GE Building
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This article is about the skycraper in Rockefeller Center. For the shorter building of the same name, see General Electric Building, formerly the RCA Victor Building.
The GE Building is a slim gothic-inspired Art Deco skyscraper and the focal point of the Rockefeller Center, New York City, New York, United States. 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. It was built in 1933 as the RCA Building. Its name was changed in 1988, two years after General Electric (GE) acquired RCA.
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 on 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, which is owned by GE. They include the largest, 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.
The top floor of the building is an event room and restaurant named the Rainbow Room, which was recently reopened to the public. The famous photo Lunchtime atop a skyscraper was taken here when the building was under construction in 1932.
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 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.
In 1985 the GE Building was given official landmark status. Some of its nicknames include The Slab and 30 Rock.
Its official address is at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112.
NBC Studios productions in the GE Building
- 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
See also
- 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
Reference
- Roussel, Christine, The Art of Rockefeller Center, New York ; W.W. Norton & Company, 2006 ISBN 0-393-06082-9
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