30 Rockefeller Center From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This
article is about the building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. For 570
Lexington Avenue, also in Manhattan, see General Electric Building.
For buildings outside of New York City, see General Electric
Building (disambiguation). 30 Rockefeller Center (Comcast Building)
As the GE Building (Oct. 2005) Former names GE Building RCA
Building Alternative names 30 Rock Rock Center General information
StatusComplete Type Offices and television studios (NBC) Location
30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10112 Coordinates 404532N
735844WCoordinates: 404532N 735844W Completed1933 OwnerNBCUniversal
(floors 130 and 5059) Tishman Speyer (floors 3149) Height Roof850
ft (260 m) Technical details Floor count70 Design and construction
ArchitectRaymond Hood DeveloperRockefeller Family 30 Rockefeller
Center (GE Building / Comcast Building) U.S. Historic district
Contributing property Area22 acres (8.8 ha) ArchitectRaymond Hood
Architectural style Modern, Art Deco Part ofRockefeller Center
(#87002591) Significant dates Added to NRHPDecember 23, 1987[1]
Designated CPDecember 23, 1987[2] References [3]30 Rockefeller
Center is an American Art Deco skyscraper that forms the
centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, New York
City, NY. It has been known as the Comcast Building as of 2015; the
exterior signage was changed to reflect the building's new
corporate owner, Comcast, on July 1, 2015. It was formerly the RCA
Building from 1933 to 1988 and later the GE Building from 1988 to
2015. Nicknames include The Slab and 30 Rock. It is most famous for
housing the NBC television network headquarters. At 850 feet (260
m) high, the 70-story building is the 14th tallest in New York City
and the 39th tallest in the United States. The building underwent a
US$170 million floor-by-floor interior renovation, which was
completed in 2014. The renovation includes new Comcast signage atop
the building, new ground-level signage that reads Comcast Building;
and the display of the iconic NBC Peacock logo on the building's
exterior for the first time.[4][5] Contents 1 History 2 Building
descriptiono2.1 Rainbow Room o2.2 Observation deck 3 NBC
Studioso3.1 NBC Studio productions 4 Gallery 5 See also 6
References 7 External links History Rockefeller Center, featuring
the RCA Building (Dec. 1933) The building was completed in 1933 as
part of the Rockefeller Center complex. The noted Art Deco
architect Raymond Hood led a team of Rockefeller architects. It was
named the RCA Building for its main tenant, the Radio Corporation
of America, formed in 1919 by General Electric. It was the first
building constructed with the elevators grouped in the central
core.[citation needed] During construction, photographer Charles
Clyde Ebbets took the famous photograph Lunch atop a Skyscraper on
the 69th floor. National Broadcasting Company, had the red and blue
networks housed in the new building, which was also nicknamed
"Radio City". NBC was the first national radio network in the
country and was started by R.C.A. in 1926. The office of the
Rockefeller family occupied Room 5600 on the 56th floor. This space
is now occupied by Rockefeller Family & Associates, spanning
between the 54th floor and the 56th floor of the building. John D.
Rockefeller had a private vault in the basement of the building,
accessible via a private elevator from his office.[6] In 1985, the
building acquired official landmark status. The RCA Building was
renamed as the GE Building in 1988, two years after General
Electric re-acquired the RCA Corporation. The building's address
became the title of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, which follows the cast
and crew of a fictional television show filmed inside the building.
Aside from two live episodes, which were produced at NBC's
facilities inside the building, the series, which ended in 2013,
used the building mostly for exterior and occasional lobby shots,
while interior scenes were filmed at Silvercup Studios in Queens.
From the end of 1960 through October 1993, the building's mezzanine
level housed the New York City weather forecast office of the
National Weather Service; it was relocated to eastern Long Island,
on the grounds of Brookhaven National Laboratory at Upton, New
York.[7] KWO35, the NOAA Weather Radio station serving the majority
of the Tri-State area, originally transmitted from atop the
building and remained there until 2014. Due to interference with a
U.S. Coast Guard radio channel, the transmitter was eventually
relocated atop the MetLife Building.[8][9] A weather radar station
was also located atop the building[10] (it was previously used as
Doppler 4000 during WNBC-TV's local newscasts). In June 2014,
Comcast was granted permission from the Landmarks Preservation
Commission to make modifications to the building to reflect its
ownership of NBCUniversal. The GE Building would be officially
known as the Comcast Building.[citation needed] Comcast plans to
replace the neon GE lettering from the top of the building with a
10-foot (3.0 m) tall, LED-lit Comcast wordmark and NBC logo, and
add a 17-foot (5.2 m) NBC logo on the building western's facade.
