GE Building
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- This article is about the skyscraper in Rockefeller Center. For the shorter building of the same name, see General Electric Building, formerly the RCA Victor Building.
The GE Building, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, is a slim gothic-inspired Art Deco skyscraper and the focal point of the famed Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, New York City. At 850 ft (259 m) with 70 floors, it is the 7th tallest building in New York City and the 30th tallest in the United States.
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[edit] History
It was completed in 1933 as the central feature of the new Rockefeller Center and named the RCA Building for its first major tenant, a company formed by General Electric (GE) in 1919. At the same time, the GE-owned NBC also leased space in the building. The Rockefeller family office, Room 5600 - now "Rockefeller Family & Associates" - was immediately established on the 56th floor; it now covers the 54th to 56th floors of the building.
The name of the building was changed in 1988, two years after GE re-acquired RCA. It was notable for being the first building ever constructed with the elevators grouped in the central core of the structure.
[edit] Major features
The GE Building is one of the most famous and recognized skyscrapers in New York. The frieze above the main entrance was executed by Lee Lawrie and depicts Wisdom, along with a slogan that reads "Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the stability of thy times". The vertical detailing of the building's austere Art Deco facade is integrated with a slim, functionally expressive form. Now, the exterior is recognized for the big GE letters at the very top and its famous marquee at the building's entrance often seen on TV shows such as Seinfeld. Unlike most other tall Art-Deco buildings constructed in the 1930s, the GE Building has no spire on its roof.
It is well-known for housing the headquarters and most of the New York studios of NBC, owned by GE. In 1996, NBC bought outright the 1.6 million square feet of space in the building it had leased since 1933. The purchase gave the company freedom to introduce new technology and revamp the space; it also gave them options to renew the lease on the Today Show studios, broadcast from a nearby building, 10 Rockefeller Plaza.[1]
NBC also has Studio 8H, the home of Saturday Night Live. 8H was once the largest radio studio in the world, and after its conversion to TV served as home to the NBC Symphony, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The Tonight Show was also taped at the GE Building from the early Jack Paar years until 1972, when the show moved to Burbank. (WNBC-TV's main news studio now occupies the former Tonight space). During its run, Rosie O'Donnell broadcast her syndicated talk show from the building.
Below the building is a shopping concourse. One of the first escalators provided access to the small shopping mall from the lobby. The open lobby was the first of its time and rich materials, reduced black and beige ornamental scheme is enhanced by dramatic lighting. Granite covers the building base to a height of 4 ft (1.2 m), and the shaft has a refined facade of Indiana limestone with aluminum spandrel panels.
The top floor of the building is an event room and restaurant named the Rainbow Room, which was recently revamped and reopened to the public with new operators. The famous photo Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper was taken here when the building was under construction in 1932.
The observation deck atop the skyscraper, dubbed "Top of the Rock", reopened to the public on 1 November 2005, after undergoing a $75 million renovation. It had been closed since 1986 to accommodate the renovation of the Rainbow Room. The deck, which is built to resemble the deck of a cruise ship, offers sightseers a bird's eye view of the city, competing with the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State Building.
The noted former GE chairman, Jack Welch has his office in the building. In 1985 the GE Building was given official landmark status. Some of its nicknames include The Slab and 30 Rock.
Its official address is 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112.
[edit] NBC Studio productions
- NBC Nightly News - With Brian Williams
- Dateline NBC
- NBC Sports
- WNBC Channel 4 (The network's flagship station)
- Saturday Night Live
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien
- Keith Ablow - (Taped on 3rd Floor, Studio 3H)
- MSNBC - Beginning in 2007 it will podcast a majority of its programing from a two floor studio, currently under construction.
- The Today Show - Produced at a ground-level windowed studio across 49th Street from the GE Building since the mid-1990s, at 10 Rockefeller Plaza; it was previously broadcast from inside the skyscraper.
- 30 Rock - The elevators and other building elements are taped within the building; the bulk of the production takes place at NBC's Long Island City studios.
[edit] See also
- Rockefeller Center
- Rockefeller family
- John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
- GE
- NBC
- RCA
- Original General Electric Building (1931, built as RCA Victor Bldg)
- Buildings and architecture of New York City
- 50 Tallest buildings in the U.S.
- Tallest buildings in New York City
- List of Skyscrapers
- World's tallest structures
[edit] Further reading
- Harr, John Ensor, and Peter J. Johnson. The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America's Greatest Family, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.
- Okrent, Daniel. Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center, New York: Viking Press, 2003.
- Roussel, Christine, The Art of Rockefeller Center, New York ; W.W. Norton & Company, 2006 ISBN 0-393-06082-9
[edit] External links
- Top Of The Rock Photo Gallery - About.com
