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1221 Avenue of the Americas

1221 Avenue of the Americas (formerly also known as the McGraw-Hill Building) is an international-style skyscraper at 1221 Sixth Avenue (also known as the Avenue of the Americas) in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 51-floor structure has a seven-story base and a simple, cuboid massing. The facade has no decoration and consists of red granite piers alternating with glass stripes to underline the tower's verticality. It served as the headquarters of McGraw Hill Financial from 1972 to 2015.[2]

1221 Avenue of the Americas
1221 Avenue of the Americas with 1251 Avenue of the Americas visible to its left
Map
Former namesMcGraw-Hill Building
General information
StatusCompleted
TypeOffice
Architectural styleInternational style
Location1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
U.S.
Coordinates40°45′33″N 73°58′54″W / 40.75917°N 73.98167°W / 40.75917; -73.98167
Construction started1966
Completed1969
Opening1972
OwnerRockefeller Group (Mitsubishi Estate)
Height
Roof674 feet (205 m)
Top floor640 feet (200 m)
Technical details
Floor count51
Floor area2,199,982 sq ft (204,385 m2)
Lifts/elevators36
Design and construction
Architect(s)Wallace Harrison
References
[1]

The building is set back 115 feet (35 m) from Sixth Avenue. Its sunken courtyard formerly contained Sun Triangle, an 49-foot (15 m) abstract steel sculpture by Athelstan Spilhaus. The tower's lobby is clad in dark red terrazzo and red marble, with aphorisms by Plato and John F. Kennedy.[3]

Background

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Buildings of Rockefeller Center
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110yds
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Buildings and structures in Rockefeller Center:
1
1 Rockefeller Plaza
2
10 Rockefeller Plaza
3
La Maison Francaise
4
British Empire Building
5
30 Rockefeller Plaza
6
International Building
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50 Rockefeller Plaza
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1230 Avenue of the Americas
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Radio City Music Hall
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1270 Avenue of the Americas
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75 Rockefeller Plaza
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600 Fifth Avenue
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608 Fifth Avenue
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1271 Avenue of the Americas
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1251 Avenue of the Americas
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1221 Avenue of the Americas
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1211 Avenue of the Americas

The building was part of the later Rockefeller Center expansion (1960s–1970s) dubbed the "XYZ Buildings".[4] Their plans were first drawn in 1963 by the Rockefeller family's architect, Wallace Harrison, of the architectural firm Harrison & Abramovitz.[5] Their letters correspond to their height. 1251 Avenue of the Americas is the "X" Building as it is the tallest at 750 ft (229 m) and 54 stories, and was the first completed, in 1971. The "Y" is 1221 Avenue of the Americas, which was the second tower completed (1973) and is the second in height (674 ft and 51 stories). The "Z" Building, the shortest and the youngest, is 1211 Avenue of the Americas with 45 stories (592 ft).[6]

The building houses the New York practice of professional services and accountancy firm Deloitte[7] and was previously the headquarters of McGraw-Hill Financial.[2] Other tenants include Sirius XM Satellite Radio, whose headquarters and broadcast facility are in the building, and the law firms Mayer Brown and White & Case.

In 2009, the structure earned a LEED green-building certification.[8] A renovation of the plaza and retail space was announced in 2017,[9] and the $50 million project was underway by 2022.[10]

The sunken courtyard formerly contained a 49-foot-tall (15 m) metal triangle designed by Athelstan Spilhaus and fabricated by Tyler Elevator Products, arranged so the Sun aligns with its sides at solstices and equinoxes.[11] 1221 Avenue of the Americas' entrance plaza, on Sixth Avenue, was renovated in 2023 at a cost of $50 million.[12]

  • Sunken courtyard 
    Sunken courtyard
  • World maps and sculpture Sun Triangle 
    World maps and sculpture Sun Triangle

1999 elevator incident

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After entering an express elevator serving floors 39-50 at approximately 11:00 p.m. (EDT) Friday on October 15, 1999, Nicholas White, a Business Week employee whose office was in the building, became trapped in an elevator after a brief power dip caused it to stop between the 13th and 14th floors. White was not rescued until approximately 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 17, nearly 41 hours later, after security guards spotted him in the elevator surveillance cameras.[13][14] In 2008, The New Yorker uploaded a video, originally called "Trapped in an Elevator for 41 Hours",[15] which contained surveillance-camera footage of White being trapped in the elevator.[16][17]

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The buildings are featured in the title sequence of Saturday Night Live, seen from below looking up in the street from a car. It was used for the exteriors and lobby of Elias-Clarke's headquarters in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada and the interior shots for television show Suits. It is also the headquarters of Sirius XM Radio, and many radio shows broadcast from the building including The Howard Stern Show. The plaza and sculpture are also featured as part of the New York City Level of the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Emporis building ID 114548". Emporis. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ a b Martin, Timothy W. (July 8, 2015). "McGraw Hill Moves Downtown, Says Goodbye to Namesake Building". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  3. ^ "The McGraw-Hill Building II (1221 Sixth Ave.)". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  4. ^ Nash, Eric (1999). Manhattan Skyscrapers. Princeton Architectural Press. p. 127. ISBN 9781568981819. Retrieved December 28, 2018. Celanese Building.
  5. ^ Krinsky, Carol H. (1978). Rockefeller Center. Oxford University Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-19-502404-3.
  6. ^ "XYZ Buildings Exxon Building McGraw-Hill Building Celanese Building". Manhattan Skyscrapers. New York, NY: Princeton Archit.Press. 2005. pp. 127–130. doi:10.1007/1-56898-652-1_57. ISBN 978-1-56898-545-9.
  7. ^ "Deloitte New York, NY – Professional Services | Deloitte US". Deloitte United States. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  8. ^ "1221 Avenue of the Americas". USGBC. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  9. ^ Nonko, Emily (November 7, 2017). "One of Midtown's sunken public plazas will get a modern revamp". Curbed NY. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  10. ^ "Manhattan public plaza, retail gateway receiving $50M renovation". Construction Specifier. March 28, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  11. ^ Natural History Magazine Archived July 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Sun triangle
  12. ^ Capps, Kriston (June 2, 2024). "A Plaza Renovation Shows a Path Forward for Privately Owned Public Spaces". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  13. ^ Tierney, John (October 28, 1999). "The Big City; Aftermath Of 40 Hours In an Elevator". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  14. ^ Paumgarten, Nick (July 28, 2014). "Up and Then Down". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  15. ^ Conaway, Laura (April 23, 2008). "Bad Break: Trapped in an Elevator for 41 Hours". NPR. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  16. ^ "Video surfaces of man stuck in elevator for 41 hours". ABC7 New York. March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  17. ^ "Video surfaces of man stuck in elevator for 41 hours". New York Daily News. April 22, 2008. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  18. ^ "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2: NY City - All Park Goals, Gaps, and Challenges". Push Square. March 26, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
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