Additionally, a new marquee was added to the Avenue of the Americas
entrance, advertising it as the home of The Tonight Show Starring
Jimmy Fallon.[4][11][12] On July 1st, 2015, the GE wordmark lights
on top of the building were replaced with NBC's rainbow peacock and
the Comcast wordmark, and the building became known formally and
officially as the Comcast Building. [13] Building description
Facade (Feb 2007) The building is one of the most famous and
recognized skyscrapers in New York. The frieze located above the
main entrance was produced by Lee Lawrie and depicts "Wisdom",
along with a slogan that reads "Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the
stability of thy times", from Isaiah 33:6 (KJV). The vertical
detailing of the building's austere Art Deco facade is integrated
with a slim, functionally expressive form. The present exterior is
recognized for the Comcast logo with the NBC peacock at the
building's top. The famous marquee above the building's 49th Street
entrance is seen on numerous television shows, such as 30 Rock and
Seinfeld. An additional marquee, added on the Sixth Avenue side of
the building in fall 2014 as part of its massive renovation,
advertises The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Unlike most
other tall Art Deco buildings constructed in the 1930s, 30
Rockefeller Plaza has no spire on its roof. Below the building is a
shopping concourse, connected to the lobby via an escalator. The
open lobby's rich materials and reduced black and beige ornamental
scheme is enhanced by dramatic lighting. Granite covers the
building base to a height of 4 feet (1.2 m), and the shaft has a
refined facade of Indiana Limestone with aluminum spandrel panels.
The 65th floor of the building is an event room and restaurant
named the Rainbow Room. It was revamped and reopened to the public
with new operators until it closed in 2009 due to the economic
downturn. The interior of the Rainbow Room holds landmark status,
awarded by the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission in
2012.[14] Following extensive refurbishment,[15] the Rainbow Room
reopened in fall 2014.[16] Rainbow Room Main article: Rainbow Room
This restaurant, run by the Cipriani family, is on the 65th floor
of the Comcast Building.[17] Opened in 1934, it was the first
restaurant to be located in a high-rise building and remained the
highest elevated restaurant in the United States for decades.
Suffering from a decline in business following the financial crisis
of 200708, the restaurant closed in 2009. In 2012, it was declared
a New York City landmark by the New York Landmarks Preservation
Commission. On September 17, 2013, it was announced that the
Rainbow Room would reopen in fall 2014 after undergoing a full
restoration along with a new executive chef and management
team.[15][18] After a years-long restoration process by Gabellini
Sheppard Associates, it reopened to the public on October 5,
2014,[16] with new owner-operator Tishman Speyer and chef Jonathan
Wright at the helm.[19] The renovation includes the landmarked
dance floor and a new cocktail lounge called SixtyFive.[16]
Observation deck The observation deck atop the skyscraper, dubbed
"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 deck,
which is built to resemble the deck of an ocean liner, offers
sightseers a bird's eye view of the city, competing with the 86th
floor observatory of the Empire State Building.[20] It is often
considered the best panoramic city view,[21] if only because it
offers a view of the aforementioned Empire State Building, which
cannot be seen from its own observation deck.[22] The timed entry
system and larger observation deck also results in shorter waiting
times compared to the Empire State. The "Top of the Rock" had also
been co-opted for NBC's Sunday Night Football during the 200607
season, with the top player/MVP in that night's game according to
John Madden and Al Michaels receiving the honor of being that
night's "Rock Star" in the form of a glass trophy display on the
observation deck; this was a replacement for the Horse Trailer
Award formerly awarded on ABC's Monday Night Football. The Horse
Trailer honor was restored for the 200708 season. View of New York
City from the "Top of the Rock" observation deck. NBC Studios NBC
Studios entrance. Rainbow Room Marquee Main article: NBC Studios
(New York City) The building is well known for housing the
headquarters of NBC, the New York facilities of NBC Studios, and
NBCUniversal Cable. In 1996, NBC bought the 1,600,000 square feet
(150,000 m2) of space it had leased since 1933. The purchase
allowed the company to introduce new technologies and renovate the
space; it also gave them options to renew the lease on the Today
Show studios, broadcast from a nearby building, 10 Rockefeller
Plaza.[23] NBC owns floors 130 & 5059. The building's studios
include Studio 8H, the home of Saturday Night Live. Studio 8H was
once the largest radio studio in the world, originally home to the
NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. It was
converted into a television studio in 1950. The Tonight Show was
also taped at the GE Building in Studio 6-B from the early Jack
Paar years until 1972, when the show moved to Burbank, California.
