History New York 20th century

[erickchristian]

1939-1940 Special.

ROCKEFELLER CENTER HISTORY (1931-1940)

Part. 7:

THE CENTER WAS COMPLETED

Hi!!! We're back again with another trip around the history of New York skyscrapers through 20th Century. Now started the 1940's, but before, we're review a last part of the first chapter of the history of Rockefeller Center, where view the last rivet ceremony and the conclusion of Eastern Airlines and the US Rubber Building, the last buildings that completed the original Rockefeller Center complex.

The Eastern Airlines Building.

One of the last two buildings that complete the original Rockefeller Center is the 16-story Eastern Airlines Building, that completed in late 1939.

Robert A.M. Stern (1987) say about it:

"It was a narrow sixteen-story slab running east-west along the center of the block. The penultimate structure of the Rockefeller Center group, it showed more clearly than any of the others the influence of International Style Modernism, particularly in the curved-glass, double-height shop fonts stretched tauly along Forty-ninth Street and in the handling of such interior details as the sweeping semicircular stair that connected the lobby with the subway concourse. The superstructure was the most monotonous of the center's buiildings. Above the shops only one setback broke its compressed slab until the penthouse. The uniformity of the limestone skin, the simplicity of the massing, and the even fenestration pattern gave the building a blandness wholly absent from earlier Rockefeller Center designs. It was a building caught between eras: its from predicted the geometrical purism of postwar development, while its elevations deferred o the vertical patren originally envolved by Hood almost a decade before. The Eastern Air Lines Building's was not stylistic, however: it efficiently combined offices and shops with an 800-car public garage, the center's only such facility, occupying two basements and four upper levels, all largery buffered from the street by thin layers of shops and offices. The garage was far and away the most stylishly desined in the city's recent memory. It was entered from a board driveway that connected Forty-ninth and Fiftieth streets; a broad sweep of glass along the Forty-ninth Street side concluded with a curved end, introducing a purist note of International Style Modernism to the center's fundamentally traditional composition" (Stern, Robert A. M., Gilmartin, Gregory, Mellins, Thomas. New York 1930. Architecture and Urbanism Between the Two World Wars. New York. Rizzoli. 1987. Pages 666, 671).


The Eastern Airlines Building in the 1940s. Night view showing Time & Life Building (One Rockefeller Plaza).




The Center were completed!!. U. S. Rubber Building and last rivet ceremony

In November 1st 1939 the last rivet were driven for complete the steel structure of US. Rubber Company Building, that were complete in early 1940, that completed the original plan for Rockefeller Center.

Robert A. Stern (1987) says about the U. S. Rubber Building:

"The last element of Rockefeller Center was the U.S. Rubber Company Building. Its construction was a result of the long-awaited demolition of Sixth Avenue El" (Stern. 1987. Page 671).

The U.S. Rubber Company Building. July 1940.



The Rockefeller Center were completed. 1940.




The fourteen buildings were completed. View from 444 Madison Avenue Building. 1940s.




Comming soon the Second Chapter of the History of Rockefeller Center. Next, a general view of Manhattal skyscrapers in 1940.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[erickchristian]

1940

Hi!! Now we're back told about the history of the Skyscraper's Capital of the World, New York City. Now we're begun this trip on the 1940's with a general review of the city that look in this year.

The activities in Flushing Meadows Park continued with the 1939-1940 World Fair and its principal atractives: the Trylon and Perisphere, the General Motors Futurama and other atractions. The fair finally close in October 1940, and the uneasy years of the World War II were become.

In 1940 were the War times. The Rockefeller Center were completed, and with its conclusion, skyscraper's construction activity in all America were totally paralysed, because the Allies need steel, iron, glass and synthetic materials for made airplanes, bombers, thanks, shotguns and other guns for combat against the nazis and fascist in Europe and Asia.

This situation were continued until the end of the great war, in 1945.

Now a general review of 1940.

Night view of Lower Manhattan skyline with Brooklyn Bridge. January 1940.




Night view of the recently completed Rockefeller Center looking west from 444 Madison Avenue Building. April 1940.




The Woolworth Building looking southwest from Municipal Building. The new Park Row, on the site of recently demolished Post Office Building. April. 1940. Photo: Irving Underhill.




Aerial view of Lower Manhattan looking northwest. May 1940.




