ROCKEFELLER CENTER

Description

Essentials about Rockefeller Center in brief

Rockefeller Center is one of the most famous and impressive building complexes in New York City. One can almost speak of a “city within the city”, because the center consists of a total of 20 buildings, including 19 skyscrapers and extends over three street blocks in the square between Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), West 47th Street and West 52nd Street. For tourists, the main reason to visit Rockefeller Center is the observation deck called “Top of the Rock” in the Comcast Building. From here, you have a breathtaking view of the Manhattan skyline and the rest of New York City. New Yorkers themselves come primarily for the famous ice skating rink in Rockefeller Plaza and the most famous Christmas tree in the US.

The history of Rockefeller Center

Between 1930 and 1939, 15 high-rise buildings were built in the Art Deco style, one of which was demolished in 1954, so that today 14 remain. From 1947, five more buildings were added to the Center. In addition, there is Radio City Music Hall, the oldest of all buildings in Rockefeller Center. It had already been under construction since the late 1920s when the decision was made to build Rockefeller Center and was completed in 1932.

The architecture and buildings of Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center was a completely new step in the history of modern urban architecture. Here a rich businessman (John D. Rockefeller) realized a complex urban concept. What was new was that not only a single skyscraper was built, but a whole group of buildings as an architectural unit in the center of a metropolis.

The tall buildings of Rockefeller Center are not square in shape, but rectangular, like discs stretched out along their length, in order to make maximum use of the sunlight and to allow as many rooms as possible to be exposed to the sun for as long as possible. No point inside was allowed to be more than nine meters from a window. The cladding of the entire Rockefeller Center is white limestone, which has the interesting side effect of containing numerous fossils of animals that inhabited the sea 300 million years ago.

At 259 meters high and 70 stories tall, the Comcast Building is the tallest and most famous building in Rockefeller Center. It houses the headquarters of the NBC and MSNBC television networks. For most people, the main reason to visit Rockefeller Center is the observation deck called “Top of the Rock” on the 70th floor of the Comcast Building. From here, you can enjoy a fabulously beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline, Central Park and the other boroughs of New York City.

Furthermore, on the grounds of Rockefeller Center, each nation should have its own building. Thus, there is a Maison Francaise, the British Empire Building, a Palazzo d’Italia and the International Building. All the buildings of the complex are connected by underground shopping streets, where you can find a variety of stores, cafes and restaurants. If you want, you can see the Rockefeller Center on a guided tour.

Rockefeller Plaza

The Statue of Prometheus in the foreground of the Comcast Building is also very well known. This stands on the Lower Plaza, which was originally intended to become the entrance passage to the stores in the basement. During the Great Depression, however, business was so bad that in 1936 a new advertising strategy was adopted, namely to convert the plaza depending on the season, using it as a concert venue in the summer and turning it into an ice skating rink in the winter. Since then, Rockefeller Plaza has been home to what is probably the most famous ice skating rink in the world.

Rockefeller Center is also world famous for its Christmas festivities. This is because every year a Norwegian spruce is erected here, which is the largest Christmas tree in the United States, with a usual height of 23 to 27 meters and a width of 10 meters. At the top is a Swarovski star nearly three meters tall and studded with 25,000 crystals. The approximately 30,000 lights of the tree are lit every year by the acting New York mayor in the so-called Tree Lighting Ceremony.