In 2014, The Tonight Show returned to Studio 6-B with its latest
incarnation, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[24] Tonight's
companion program, Late Night, now branded Late Night with Seth
Meyers, has been produced from the building since it started in
1982; the relocation of Tonight back to New York in 2014 brought
the two shows under one roof for the first time. During its run,
Rosie O'Donnell broadcast her syndicated talk show from the
building. Studio 3C is the original home of NBC Nightly News back
in 1999 and later became the home of News 4 New York on WNBC in
April 2012. NBC Studio productions StudioProductionNotesFloor 1AThe
Today Show The network's daily morning program is produced at a
ground-level windowed studio across 49th Street from the GE
Building since the mid-1990s, at 10 Rockefeller Plaza; it was
previously Ground floor broadcast from inside the skyscraper.
Studio 1A is a multilevel studio. The studio was also used by
WNBC's Live at Five, and MSNBC's Countdown with Keith
Olbermann.[25] and NBC Nightly News for a short period during
decontamination of the broadcast's facilities and offices in
October 2001 due to the 2001 anthrax attacks. 2KMSNBC Secondary HD
Control Room Debuted October 22, 2007, and is the home to MSNBC
programs. An MSNBC/NBC News Newsroom connects control room 2K and
studio floor 3A. 2nd floor 3AMSNBC main studios and headquarters
Debuted October 22, 2007, and is the home to many MSNBC programs
including the main news desk where MSNBC Live and other MSNBC
programs are shot. An MSNBC/NBC News Newsroom connects Studio 3rd
floor 3A and Studio 3C. Former home of NBC Nightly News. 3BNBC
Nightly NewsFormer home of the Huntley-Brinkley Report,[26] the NBC
daytime serial The Doctors,[27] the Today Show, Dateline NBC, NBC
Nightly News, and coverage of the 2008 presidential election. 3B is
the only studio in the building which has kept its original
dimensions since it was constructed in 1933. 3rd floor
3CWNBCFormerly home of NBC Nightly News from 1999-October 23, 2011,
however the studio's size was decreased significantly during a 2007
renovation. Became the home for News 4 New York on April 21,
2012.[28] 3rd floor 3K Early Today/All In with Chris Hayes/The Last
Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'/"DATELINE" 3K was formed by combining
former radio studio 3F and studio 3H. 3H was the first studio in
the building to be 3rd floor converted for Television production,
being converted in 1935 and serving as NBC Television's lone
studio[29] until the conversion of Studio 8G in 1948. Former home
of NBC Nightly News, NBC Sports, The Today Show, The Ed Show, and
The Howdy Doody Show,[30] green screen room for coverage of 2008
presidential election result program for NBC News/MSNBC.[31] 5H/5HN
Decommissioned NBC News "Instant News" Studio A small studio used
for breaking news bulletins during the Huntley-Brinkley era.
Cameras in this studio were kept "hot" (on) 24 hours a day in case
of an emergency. Most notably, network coverage regarding the John
F. Kennedy assassination originated from this studio. It was also
used for cut-ins regarding the Gemini 5 spaceflight.[32] 5th floor
6AThe Meredith Vieira Show A former home of Twenty One,[33] The
Tomorrow Show,[34] Late Night with David Letterman, Late Night with
Conan O'Brien, The Dr. Oz Show, and NBC Radio Network programs from
1933 to the 1950s. 6A was the first 30 Rock studio to be converted
for high definition television. In August 2013, Late Night with
Jimmy Fallon moved into this space while Studio 6B underwent
renovations for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[35] Since
September 2014, Meredith Vieira's daytime talk show, The Meredith
Vieira Show, has originated from this studio. 6th floor 6BThe
Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Also the original home of the
Broadway Open House,[36] Bob Hope's radio program,[37] television
version of Texaco Star Theater,[38] Tonight Starring 6th floor Jack
Paar, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and NBC Nightly News.