Lower Manhattan looking north. May 1940.




Midtown Manhattan and Central Park looking north from RCA Building. May 1940.




Rockefeller Center's RKO Building with Radio City Music Hall. The Sixth Avenue without 'El' was renamed "Avenue of the Americas". June 1940.




The St. Patrick's Cathedral from Rockefeller Center. June 1940.




The Empire State Building. June 1940.





The Rockefeller Center's U.S. Rubber Building. July 1940.




Aerial view of Financial District skyscrapers from East River looking northwest. July 1940.




Another view of Central Park from RCA Building. July 1940.




Midtown Skyscrapers from Lower East Side. July 1940. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




The RCA and Associated Press Buildings in Rockefeller Center. July 1940. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




Wall Street skyscrapers from Cities Service (60 Wall) Tower. July 1940. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




The Atlas Statue at Rockefeller Center's International Building. July 1940.




22 East 40th Street Building (Completed 1931). November 1940.




Waldorf Astoria and General Electric Building from a old apartment building. December 1940.




The Rockefeller Center Lower Plaza. Christmas 1940.




Next, a general review of 1941.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[erickchristian]

1941

Hi!!! We're back on this trip around New York's skyscraper history, now thought in the 1940s. Now were a general review of the City skyline in 1941. The skyscraper construction activity was paralysed now cause the war needs. America help its allies in Europe. American forces helped England and France to resist the Nazi invasion and helped to London were damaged by Nazi bombers in 1940.

In December 1941, after the Japanese atacks on Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, America join in the war against Japaneses, Italian and Nazi Germany. New York since the start of the war until 1945 were on alert. Steel, aluminiun, synthetic material and glass were supplied the American forces for win the war.

Now a general panorama of the city in this uneasy year.

The Cities Service Building (60 Wall Tower) looking from Downtown Skyport. March 1941.




Arrive to New York from a ship. May 1941.




Park Avenue looking southwest from a East 88th Street Building. May 1941. Photo: Samuel Gottscho.




The Rockefeller Center looking west from 444 Madison Avenue Building. June 1941.




Midtown Manhattan looking west from the distance in Queens. June 1941.




Herald Square Building and Macy's. Herald Square. July 1941. Photo: Irving Underhill.





Woolworth and Transportation buildings. July 1941.





Next week. A general panorama of 1942, 1943 and 1944.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[erickchristian]

Hi!!! We're back on this trip throught the history of New York Skyscrapers. Now continued our trip on the 1940s. and now, review a general panorama of the city's skyline in 1942 and 1943.


1942
In 1942 America was on war. In this year the American forces were won its first victory in the Pacific Ocean in the Midway Battle. New York were on alert and help to marines and sailors with food, money, supplies and entertaiment. The construction activity were paralysed for support the victory cause. But the city don't forget that: America was on war and the city were in constant alert.

Yet, a panoramic review of the city of 1942.

Night view of Midtown Manhattan and Times Square area looking south from the Park Central Hotel. January 1942.




Aerial View of Woolworth Building. may 1942.





Skyscrapers on Broad Street. May 1942.





The new Metropolitan Life North Building with the old Metropolitan Life Tower. This building opriginally were planned in 1928 and the architect, Harvey Wiley Corbett proposed a 100-story tower that dominate the Midtown Skyline, but the financial crash in 1929 affected the cost of the proyect and Met-Life autorized only build the 32-story base. The 32-story building were buit in parts. The first, facing Park Avenue and 24th-25th Streets were built in 1932-33. The part, facing Madison Square Park, that show in this picture, were build in 1940.




The 42nd Street looking west from Chanin Building. July 1942. Form Left to Right show the Lincoln and 500 Fifth Avenue Buildings. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




The RCA Building. July 1942.




Wall Street area skyscrapers from Cities Service Building (60 Wall Tower) showing Battery Park. August 1942. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




MIdtown Manhattan looking east from New Jersey harbor. November 1942.




Night view of glittering Financial District skyline. November 1942.




1943

America continued in war and obtained many victories in the Pacific line. Europe were resist and begun to win its first battles against Nazi Germany. The Japanese forces were damage and the American forces advances in the Pacific and the Atlantic, support the Allies. New York continued to alert under the danger of the war. In this year were very famous the ocasional intentional blackouts on simulate a war emergency. Many marines and sailors, were visited the city on they way to Europe or Asia, and entertained with Broadway Theather and Movie shows.

Skyscraper construction activity were continued on paralysed to support the Allies cause, but in the cooperative home marked, the construction activity were continued to build many housing developments for the sailors to come when the war end and providing home to poor people.

Now a general panorama of the city of 1943.

Night view of Midtown Manhattan looking northeast from Empire State Building. May 1943.




Bryant Park skyscrapers: Salmon building and 500 Fifth Avenue Tower. May 1943. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




The Time & Life Building on One Rockefeller Plaza. May 1943.




22 East 40th Street Building from Park Avenue. June 1943.




New Herald Square looking north. June 1943.




The International Building at Rockefeller Center. June 1943.




Radio City Music Hall. June 1943.




Aerial view of Midtown Manhattan looking south with smog. July 1943.




Lower Manhattan skyscrapers from Brooklyn Bridge. July 1943.





Financial District skyscrapers. July 1943.




Midtown Manhattan looking east from Hudson River. July 1943.





New York City's Midtown Manhattan far, far, 10 miles in the distance from New Jersey. July 1943. Photo. Andreas Feininger.




The Empire State Building from Hudson River. July 1943.




The Woolworth Building. July 1943.





Lower Manhattan's 120 Wall Street Building from Brooklyn Bridge. September 1943. Photo: Andreas Feininger.





City Services and Bank of the Manhattan Building from Fulton Fish Market. November 1943. Photo. Andreas Feininger.




Night view of Rockefeller Center looking southeast from Park Central Hotel. November 1943.





Night view of Lower Manhattan looking north from Governors Island. November 1943. Part 1. Photo: Andreas Feininger.



And Part 2




The Associated Press Building. December 1943.




Next week, a general panorama of 1944.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[erickchristian]

Hi!! We're back in this trip arond the history of New York skyscrapers through 20th. Century.

Now continued our travel on the city of 1940s and show the city in 1944 and 1945.


1944

America were advance to the victory. American forces were arrived to Normandian beachs, and begun the libertion of France, while New York continued under alert, but in this year, the city showed more glamorous. Skyscraper activity were paralysed, but new proyects begun to be considered by the postwar world. One of this were a proposal renewal of Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue), west of Rockefeller Center, many urban housing projects and rendering plans start for the Shreve, Lamb & Harmon's Best & Co. Department Store Building, and Rockefeller Center's Esso Building.

Now, a general panorama of the city of 1944.

19th Century architecture and 20th Century architecture: Lower Manhattan skyscrapers from Brooklyn Bridge. February 1944. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




The Flatiron Building. April 1944. Photo: Andreas Feininger




The Herald Square. May 1944




The Empire State Building from Fifth Avenue and 42nd. Street. May 1944.




The ITT Building in Broad Street. Financial District. May 1944. Photo: Andreas Feininger.





Lower Manhattan looking south from Empire State Building. May 1944.




Rockefeller Center: Channel Gardens and RKO Building in the background. May 1944.




Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral looking west from Madison Avenue and 51st. Street. June 1944.




Skyscraper and street life on Broad Street. June 1944. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




Glamorous view of Midtown Manhattan looking northeast from Empire State Building at night. June 1944. Photo: The Daily News.




Times Square district looking southwest from RCA Building. June 1944.




Park Avenue South and 37th Street looking notheast showing Grand Central Terminal, the New York Central Building and Waldorf-Astoria hotel. June 1944. Look Magazine.




Ray lighting strikes the Empire State Building. View from RCA Building. June 1944.




57th Street skyscrapers area from First Avenue. July 1944.




A impact vertical view of Midtown Manhattan over 10,000 feet high. July 1944.




Night view of Rockefeller Center from 44 Madison Avenue Building. July 1944.




Flatiron Building. July 1944.




Sunset in Midtown Manhattan. July 1944.




Looking up in Rockefeller Center. July 1944.




Night view of Midtown Manhattan looking east from Hudson River. November 1944. Manhattan look GLAMOROUS.




Aerial view of Midtown Manhattan looking south with smog. November 1944.





1945

Now the City celebrated the Allies victory. Europe was free. The Nazi's Germany were failled and Germany was took by the Allies (United States, England and France) in the West, and Soviet Republic, in the West. Hitler was suicide and Mussolini dead in the rope, in Itally and his corpses expose to the public. In February 1945, Japan was begun to failled. In this month, American's aerial bombers attacked Tokio Harbor and the city were destroyed. But the final attack were on Hiroshime, were in August 6th, was totally destroyed by a atomic bomb attack by the Americans. Three days after, another atomic bomb hit in Nagasaki. More of 200,000 japanese were died and many more were of cancer and other consecuences of radioactivity. In september 1945 the Japaneses surrender to make way to the peace. As result of a April 1945 United Nations reunion in San Francisco, 51 countries joined to the United Nations Organization, were formely created in October 24th, 1945.

But in New York, since may 1945, celebrated the victory. Many people reunited in Times Square for celebrated the Victory. A replica of Statue of Liberty, in south of Times Tower, symbolized the hope of the new peace and progress to become. Joy, music, general euphoria of millions of human beans they reunited below the neon billboards and skyscrapers.

The office construction were reactivated. Now in this new prosperity age, New York begun a new skyscraper era, that continued until early 1970's. Since 1945 the International Style Modernism were influences the new type of buildngs. No extra ornaments. The late 1940s and early 1950s were dominated the wedding cake 15 to 25-story wite skyscrapers with continuous horizontal line of windows. No divisions, no more Art. Deco.

The financial prosperity of the postwar years, since 1945, many men who was fought in the war, return to the civil life and turned first, return to collega and after contribute to a business expansion, turned in white-collar office workers that work in banks, advertising ,office, industry and new mass media: the Television. Now New York need to increasse the demand of more office space. Its mean more skyscrapers In 1945, the Empire State Building's office space was almost occupied. Manhattan need more office space and its first new building were begun to build in 1945-1946: The Best & Co. Department Store Building, in Fifth Avenue, near St. Patricks Cathedral and the Esso Building, in Rockefeller Center, that were complete until summer 1947.

In July 28th, 1945, a U.S. Army bomber airplane hit in the 79-floor of the Empire State Building, killing 14 people, included the plane's pilot. The cause of accident, the fog of the morning. The next post were told more about the Empire State Building's plane accident.

Now a general panorama of Manhattan in 1945.

Manhattan rises again. The construction of Best & Co Department Store, near St, Patricks Cathedral (demolished in 1972 to make way to Olympic Tower), was begun. March 1945.




The Lower Manhattan skyline from the East River, from Circle Line boat tour. June 1945.




Contrast: St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center. June 1945.




The Rockefeller Center's International Building. June 1945.




Lower Manhattan from Staten Island Ferry. July 1945.




Busy day in the 42nd Street. July 1945.




Fifth Avenue's Grand Army Plaza skyscrapers from Central Park. July 1945.




Lower Manhattan looking southwest from Manhattan Bridge. July 1945. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




Glittering Times Square, at night. July 1945.




The Empire State Building from Salmon Tower (500 Fifth Avenue Tower) few days before the famous plane accident. July 1945.




The Empire State Building sowing the damages caused by the July 28 plane crash. July 29, 1945.




Times Square looking north. September 1945.




Next, a 1945 special. The Empire State Bomber crash.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[erickchristian]

1945 Special:



THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING AIR CRASH





July 28 1945.

Hi!!. Now were told about the tragically famous Empire State Building's airplane crash.

In the early morning of Saturday, July 28th, 1945, Lt. Colonel. William F. Smith's B-25 Mitchell Bomber with two passangers, fly above New York City to course to New Jersey, in a fog day. The pilots won't see anything because the density of the fog.

Few minutes after, the bomber crash in the 79th-floor of the Empire State Building causing a great explosion. The pilot, and 13 people more died.

This newspaper picture show the Empire State airplane crash. July 28th 1945.




Fortunately no more people were died because the accident was on Saturday morning and the building was resist the impact with a little structural damage that was repaired. The office was damaged were occupied by the National Catholic Association.

The historian Donald Martin Reynolds (1984) says about the accident:

"Fortunatelly, because it was a Saturday, there were few people in the building, and although there were injures, no one in the building was killed" (Reynolds, Donald Martin. The Architecture of New York City. Histories and views of important structures, sites and symbols. New York. Macmillan. 1984. Page. 245).

The architectural historian and critic, Paul Goldberger (1981) says:

"That the tower sustained little structural damage -despite the fact that the plane flew right into a outside wall- the building's owners took as a sign of the Empire State's durability" (Goldberger, Paul. The Skyscraper. New York. Alfred A. Knopf. 1981. Page. 86).


The Empire State Building sowing the damages caused by the July 28 plane crash. July 29, 1945.





The Empire State were repaired in a few weeks and this accident increase the Building's popularity. The air accident I influence the future in light design of the Empire State, to prevent and to avoid another accident. In 1946 a new light lamps. In 1946, a new game of powerful lamps was placed in the base of the building's mooring mast, to prevent and to notice the passage of the airplanes.

Construction workers wort to rapair the damage on the Empire State Building's 79th-floor. August. 1945.



Next week a general panorama of 1946.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[erickchristian]

1946

Hi!!! We're back again on this trip around the history of New York Skyscrapers. Now, we continue our trip in the 1940's and show a general view of the city skyline of 1946.

In 1946, the United States began to enjoy the fruits of their victory in World War II. When becoming the great hegemonic power that is today, assumed a crucial role in the maintenance of world peace, with the creation of the United Nations. New York was designated as the new organization's home, and immediately the works began to chose the land to build the new UN Buildings while it were instaled in the old 1939 World Fair's New York City Pavillion. This a theme of a comming special.

Economically, the United States would initiate a prosperity age where it increased the number of office workers (white-collar workers), which increassed the need to build new buildings and on that year, New York initiated a new skyscrapers golden age. Combined to this, with the purpose of it war begins the exodus of inhabitants of downtown towards the suburbs. A phenomenon that also experienced other great cities.

The new generation of skyscraper in Manhattan began to influence for the International Style Modernism, since 1945-1946, with the construction of the Rockefeller Center's Esso Building and Best & Co Store Building, but these first skyscrapers of the postwar period were showed as modernized versions of the classic wedding-cake stone skyscrapers, forms imposed by the requirements of the 1916 Zoning Law.

Now a general review of 1946.

RCA Building. April 1946.




The Rockefeller Center looking southeast from Avenue of the Americas and West 54th Street. May 1946. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




Skyscraper construction were reactivated. Night view of Rockefeller Center showing Esso Building under construction, rises up. May 1946.




Times Square and Garment District from RCA Building. June 1946




Midtown Manhattan looking south from RCA Building. July 1946.




Traffic on Fifth Avenue. July 1946.




Aerial view of Manhattan Island looking north. August 1946. Photo: Skyview Aerial Surveys.




Aerial view of Lower Manhattan looking northeast. October 1946. Photo: Skyview Aerial Surveys.




Lower Manhattan looking from Metropolitan Life Building. November 1946. Photo: Andreas Feininger




The Rockefeller Center Lower Plaza. December 1946.




Next week a 1946-1947 special of Rockefeller Center's Esso Building.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[antinimby]

Herald Square back then beats today's Herald Square in every way. The buildings, the shops, the look, the layout, every way.

Today's Herald Square looks like a mess.

[erickchristian]

1947 Special.

THE ROCKEFELLER CENTER

Chappel 2 (1947-1974). Part 1.

THE ESSO BUILDING.

Hello!! We are back in this trip through the history of New York Skyscrapers. We were in 1947 and one of first postwar skyscraper were completed: the Esso Building, that was the first extension of the Rockefeller Center, after its official conclusion in 1940.

In the period of inactivity in the industry of the construction, during World War II, some little ornamental additions in the Rockefeller Center were realised. The Skating Pond in the Lower Plaza became a full success, especially in Christmas days. In February1942 the place was adorned with the flags of 26 allied countries, that joined in the Declaration for the United Nations, antecedent of the Summit of San Francisco that would derive in 1945 in the foundation of the United Nations Organization (UN).

The Plaza with the United Nations Flags. 1944



As Robert M. Stern says, in his book New York 1960 (1997):

“The final couch to the Plaza came on February 24, 1942, with the installation of the flags of twenty-six nations who joined in the Declaration by the United Nations, a resolution pledging to continue the war effort and not a sign a separate peace. This gave the great limestone- and glass-bordered outdoor room some desperately needed color and, when the wind was blowing, the snap of a full-dress military parade”. (Stern, Robert N; Mellin, Thomas and Fishman, David. New York 1960. Architecture and urbanism between the Second World War and the Bicentennial. New York. The Monacelli Press. Second Edition. 1997. Page. 327).

Although in 1940 the team of architects and urbanists, commanded by Wallace K. Harrison, planned the extension of Rockefeller Plaza until 53th Street, to communicate the Rockefeller Center with recently inaugurated Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) (Balfour, Alan. Rockefeller Center. Architecture as Theater. New York, McGraw-Hill. 1978. Page.229). The project was reconsidered at the end of the War, but in 1945 it was cancelled definitively because the parcel, in the middle of Rockefeller Plaza between 51st. and 52nd. was acquired by Rockefeller to build the new Standard Oil Company headquarters.

Esso Building under construction. May 1946. Night view.




The Esso Building was the first great skyscraper that was constructed after the War and was finished in 1947 and was also the first skyscraper of the complex totally equipped with air conditioned. Located in the the Rockefeller Center's north limit, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and 5West 1st and 52nd Streets.

Although the limestone stone facade was designed with the same design that the rest of the buildings of the Center's original plan, emphasizes by its single-wire lines and the absence of ornaments and the building in himself, is a 32-story rectangular prism that is raised freely seeing towards Rockefeller Plaza, with its wings extended behind the building, that is the base of the 52nd Street, that to the being seen from its axis in Rockefeller Plaza, accentuate the vertical of the tower and it see like a rocket ready to take off. As much the facade as the interior, as modern, with simple and functional elements, shows to the strong influence of the International Style Modernism.

The Esso Building in june 1947.



Stern (1997) continue:

Designed by Carson & Lundin, the center's staff architects, who had worked with the Associated Architects and with Wallace K. Harrison ace consulting architect, the Esso vertical Building picked up on the center's aesthetic of uninterrupted limestone piers to accentuate the bold, slablike thirty-two-story to tower that rose from to low bases to close the axis of Rockefeller Place. Along Fifty-second Street, to tower was intersected by two ten story wing forming to T shape. The Esso Building was the first building in Rockefeller Center and the tallest building in the City to sees completely air conditioned. The axis of Rockefeller Place was carried through the building by means of to high-ceilinged, austerely detailed, marble-sheathed lobby concourse entered from the street AT to either end trought revolving doors Seth within large, virtually unbroken walls of glass. Main The decoration of the lobby was the ingenious wavelike pattern of the ceiling. To one side of the lobby, to Touring Center, top-LIT by to gridded luminous ceiling concealing cold cathode-ray tubes probidet illumination information and maps to motorists. (Stern. 1997. Pages 325-326).

The Rockefeller Center with the new Esso Building. June 1947.



Next, a general review of 1947.
You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[erickchristian]

1947

Hi!! We're again on this trip around the history of New York skyscrapers. Now continued our travel throught 1940s and now arrived in 1947. As we're told, this year marked the begining of the postwar building boom with the conclusion of its two first modern skyscrapers: The Esso Building in he Rockefeller Center, and the Best & Co. Store in the Fifth Avenue in 51st. Street. The office workers were increassed and were more explicit the need of more and more office space to cover the demand. In 1947 more skyscrapers were under construction, included the 24-story Universal Studios Building, the first skyscraper that begun the metamorphosis of Park Avenue. In this year the first Manhattan postwar housing proyect, the Stuvesant Town Housing, were completed.

Now, a general review of 1947.

T
he RCA Building looking west from Madison Avenue. January 1947.




The Third Avenue EL during a snow storn. January. 1947.





Aerial view of Midtown Manhattan looking west from East River. February 1947. In the foregroung Demolition works were on the future United Nations site. Photo: Skyview Aerial Surveys.





Architect Ellis Jacques Kahn showing to investiment men a rendering of new 100 Park Avenue Building. Spring. 1947.




Midtown Manhattan looking south from RCA Building. April 1947.




Aerial view of Midtown Manhattan looking northwest. May 1947. Photo: Skyview Aerial Surveys.




Aerial view of Midtown Manhattan looking southwest. May 1947. Photo. Skyview Aerial Surveys.




Apartment skyscrapers over Central Park South from Central Park. May 1947. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




Central Park West skyscrapers from Central Park's Lake. May 1947. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




The New York Cornell Hospital, built in 1930-31. June 1947.




The new 12-story Best & Co. Department Store in Fifth Avenue and East 51st Street (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon). 1947. (1950s photo). The building were here until 1972.




Rockefelle Plaza. June 1947.




Group of skyscrapers on 42nd Street from Tudor City. From Left to Right: Daily News Building with this new TV tower, 22 East 40th Street Building, 10 East 40th Street Building, Chanin Building,Lincoln Building and the fully dirty Chrysler Building. July 1947.




Midtown Manhattan looking southwest from East River showing Queensboro Bridge. July 1947.




Aerial view of Rockefeller Center looking southwest. July 1947. Photo: Thomas Airviews.



Night view of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge. July 1947.




The new 32-story Esso Building in the Rockefeller Center. July 1947.




The Rockefeller Center and its new Esso Building from Plaza Hotel (?). July 1947.




Afternoon in New York City. Sun rays "glorificate" the Empire State Building. View from RCA Building. August 1947.




Next week, a special of Universal Studios Building and a general view of 1948.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[breravin]

This is amazing! Thank you for doing this.

[MidtownGuy]

Yes, this is very fun to look at. Good stuff, thank you very much!

[erickchristian]

1947 Special. The Universal Pictures Building at 445 Park Avenue. The Minimalist wedding-cake skyscraper.

Hello! We're back on this trip through the evolution of the New York skyscrapers through 20th. Century. We continue with our trip in the 1940's with this special one where we will speak about Universal Pictures Building at 445. Park Avenue.

The Universal Pictures Building was completed at the end of 1947. It was the first wedding-pie, totally designed in the canons of the International Style, with a horizontal limestone and glass windows facade.

According with the architect Robert A.M. Stern (1997):

“(…) the prewar setback of ‘wedding cake’ type was given a new lease of life, dressed in the new minimalism aesthetics of the International Style. Though the glazed exterior cladding of the structures built in this first phase of typological evolution of the office building might have looked totally different from the brick-and-limestone apartment houses they replaced, they maintained the fundamental structure of the (Park) avenue, holding to the street wall that defined it. Despite the extensive use of glass, these buildings appeared remarkably solid, especially in the daytime when the greater amount of light on the street rendered the glass opaque rather than transparent” (Stern, Robert N; Mellin, Thomas and Fishman, David. New York 1960. Architecture and urbanism between the Second World War and the Bicentennial. New York. The Monacelli Press. Second Edition. 1997. Page. 333).

This skyscraper is very special, especially, for the of Park Avenue's zone, to the north of the New York Central Building. Located in Park Avenue between East 56th to 57th Streets, the Universal Building Pictures was the first great office skyscraper that was built in this zone and marked the beginning of the metamorphosis of the old residential zone in a bullicious office district.

The Universal Pictures Building. 445 Park Avenue (Kahn & Jacobs. 1947).




The plans for the construction of this building began immediately at the end of World War II, at the beginning of 1946.

According with Robert A.M. Stern (1997).

“In January 1946 plans were announced for 445 Park Avenue, the avenue’s first postwar office building and the exemplar of the minimalist setback type. Completed a year later, the building occupied the east side of the avenue from Fifty-sixth to Fifty-seventh Street. To make way for the new building, the original 100-unit apartment building, designed by Charles Rich in 1907, was demolished. First named the Tishman Building after its developers, 445 Park Avenue was soon renamed the Universal Pictures Corporation. Designed by Ely Jacques Kahn and Robert Alan Jacobs, the twenty-two-story building filled the block of twelve stories before taking on a rhythmic pattern of setbacks that reflected the different zoning controls applicable on each of the tree streets it faced” (Stern. 1997. Page. 333).

