1251 Avenue of the Americas | |
---|---|
Former names | Exxon Building |
General information | |
Status | Completed |
Type | Office |
Architectural style | New Formalism |
Location | 1251 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, New York, U.S. |
Coordinates | 40°45′36″N73°58′53″W / 40.76000°N 73.98139°W |
Construction started | 1965 |
Completed | 1968 |
Opening | 1971 |
Owner | Mitsui Fudosan |
Height | |
Roof | 750 feet (230 m) |
Top floor | 715 feet (218 m) |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 54 |
Floor area | 2,101,115 sq ft (195,200 m2) |
Lifts/elevators | 36 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Wallace Harrison |
Structural engineer | Edwards & Hjorth |
Main contractor | George A. Fuller Co. |
References | |
[1] |
1251 Avenue of the Americas (formerly known as the Exxon Building) is a skyscraper on Sixth Avenue (also known as Avenue of the Americas), between 49th and 50th Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is owned by Mitsui Fudosan. The structure is built in the international style [2] and looks like a simple cuboid devoid of any ornamentation. The facade consists of alternating narrow, vertical stripes of glass and limestone. The glass stripes are created by windows and opaque spandrels, forming continuous areas that are washed by machines sliding down the facade. A seven-floor base wraps around the western portion of the building, and there is a sunken plaza with a large two-tier pool and fountains facing Sixth Avenue. In the plaza stands the bronze statue named Out to Lunch [3] by John Seward Johnson II—of the same series as the one standing outside 270 Park Avenue. [4]
The building was part of the later Rockefeller Center expansion (1960s–1970s) dubbed the "XYZ Buildings". [5] Their plans were first drawn in 1963 by the Rockefeller family's architect, Wallace Harrison, of the architectural firm Harrison & Abramovitz. [6] 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). [7] 1251 is the second-tallest building in the whole of Rockefeller Center, after 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Despite being one of the 100 tallest buildings in the United States, 1251 Avenue of the Americas is almost impossible to see from more than just a few blocks away as it is flanked on all sides by buildings over 500 feet tall. The result is that even though 1251 Avenue of the Americas is approximately as tall as the tallest buildings in cities such as Boston or Minneapolis, it has almost no presence on the New York City skyline.
In 1989, Exxon announced that it was moving its headquarters and around 300 employees from New York City to the Las Colinas area of Irving, Texas. Exxon sold the Exxon Building, its former headquarters, to a unit of Mitsui Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. in 1986 for $610 million. John Walsh, president of Exxon subsidiary Friendswood Development Company, stated that Exxon left New York because the costs were too high. Its New York offices moved to Brooklyn; it no longer retains a presence in Rockefeller Center. [8]
In May 2013, the structure received silver certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Existing Buildings Rating System. [9]
Inside, on the western end of 1251's atrium hangs an artist-authorized replica of a tapestry Pablo Picasso created for the ballet Mercure, the original of which hangs in the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, France. It was created specifically for the building, as per the plaque beneath it.
Wallace Kirkman Harrison was an American architect. Harrison started his professional career with the firm of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, participating in the construction of Rockefeller Center. He is best known for executing large public projects in New York City and upstate, many of them a result of his long and fruitful personal relationship with Nelson Rockefeller, for whom he served as an adviser.
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres (89,000 m2) between 48th Street and 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, split by a large sunken square and a private street called Rockefeller Plaza. Later additions include 75 Rockefeller Plaza across 51st Street at the north end of Rockefeller Plaza, and four International Style buildings on the west side of Sixth Avenue.
Bank of America Plaza is a supertall skyscraper between Midtown Atlanta and Downtown Atlanta. At 311.8 m (1,023 ft), as of February 2024 the tower is the 23rd tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Southeastern region of the United States, and the tallest building in any U.S. state capital, overtaking the 250 m (820 ft), 50-story One Atlantic Center in height, which held the record as Georgia's tallest building. It has 55 stories of office space and was completed in 1992, when it was called NationsBank Plaza. Originally intended to be the headquarters for Citizens & Southern National Bank, it became NationsBank's property following its formation in the 1991 hostile takeover of C&S/Sovran by NCNB.
30 Rockefeller Plaza is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, United States. Completed in 1933, the 66-story, 850 ft (260 m) building was designed in the Art Deco style by Raymond Hood, Rockefeller Center's lead architect. 30 Rockefeller Plaza was known for its main tenant, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), from its opening in 1933 until 1988 and then for General Electric until 2015, when it was renamed for its current owner, Comcast. The building also houses the headquarters and New York studios of television network NBC; the headquarters is sometimes called 30 Rock, a nickname that inspired the NBC sitcom of the same name. The tallest structure in Rockefeller Center, the building is the 28th tallest in New York City and the 65th tallest in the United States, and was the third tallest building in the world when it opened.
Sixth Avenue, also known as Avenue of the Americas, is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial for much of its length.
1271 Avenue of the Americas (formerly known as the Time & Life Building) is a 48-story skyscraper on Sixth Avenue, between 50th and 51st Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by architect Wallace Harrison of Harrison, Abramovitz, and Harris, the building was developed between 1956 and 1960 as part of Rockefeller Center.
The building form most closely associated with New York City is the skyscraper, which has shifted many commercial and residential districts from low-rise to high-rise. Surrounded mostly by water, the city has amassed one of the largest and most varied collection of skyscrapers in the world.
1221 Avenue of the Americas is an international-style skyscraper at 1221 Sixth Avenue 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.
270 Park Avenue, also known as the JPMorgan Chase Tower and the Union Carbide Building, was a skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1960 for chemical company Union Carbide, it was designed by the architects Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). The 52-story, 707 ft (215 m) skyscraper later became the global headquarters for JPMorgan Chase. It was demolished in 2021 to make way for a taller skyscraper at the same address. At the time of its destruction, the Union Carbide Building was the tallest voluntarily demolished building in the world.
1301 Avenue of the Americas is a 609 ft (186m) tall skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City. It is located on the west side of Sixth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets.
1345 Avenue of the Americas is a 625-foot (191 m)-tall, 50-story skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Located on Sixth Avenue between 54th and 55th Streets, the building was built by Fisher Brothers and designed by Emery Roth & Sons. When completed in 1969, the building was originally named after Burlington Industries and today it is named after AllianceBernstein.
888 Seventh Avenue is a 628 ft (191m) tall modern-style office skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan which was completed in 1969 and has 46 floors. Emery Roth & Sons designed the building. 888 Seventh Avenue is L-shaped in plan, with wings extending north to 57th Street and east to Seventh Avenue, around the adjacent Rodin Studios. It currently carries the Vornado Realty Trust corporate headquarters. Previously known as the Arlen Building, it had been named for the company responsible for its construction, Arlen Realty & Development Corporation. The Red Eye Grill is located in the building at street level.
1211 Avenue of the Americas, also known as the News Corp. Building, is an International Style skyscraper on Sixth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Formerly called the Celanese Building, it was completed in 1973 as part of the later Rockefeller Center expansion (1960s–1970s) dubbed the "XYZ Buildings". Celanese, its primary tenant, later moved to Dallas, Texas. The building is owned by Ivanhoé Cambridge as of 2023.
75 Rockefeller Plaza is a skyscraper on the north side of 51st Street in New York City, originally built as a northern extension of Rockefeller Center.
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