
, abbreviated as MHFG, or simply called Mizuho, is a banking holding company headquartered in the Ōtemachi district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The name "" literally means "abundant rice" in Japanese and "harvest" in the figurative sense. Upon ...
Impact
Upon the building's completion, ''Architectural Forum'' wrote: "The building's character reflects a joining of partners, a marriage of uses, a meld of design, and a union between New York's two generic office-building types.
..In skyscraper society, the Time & Life Building is upper-middle-class."
''New York Times'' critic
Ada Louise Huxtable
Ada Louise Huxtable (née Landman; March 14, 1921 – January 7, 2013) was an architecture critic and writer on architecture. Huxtable established architecture and urban design journalism in North America and raised the public's awareness of the ...
, writing in 1960, said that 1271 Avenue of the Americas,
28 Liberty Street, and
270 Park Avenue all had a "still too-rare esthetic excellence".
Huxtable also characterized 1271 Avenue of the Americas' spaces as "flexible architectural anarchy".
In a 2022 appraisal of public art in New York City buildings, Anthony Paletta of ''
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' described the building's lobby as having "Burle-Marx-like" flooring, while Albers's ''Portals'' and Glarner's ''Relational Painting No. 88'' were "two great pieces" of art.
1271 Avenue of the Americas' completion spurred the construction of other buildings along Sixth Avenue.
1271 Avenue of the Americas has also been shown in works of popular culture. The building was prominent in the television series ''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...
'' as the fictional headquarters of the advertising agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (later Sterling Cooper & Partners).
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
, the network on which ''Mad Men'' airs, unveiled a bench in front of the building in 2015; it contains a sculpture of lead character
Don Draper
Donald Francis Draper, born Richard “Dick” Whitman, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the AMC television series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), portrayed by Jon Hamm. Up to the Season 3 finale, Draper was creative director of ficti ...
's black silhouette, as shown in the show's opening credits. In addition, the 2013 film
''The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'' was partially set within the building.
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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External links
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{{Midtown North, Manhattan
1959 establishments in New York City
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design basic silver certified buildings
Magazine headquarters
Mass media company headquarters in the United States
Modernist architecture in New York City
New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan
New York City interior landmarks
Office buildings completed in 1959
Rockefeller Center
Sixth Avenue
Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan