30 Rockefeller Plaza

Comcast Building Facade

Interior

Night

The 30 Rockefeller Plaza is an Art Deco-style skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City, United States. It was known as the RCA Building between 1933 and 1988, and then as the GE Building between 1988 and 2015, when it was renamed the Comcast Building. It is most recognized as the world headquarters of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) television network. At 260 meters and 70 stories, at the time of its construction it was one of the tallest buildings in New York City.

The official address of the Comcast Building is 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112. This address has given rise to the building's nickname, "30 Rock."

History

The Comcast Building was developed in 1933 as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center. Raymond Hood, a famous Art Deco architect, led the architectural team that built the building. It was named the RCA Building for its primary tenant, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which was formed in 1919 by General Electric. It was the first building to be built with elevators grouped in the central core. During construction, photographer Charles Clyde Ebbets took the famous photograph Lunch atop a Skyscraper ("Lunch on a Skyscraper") on the 69th floor. The National Broadcasting Company, which is also Currently owned by General Electric, it leased space in the building.

The Rockefeller family office occupied room 5,600 on the 56th floor. This space is currently occupied by Rockefeller Family & Associates, encompassing the area between the 54th and 56th floors. In 1985, the building officially acquired its status as a national monument. The RCA Building was renamed the GE Building in 1988, two years after GE's repurchase of RCA.

The Comcast Building is one of the most famous and well-known skyscrapers in New York. When it was built, the exterior was a work of art. The frieze above the main entrance was executed by Lee Lawrie and shows "Wisdom", along with a tagline that reads: "Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times", a phrase that comes from the Book of Isaiah. The vertical details of the austere art deco façade are embedded within slender and functionally expressive forms. Currently, the exterior is recognized by the large letters GE located at the top and its famous canopy at the entrance of the building often shown in various television series, such as 30 Rock and Seinfeld. Unlike most other tall Art Deco buildings built in the 1930s, the Comcast Building does not have a spire on its roof.

Some of the building's nicknames include La Losa (The Slab in English) or 30 Rock, after its address. In addition, 30 Rock is also the title of an NBC sitcom whose plot follows the cast and crew of a fictional television show that is filmed in the building. The show uses the building for its exterior shots, while the interior shots are filmed at Silvercup Studios in Queens.

KWO35, the NOAA Radio station for most of the Tri-State area, broadcasts from the top of the Comcast Building at 162.55 MHz.

Underneath the Comcast Building is a shopping center. One of the first rolling stairs gave access to the small shopping center from the lobby. The open lobby was the first of its time, and the rich materials and black and beige ornamental scheme are enhanced by dramatic lighting. Granite covers the base of the building up to 1.2 meters high and the spire has a refined facade of Indiana limestone with aluminum panels.

The 65th floor of the building was previously a meeting room and restaurant called The Rainbow Room (La Sala Arcoiris in Spanish), which it was renovated and reopened to the public with new operators, but it was closed in 2009 due to the economic crisis.

NBC Studios

The building is best known for housing NBC's headquarters and the New York facility of NBC Studios. In 1996, NBC purchased the space it had leased since 1933. The purchase allowed the company to introduce new technology and renovate the space; it also gave them options to renew the lease on the studios of The Today Show, broadcast from a nearby building, 10 Rockefeller Plaza. The office of Jack Welch, formerly the president and CEO of General Electric, is located on the 51st floor of the building.

Studios in the building include Studio 8H, the home of Saturday Night Live. Studio 8H was originally the largest radio studio in the world, and housed the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. It was converted into a television studio in 1950. The Tonight Show was also taped in Studio 6-B of the Comcast Building, from the early days of Jack Paar until the show's move to Burbank, California, in 1972. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon now occupies the space previously occupied by The Tonight Show. In addition, Rosie O'Donnell also hosted her syndicated talk show from the building.

Productions recorded here

• The Today Show
• NBC Nightly News
• Dateline NBC
• NBC Sports
• Saturday Night Live
• Late Night with Seth Meyers
• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
• Football Night in America
• MSNBC

Observation deck

The skyscraper's observation deck, known as the "Top of the Rock," reopened to the public on November 1, 2005, after undergoing a $75 million renovation. It had been closed since 1986 to accommodate the renovation of the 'Rainbow Room'. The platform, which is built to resemble the deck of an ocean liner, offers tourists a bird's-eye view of the city, rivaling the observatory on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. It is often considered the best panoramic view of the city. city, if only because it offers a view of the Empire State Building, which cannot be seen from its own observation deck.

The "Top of the Rock" he had also been co-opted on Sunday Night Football on NBC during the 2006-2007 season, with the best player in that night's game, according to John Madden and Al Michaels, receiving the honor of being the "Rock Star" of that night in the form of a crystal trophy on the observation deck, which was a replacement for the "Horse Trailer Award" previously awarded on ABC's Monday Night Football. The "Horse Trailer Award" it was restored for the 2007-2008 season.

Related books

• Harr, John Ensor; Johnson, Peter J. (1988). The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America's Greatest Family. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
• Okrent, Daniel (2003). Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center. New York: Viking Press.
• Roussel, Christine (2006). The Art of Rockefeller Center. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-06082-9.