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Rockefeller Hall. See what "Rockefeller Center" is in other dictionaries

Rockefeller Center is one of New York's largest attractions. The attractive power of this place, which is, in fact, just a large office center, is amazing.

It was conceived by John Rockefeller Jr. in the late twenties of the 20th century. The original design called for a new theater for the Metropolitan Opera surrounded by business buildings. However, the stock market crash of 1929 made adjustments: the theater had to be abandoned, and investors fled. Then Rockefeller decided to finance the construction alone.

Architect Raymond Hood designed fourteen Art Deco buildings. Construction began in 1930. The project was of great importance for New York: during the Great Depression it created more than forty thousand jobs. It is also true that people at that time agreed to work under any conditions. In 1932, photographer Charles Clyde Ebbets took the famous photo “Lunch on top of a skyscraper.” It depicts the lunch of eleven workers sitting on a steel beam without any safety net (height - 256 meters).

Finding tenants for premises in those days was not easy. The Center's managers tried to rent out one building to German companies and call it "German House". Rockefeller, a staunch opponent of Hitler, refused. During the war, a British secret organization settled here, whose task was to fight German espionage. Nearby was the office of Allen Dulles, the future head of the CIA.

Fourteen International Style towers and the Lehman Brothers Building were added to the original fourteen buildings after the war. The most famous buildings of the huge complex are the Radio City Music Hall with a theater hall for 6,000 spectators, the GE Building skyscraper (headquarters of the NBC television network), and the Arts Center.

The art center is notable for its use of monumental painting and sculpture in its design. On the square in front of the building is a gilded statue of Prometheus by Paul Manship, and nearby is a bronze statue of Atlas, sculpted by Lee Laurie.

In the lobby of the GE Building is a mural by Spanish artist Jose Maria Serta, “American Progress.” In the thirties, Matisse and Picasso were invited to paint the lobby, but the project did not materialize. Rockefeller's wife Abby Aldrich suggested Mexican artist Diego Rivera, whom she patronized. Rivera painted a vibrant 99-square-meter mural, calling it “Man at the Crossroads.” One of the fragments depicted the May Day parade in Moscow and Lenin. Rockefeller categorically refused to accept the fresco; Rivera paid for the work, but did not show the result to the public. They tried to move the fresco to the Museum of Modern Art, but it didn’t work out, and it was destroyed. Instead, “American Progress” appeared.

Rockefeller Center houses the headquarters of large companies. In the underground spaces there are shops and restaurants. At the center of the complex is an ice skating rink that opens on Columbus Day (October 14) and runs until early April. At the end of November, a huge Christmas tree 25-27 meters high is brought here. It's always someone's gift: donating a tree to Rockefeller Center is a great honor.

Rockefeller Center (USA) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.

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Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 buildings located on an area of 9 hectares between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in the heart of Manhattan. Built by financial tycoon John Rockefeller Sr. in the 1930s, Rockefeller Center was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

Now this “city within a city” is the main attraction of New York. The buildings of Rockefeller Center house offices, shops, restaurants and television studios, and there is also an excellent observation deck, Top of the Rocks, from which you can enjoy stunning views of Central Park and the Empire State Building.

From October to April, there is an ice skating rink in Rockefeller Center, the Radio City Music Hall hosts premieres of Broadway musicals and films, and in winter, the most famous Christmas tree in New York is decorated in Rockefeller Center.

Rockefeller Center

For those interested, tours of the most outstanding buildings of Rockefeller Center are organized, as well as “behind the scenes” of one of the most famous film studios, NBC Studio. Address: 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

The NBC Studio is open to visitors daily from 08:30 to 17:30, on Sundays from 09:30 to 16:30. Tours are organized every 30 minutes Mon-Thurs. and every 15 minutes Fri-Sun.

Each country has its own architectural monuments and attractions. In Europe, these are objects that have come down to our days from antiquity or the Middle Ages, for example, or in Paris.

The USA is a young country, but it also has its own attractions that have gone down in the history of architecture. Rockefeller Center is included in the register of historical monuments of the country and today is the most recognizable entertainment and business complex in the world.

