General Electric Building

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, at the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street.[3] 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 the "Comcast Building".

This article is about the 1931 building at 570 Lexington Avenue. For the 1933 building formerly named the GE Building, see 30 Rockefeller Plaza. For other uses, see General Electric Building (disambiguation).

General Electric Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
NYC Landmark
with St. Bartholomew's Church in the foreground (2010)
Show map of Manhattan Show map of New York City
Location	570 Lexington Avenue Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates	40°45′26″N 73°58′20″W
Built	1929–1931[1]
Architect	John W. Cross of Cross & Cross
Architectural style	Art Deco
NRHP reference No.	03001515[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	January 28, 2004
Designated NYCL	July 9, 1985

The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1985,[1] and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 2004.[2][4] It is the 107th tallest building in New York.

History

At the time that RCA Victor commissioned this building, it was a subsidiary of General Electric. The company then moved its headquarters to Rockefeller Center, and this building was deeded over to the parent company.[1] The building was donated to Columbia University in 1993 to gain a $40 million tax deduction.[1][5] The university formed a joint venture with Mendik Company and Quantum Realty Partners and refurbished the building in 1994.[6] Mendik bought out Columbia in 2001.[7] Tower 570 Company, LP, an affiliate of The Feil Organization, is the building's current owner.[8]

Architecture

The building's 50-floor stylized Gothic octagonal brick tower, with elaborate Art Deco decorations of lightning bolts showing the power of electricity, grows out of the round-cornered base with elaborate masonry and architectural figural sculpture, to form "one of the most expressive skyscrapers of its era."[1] The building was designed to blend with the low Byzantine dome of St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue and shares the same brick color, with terra cotta decorations chosen to coordinate. 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. On the corner above the building's main entrance is a clock with the cursive GE logo and a pair of disembodied silver arms holding bolts of electricity.[1]

The AIA Guide to New York City says that the building's "Art Deco details at both street and sky are both sumptuous and exuberant."[9] A "major example" of Art Deco architecture, the style is "both symbolic and expressive of the building's function," according to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.[10]

After the building was donated to Columbia University, it was extensively renovated by Ernest de Castro of the WCA Design Group.[1]

In popular culture

• When General Electric was in the process of purchasing RCA, David Letterman, then host of NBC's Late Night with David Letterman, brought a camera crew and a fruit basket to the building in an attempt to welcome their new corporate parents. They were greeted at the lobby by a GE official who demanded they stop filming and leave the premises, before placing his hand over the camera lens.
• The General Electric Building was featured in the 2005 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith as the location of the head office of Jane Smith (Angelina Jolie).
• In the Netflix TV series Iron Fist set in the Marvel cinematic universe, the character Harold Meachum lives in the penthouse of the General Electric Building. The series shows views of the lobby and exterior.

Gallery

• 
  The "GE" clock above the main entrance (2005)
• 
  The crown of the building with its "electric waves" design (2013)
• 
  Decoration over the freight entrance on 51st Street (2017)
• 
  Part of the building's lobby (2015)
• 
  Another part of the lobby (2015)
• 
  The lobby's ceiling (2015)

See also

• List of tallest buildings in New York City
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets
• List of National Historic Landmarks in New York City

References

Notes

1. New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Dolkart, Andrew S.; Postal, Matthew A. (2009). Postal, Matthew A. (ed.). Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1.
2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
3. "570 Lexington Avenue". Emporis.com. Retrieved July 12, 2008.
4. "Tower 570 Company, L.P., Broadwell Investing Corp., Tax Matters Partner v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue" (PDF). architecturaltrust.org. Internal Revenue Service. July 17, 2010. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 19, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
5. Dunlap, David W. (June 3, 1993). "G.E. Gives Midtown Tower To Columbia University". The New York Times. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
6. Gray, Christopher (January 15, 1995). "Streetscapes/570 Lexington Avenue; Columbia's Restoring an Art Deco Masterpiece". The New York Times. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
7. "General Electric Building - WikiCU, the Columbia University wiki encyclopedia". www.wikicu.com. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
8. "570 Lexington Avenue". The Real Deal New York. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
9. White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot & Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 318. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.
10. Savage, Charles C. (July 9, 1985) "General Electric Building Designation Report" New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

• Stichweh, Dirk (2009) New York Skyscrapers. Munich: Prestel Publishing. ISBN 3-7913-4054-9

External links

• History of the building The City Review
• The General Electric Tower In-Arch Net
• Photos Emporis