General Electric Building
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General Electric Building | |
 General Electric Building | |
    | |
| Location | 570 Lexington Ave., New York, New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°45′26″N 73°58′20″W / 40.75722°N 73.97222°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1931 |
| Architect | Cross & Cross (Cross, John Walter; Cross, Eliot) |
| Architectural style | Art Deco |
| NRHP reference No. | 03001515[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | January 28, 2004 |
| Designated NYCL | July 9, 1985 |
The General Electric Building, also known as 570 Lexington Avenue, is a historic 50-floor, 640-foot (200 m)-tall, skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States, at the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street).[2] Originally known as the RCA Victor Building when designed in 1931 by John W. Cross of Cross & Cross, it is sometimes known by its address to avoid confusion with the much later renaming, in 1988, of the RCA Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza as the 'GE Building', itself later renamed 'Comcast Building'.
The building backs up to the low Byzantine dome of St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue and shares the same brick color. It is a 50-floor stylized Gothic tower, with elaborate Art Deco decoration of lightning bolts showing the power of electricity. The base contains elaboratem masonry, architectural figural sculpture, and on the corner above the main entrance, a corner clock with the cursive GE logo and a pair of silver disembodied forearms. The crown of the building is an example of Gothic tracery, which is intended to represent electricity and radio waves, and is lit from within at night.
Gallery
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General Electric Building (detail) -
The crown of the building with its "electric waves" design -
Plaque at the General Electric Building
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See also
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ "570 Lexington Avenue". Emporis.com. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
Further reading
- Dirk Stichweh: New York Skyscrapers. Prestel Publishing, Munich 2009, ISBN 3-7913-4054-9
External links
- History of the building from the City Review
- in-Arch.net: The General Electric Tower
- More photos from Emporis Buildings, a public database on architecture.
- Parts of the movie "Mr. and Mrs. Smith were filmed at 570 Lexington.
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