History of the center's construction

Rockefeller Center, the construction of which was in full swing, was, in the opinion of most Americans, a big and expensive gamble. It cost John Davidson Rockefeller Jr. $125 million, which was a fabulous sum at the time.

Situated on almost 9 hectares of land, it consists of 19 buildings united by a common infrastructure and is a real city within a city. The construction was carried out at a difficult time for the country and the construction of buildings of this scale was perceived by many as charity, since more than 40,000 people from 1931 to 1940 were provided with work and could feed their families.

Rockefeller Center (the photo shows the scale of construction) turned Rockefeller into the largest real estate owner in New York and brought in millions of dollars in profits. Today, the country's largest companies rent offices here, and luxury stores occupy the first floors. Everything in this center is designed so that people who work here can also relax, have a good time and do some shopping.

Observation deck

Occupying a significant area, Rockefeller Center (Manhattan) is bordered by such famous streets as 5th Avenue with its expensive shops, 6th Avenue - the main thoroughfare of the island, 47th and 51st streets.

The tallest building in the center has 70 floors and is the second most popular observation deck (the Empire State Building is in the lead, as it is taller). Numerous crowds of tourists come here every day to photograph the sunset or New York.

According to New Yorkers themselves, the Rockefeller Center site is the best place to explore the city, as it offers views of both the best skyscrapers. The view from this building covers 120 blocks, which can be seen from various levels of the observation deck.

The first and second levels are located on the 67th - 68th floors and are glazed. This somewhat spoils the photographs, since reflections on the glass are clearly visible. At the top level, the area is open and represents the top floor of a skyscraper, surrounded by moldings around the perimeter.

You can order a ticket online for a specific time to avoid standing in long lines. Especially many tourists come in the evening to capture how the sun sets over the Hudson.

Famous places in Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center in New York is known all over the world thanks to numerous films with its “participation”. On its territory there is one of the most popular stages in America - Radio City Music Hall with 6,000 seats, where the loudest productions and concerts take place.

Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Elton John and many other celebrities performed in this theater. Performing on this stage is considered a big step in the careers of musicians and theater groups.

Rockefeller Center has been hosting exhibitions since its opening. Even during the Second World War, various social events were held there.

Below the center is an underground “city” of shops. You can get there by elevators, the cabins of which are located in the pavilion on the street. More than 60,000 people work in the center, there is a post office, a theater and a cinema, schools, offices of doctors, lawyers, its own square and even a waterfall. This center can safely be called a city, since all the services and service centers necessary for a settlement are concentrated in it.

The most popular television programs and news are broadcast from Rockefeller Center. From its earliest days, it became a popular New York landmark.

Rockefeller Center in winter

Life in the center calms down only late at night. Residents and guests of the city come here to relax all year round, but most of them come in winter, when the skating rink is filled on the site of the summer cafe. Around this site hang the flags of 159 countries that are members of the UN.

The skating rink is a very popular place in winter, so it is very crowded both on the ice and in the spectator seats. The main Christmas tree of the country located here plays an important role in this popularity.

Christmas tree

Since 1936, a Christmas tree has been erected and decorated annually in the center of the Rockefeller complex. She became so popular thanks to photographs in newspapers that people from other states came to see her.

So the tree in this center became the main tree of the country. Newspapers write about where they bought or cut down a tree for the next Christmas and even make reports today. Americans' keen interest in this tradition attracts thousands of tourists every year to celebrate Christmas at Rockefeller Center.

Rockefeller Center today

Today, the complex is home to the offices of the most famous American and foreign companies.

There is a rich “underground” life here with its cafes, restaurants and even a metro station. A working atmosphere reigns here during the day, and night entertainment is represented by numerous theater and cinema venues.

On the memorial plaque you can read what is written at Rockefeller Center. This is in terms of large-scale urban planning, which provided jobs for thousands of people during the Great Depression and was developed by John D. Rockefeller Jr.

