1221 Avenue of the Americas (formerly also known as McGraw-Hill Building) is a skyscraper located at 1221 Sixth Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City.
Video 1221 Avenue of the Americas
Description
The building was part of the later Rockefeller Center expansion (1960s-1970s) dubbed the "XYZ Buildings". Their plans were first drawn in 1963 by the Rockefeller family's architect, Wallace Harrison, of the architectural firm Harrison and Abramovitz. Their letters correspond to their height. 1251 Avenue of the Americas is the "X" Building as it is the tallest at 750 ft (229 m) and 54 stories, and was the first completed, in 1971. The "Y" is 1221 Avenue of the Americas, which was the second tower completed (1973) and is the second in height (674 ft and 51 stories). The "Z" Building, the shortest and the youngest, is 1211 Avenue of the Americas with 45 stories (592 ft).
The building is the former headquarters of McGraw-Hill Financial, from which it derived its former name. Other tenants include Sirius XM Radio, whose headquarters and broadcast facility are in the building.
The sunken courtyard of this building contains a large metal triangle designed by Athelstan Spilhaus and fabricated by Tyler Elevator Products, arranged so the Sun aligns with its sides at solstices and equinoxes. When built, the southwestern corner held a display of scale models of planets in the Solar System. A mosaic map of the Earth survives in the northwestern corner. The appearance of the building's facade is similar to the walls of the former World Trade Center towers.
Maps 1221 Avenue of the Americas
1999 elevator incident
After entering an express elevator at approximately 11:00 p.m. (EDT) Friday on October 15, 1999, Nicholas White, an employee of the building, became trapped after a brief power dip caused the elevator to stop between the 13th and 14th floors. Though he signaled an alarm and there was surveillance video inside the elevator cab, White was not rescued until approximately 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 17, nearly 41 hours later, after security guards spotted him in the surveillance cameras.
In popular culture
The buildings are featured in the opening credits of Saturday Night Live, seen from below looking up in the street from a car. It was used for the exteriors and lobby of Elias-Clarke's headquarters in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada and the interior shots for Suits. It is also the headquarters of Sirius XM Radio, and many radio shows broadcast from the building including The Howard Stern Show.
See also
- List of tallest buildings in New York City
- 1211 Avenue of the Americas
- 1251 Avenue of the Americas
References
External links
- Official website
- Critical review of the building's design
- in-Arch.net: The McGraw-Hill Building
- Skyscraperpage.com
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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