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ROCKEFELLER CENTER
FROM 44 MADISON AVENUE GENERAL VIEW LOOKING
NORTH-EAST FROM 444 MADISON AVENUE Begun in the early days of the depression, Rockefeller Center was a 12-acre skyscraper city, a paean to capitalism. Its offices, retail space, entertainment facilities, and pedestrian streets extend from 48th to 51st Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. In 1930 Abbott photographed the initial excavations, and in 1937, when most of the complex was complete, she returned for an overview. From the roof of a 40-story office building at 444 Madison Avenue, she looked west over Saks Fifth Avenue. The four tallest structures--the RCA Building (center), the International Building (right), the RKO Building (right middle distance), and the Time-Life Building, with its windows taped and nearing completion (left)--soar over Hell's Kitchen. From the same office building, Abbott photographed the view looking northeast, which offered another striking contrast between a new skyscraper--the 1931 47-story General Electric Building--and its low-rise surroundings. The G.E. Building's salmon-colored brick and Art Deco Gothic ornamentation were intended to harmonize with the Romanesque St. Bartholomew's Church (1919). In the distance at First Avenue and East 51st Street (right) is the tower of River House, a luxury cooperative constructed in 1931. North at East 59th Street (left), the Queensboro Bridge spans the East River. Both of Abbott's views from 444 Madison Avenue are now blocked by more recent skyscrapers. The 1989 Swiss Bank Tower obstructs Abbott's westward view of Rockefeller Center. Office buildings at 435 Madison Avenue (1969) and 437 Madison Avenue (1967) and the Helmsley Palace Hotel (1980) block the eastward view of the G.E. Building and St. Bartholomew's. Return to the Middle East Side |