10 Rockefeller Plz #3 New York, NY 10020-1903

Rockefeller Center is a complex of entertainment venues, shops, restaurants and office buildings in the center of Manhattan. You can spend the whole day here and have a lot of fun.

Rockefeller Center opened at the height of the Great Depression. John Rockefeller leased the land from Columbia University, initially with plans to build a new building for The Metropolitan Opera on the site, but the stock market crash of 1929 changed everything. How was it possible to build a complex of 14 buildings (now there are 19) in such difficult times? You can get answers to these questions by taking a tour of Rockefeller Center - tickets can be purchased on site, tours (in English) begin every day at 10 am.

The “must-see” program at Rockefeller Center includes:

Top of the Rock

Climb to the roof of the skyscraper for stunning views of New York and New Jersey. Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building compete with each other to see who has the best observation deck. It’s hard to say, both skyscrapers provide an incredible experience of being somewhere under the clouds in the capital of the world.

Christmas tree lighting ceremony

If you're in New York in late November/early December, visit Rockefeller Center to see the New York City Tree Lighting Ceremony: Decorated with a Swarovski star and thirty thousand garlands and lanterns, this is New York City's premier tree.

Ice rink

$27 admission and $10 skate rental. Check with Rockefeller Center for prices and schedules.

Radio City Music Hall

If you're in New York City in November or December, don't miss the best New Year's show, Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

restaurants and bars

Top of the Rock Observation Deck Ticket:

Part of a discount booklet of 6 CityPASS attractions

"Freestyle New York" package - double decker tour, 72 hours, discount restaurant card, plus tickets to museums and attractions of your choice:

Rockefeller Center, sometimes called Rockefeller Center, is a complex of buildings in New York, located in Midtown Manhattah between 48th and 51st Streets as well as Sixth and 6th.

The total area occupied by the complex is 9 hectares.Since 1987 it has had the status of a National Historic Landmark.

The history of Rockefeller Center began in 1928, when John Rockefeller Jr. leased a huge plot of land from.

Construction of Rockefeller Center began in 1930 and lasted nine years. More than 40 thousand people were involved in the construction of the project.The cost of the project was estimated at a quarter of a billion dollars in 1930 prices.

The leader of the group of architects working on the Rockefeller Center project was the American architect Raymond Hood. The complex is an ensemble of high-rise buildings in the Art Deco style. The central building of the complex is a 70-story skyscraper with a height of 266 meters - the RCA Building (currently named the General Electric Building).

Rockefeller Center remains one of the largest private construction projects ever undertaken in the world. In 1989, the entire complex was purchased from the Rockefeller family by the development division of the Japanese automobile concern Mitsubishi. In 2000, the complex was sold for $1.85 billion to a group of American investors led by Jerry Speyer, a close friend of David Rockefeller.

Interesting Facts

Initially, the Rockefeller family did not want to associate their name with the complex under construction, but the Rockefeller Family's PR advisor, Evie Lee, convinced John Rockefeller Jr. that such a move as naming the center after the surnames of the most famous billionaires and tycoons would ensure that the complex would be filled with tenants in the future;

It is known that Evie Lee negotiated with a German commercial concern for the full lease of four high-rise buildings in the complex. One of the conditions of the Germans was a separate name for the four rented buildings as the “German House” (“Deutsches Haus”). Despite the Great Depression that broke out in America and great difficulties in finding tenants to fill the complex, Rockefeller categorically rejected this proposal, citing Hitler's Nazi regime and the outbreak of World War II;

The office of the Rockefeller family is still located in the central skyscraper Rockefeller Center GE Building, where it occupies three floors from the 54th to the 56th;

In 2005, the Top of the Rock observation deck opened at the Rockefeller Center on the 259-meter top of the RCA building (Mon-Sun 8.00–23.00, admission - $17 to $27)

Push

You can walk into the Rockefeller Center like a museum; during its existence, many details (bas-reliefs, sculptures, frescoes) were added by the most famous sculptors and artists and currently decorate the center both inside and outside. The golden sculpture of Prometheus, the huge bas-relief “News” above the entrance to the office of the Associated Press agency and much more attract thousands of tourists every day.