Former home for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and the former studio
for flagship station WNBC. Current home for The Tonight Show
Starring Jimmy Fallon. 6CNBC Digital Studios The current home of
such web based shows as "The Untitled News Comedy Show",
"Starstruck", and "A Big Life with Sissy Biggers". Was previously
home to a small set for WNBC as well as WNBC's Master control.[39]
6th floor 6EGlobal Media Insert Studios Former home of Early Today
and MSNBC secondly studio (Ed Show home and Breaking News
coverage), called as "Newsnooks". This space was previously a
portion of WNBC's Master Control. 6th floor 7EWNBC newsroom The
WNBC newsroom and home of WNBC's newscasts from 2008 to 2012. 7th
floor During the time WNBC broadcast news from this space, it did
so from a small studio built into space that was formerly a
conference room. Since WNBC has moved production of newscasts to
Studio 3C, the studio space in 7E has been converted into
additional office space for the WNBC Newsroom. 8A(Unknown) A
"Studio 8A" is marked on an official drawing[40] of the 8th floor
of the building. Judging by the surrounding area, this studio was
likely used for audio recording. It's possible this studio was
converted to television studio 8B. 8th floor 8BDecision 2010
Coverage This studio was used for coverage of the 2010 midterm
elections.[41] 8th floor 8GLate Night with Seth Meyers A former
radio studio converted for Television use in 1948 and went on air
April 22 of 8th floor that year.[42] Former home of The Phil
Donahue Show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Caroline Rhea Show, The
Jane Pauley Show and Football Night in America, as well as the
original Concentration and Jeopardy! which recorded their color
episodes on alternating days/weeks from 1964 to 1975. NBC Nightly
News used this studio during the 2007 renovations of NBC News
headquarters, except on some Sunday evenings where, due to football
programming, the news was broadcast from Studio 1A. This studio has
also been used for Decision 2008 and Decision 2010 election night
coverage. Current home of Late Night with Seth Meyers.[43]
8HSaturday Night Live Studio 8H was, at the time of construction,
the 8th floor world's largest radio studio. It was converted to
television use in 1950, however it had hosted television broadcasts
prior to conversion, namely for simulcasts of The Voice of
Firestone. Former home of Last Call with Carson Daly, Later with
Bob Costas, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini.
Used for offsite coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics and for the
"Live Show" and "Live from Studio 6H" episodes of 30 Rock. 8H was
also the temporary home to Football Night in America during the
2013 NFL season. Gallery View of the building's facade from the
east, above Rockefeller Plaza. View at night with GE logo, 2005.
Detail of 30 Rockefeller Plaza entrance, showing verse from Isaiah
33:6. See also Architecture of New York City Original General
Electric Building (1931, built as the RCA Victor Building) List of
New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan List of tallest
buildings in New York City List of tallest buildings in the United
States References Notes 1. "National Register Information System".
National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2007-01-23."Rockefeller Center". National Historic Landmark summary
listing. National Park Service. 2007-09-18.30 Rockefeller Center at
Emporis"Bid Farewell to 30 Rock's GE Sign; 'Comcast' Will Top the
Tower". Curbed.com. 2014-06-18. Also, Comcast applied to change all
ground-level signage saying "GE Building" to "Comcast
Building."Fernandez, Bob (June 20, 2014). "New York panel approves
Comcast logo atop 30 Rock". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved
September 25, 2014."Rockefeller'sVault-05". Flickr."National
Weather Service New York, NY - History"."IEM :: PNS from NWS
OKX".Gay, Mara (March 2, 2014). "National Weather Alerts Bleed Into
Coast Guard Radio Channel". The Wall Street Journal."National
Weather Service New York, NY - Tour: NWS of the Past". Uncredited
photograph with caption."Comcast Seeks to Replace G.E.'s Initials
at 30 Rock". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 June 2014."Jimmy
Fallons Name Goes on 30 Rock Marquee". The New York Times.
Retrieved 5 June
2015.http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/comcast-building-30-rock-nbc-peacock-311241431.htmlBarron,
James (October 16, 2012). "Rainbow Room Is Given Landmark Status".
The New York Times."Rockefeller Center's iconic Rainbow Room to
reopen in fall 2014". Daily News (New York).Fabricant, Florence. "A
New York Classic Returns".[1][dead link]
Associated Press (September 17, 2013). "Rainbow Room At
Rockefeller Center To Reopen Next Year". CBS New York. Retrieved
September 17, 2013.Bloomberg News. "The New, Reimagined Rainbow
Room Is High Tech, Familiar"."Top of the Rock