Stern continue:

“The design combined a traditional sense of tectonic solidity with the liberating dynamism of stressed horizontals and syncopated setbacks. The façade’s alternating continuous bands of limestone and glass, wich also alternated between fixed and double-hung windows, suggested Mies van der Rohe’s Concrete Office Building project of 1922 and, even more, the streamlined minimalism of Erich Mendelsohn, particularly his Columbus Haus office building in Berlin of 1929-31. While Mies and Mendelsohn achieved the effect of continuous horizontally through structural means, Kahn & Jacobs, by cantilevering the floor slab beyond the columns, employed slender, mullionlike columns at the building’s edge, holding only the corners open. Architectural Forum considered this arrangement impure. ‘While slender outside columns contribute a certain lightness, heavy masonry facing disguises the true structural pattern of the building in a horizontal counterpart of the still persistent vertical style.’ The Forum article went on to say that though the alternation of dark and light stripes ‘creates an impression of continuous fenestration,’ the building was much less open than it appeared to be” (Stern. 1997. Pages 333-334. Date provide from “Office Building, New York, Kahn & Jacobs, Architects”. Architectural Forum No 98. October 1947.)

Next a general review of 1948.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[erickchristian]

1948.

Hi! Continued with this count in the late 1940s.

For 1948, the demand of office building for white-collar workers were increased. With the inauguration of the Universal Pictures Building, at the end of the previous year, New York build a increasing number of buildings, many of this in the minimalism version of classic wedding-cake skyscraper, with a horizontal and continuous bands of limestone and glass windows in this facade.

Also 1948 were a great year, because the construction of new United Nations Headquarters were begun, in lands yielded by David D. Rockefeller Jr to the United Nations Organization, between First Avenue and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive and 42nd. and 48. Street. The history of the construction of United Nations Building will be show in a another special.
Too, in the same year construction works begun for the Kahn & Jacobs' modern 40-story 100 Park Avenue Building.

Now, a general review of 1948.

The Empire State Building looking from Flatiron Building. 1948.




Aerial view of Manhattan Island looking northeast. February 1948. Photo. Fairchild Aerial Surveys. (Compare with 1946 picture of Manhattan Island).




Lower Manhattan skyline looking northwest from Brooklyn. June 1948. Photo. Andreas Feininger




Midtown Manhattan looking southeast from RCA Building. June 1948.



The modern Tishman Building (now Universal Picures Building). June 1948.




Wall Street canyon. June 1948. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




The St. Patrick's Cathedral and RCA Building's wall from Center Theatre Gardens, in Rockefeller Center. July 1948.



Another modern "wedding-cake" skyscraper that completed in 1948 and located in Fifth Avenue, just north of International Building. The Crowell Collier Building. July 1948.



The Eastern Airlines Building in Rockefeller Center. July 1948.




The RCA Building looking from old Time & Life Building (One Rockefeller Plaza). July 1948. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




The Queen Elizabeth arrive to New York with Financial District Skyline. July 1948.




Midtown tallest skyscrapers above the clouds from RCA Building. August 1948.




The 100 Park Avenue Building under construction from Architects Building. September 1948.




Next, a general review of 1949.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.

[erickchristian]

1949

Hi! We're completed the 1940's.

1949 were a special year. The construction of 39-story United Nations Secretariat Building were quickly. More offices buildings were completed in these year: 38-story 100 Park Avenue Building, in late 1949, that will be talk on a future special were the most notable.

Now, a general review of 1949.

Sunset view of Midtown Manhattan looking southwest from Triborough Bridge. January 1949. Photo. Andreas Feininger. Photo 1.




Sunset view of Midtown Manhattan. Photo 2. Andreas Feininger




Park Avenue looking south from 70th Street. April 1949.




Midtown Manhattan looking west from East River with the United Nations Secretariat Building under construction. June 1949.




The Rockefeller Center looking west from 444 Madison Avenue Building. June 1949.




The Empire State Building looking northwest from New York Life Building. June 1949.




Lower Broadway looking north from Washington Building. July 1949. Photo: Andreas Feininger.




Another minimalism "wedding-cake" skyscraper: 22-story 505 Park Avenue Building (Emery Roth & Sons). August 1949.




Night view of Midtown Manhattan looking south from RCA Building. August 1949.




Midtown Manhattan looking northeast from Empire State Building showing new International Style modernism 38-story 100 Park Avenue Building. September 1949. Compare with a 1938 picture of this same location.




Night view of Rockefeller Center looking southeast. November 1949.




The 39-story United Nations Secretary Building under construction looking south. November 1949.




Next week, a two specials: 100 Park Avenue Building for completed the 1940's and a United Nations Secretariat Building for will begin the 1950's.

You opinion are very important. If you have some commentary or you want to show a some picture, show here.