Rockefeller Center is a network of commercial buildings located on a space of twenty-two acres between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 48th and 51st Streets. In 1987 it was declared a National Historic Landmark and today is one of the highlights of New York City.
Although the center was developed in the 1930s by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., it was his father, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., who had made their last name synonymous with "superhuman riches," leaving his children an estate, which, if adjusted today for inflation, would be worth approximately $350 billion, making Rockefeller the wealthiest person in the history of the world.
John D. Rockefeller was born in the center of the State of New York, in an unassuming little town of Richford, in 1839. His father William, of English and German descent, was a travelling salesman and was known to be a conman, though he was very likeable and good-spirited. William was also a bigamist: he had run away from his first wife with his housekeeper, with whom he had two children before settling down with a third woman, whom he married without having divorced his first wife. This family background caused a great scandal when John D. Rockefeller was already on top of his career, but it never damaged, as much as his adversaries had tried, his reputation.
John D. Rockefeller made his fortune in the oil business. During the American Civil War, which he avoided by making financial contributions to the Union army, he and partner Maurice Clark built an oil refinery. The post-war expansion of railroads and the oil-fueled economy made his business a highly profitable one, and he continued reinvesting profits and loans, as well as building more refineries across the country. By the time he renamed his oil company to Standard Oil in 1870, it was the largest oil refinery in the world. It also developed more than three hundred oil-based products and monopolized all the country's oil trade. At that time over eighty percent of the world's crude oil was being produced in Pennsylvania and hardly anyone, neither in the US nor in the world, could compete with Standard Oil. Rockefeller's company was often accused of price wars, espionage, inside trading and corruption of politicians, but on the other hand, all late 19th century American capitalists were. In the 1890's the US government finally put an end to Rockefeller's monopoly and divided his corporation into 34 companies, in which Rockefeller remained the principal shareholder. Two of these companies were Jersey Standard, which later became Exxon, and Socony, which later became Mobil. In 1999, one hundred years after the initial split, Exxon and Mobil merged to create the largest oil company in the world.
By the dawn of the 20th century, Rockefeller was not only Americas' first billionaire, not only the world's richest man, but also the world's most generous philanthropist. Having lived by the motto "gain all you can, save all you can and give all you can," Rockefeller was indeed giving a lot: to universities, religious institutions, in America and in Asia; to medical research, to the World War I war relief, to public health. In total, during his lifetime, he had given away nearly $550 million, which today would be roughly $10 billion.
Although the last forty years of his life Rockefeller lived in his Hudson River-estate called Kykuit, in Pocantico Hills, Westchester County, New York, he died in his home in Florida. He was almost ninety-eight years old, surviving his wife Laura by fourteen years. He had five children, but it was his only son John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who inherited most of his business.
Rockefeller Jr. continued managing his father's enterprises, as well as setting up his own. He also continued expanding his father's philanthropic activities. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, Junior (as he was known) leased a few blocks of territory in midtown Manhattan from Columbia University and developed a building complex to rent offices to some of the biggest American corporations at the time: RCA, NBC, Standard Oil of New Jersey, Time Inc., Associated Press and others. The cost was $250 million, which today would be equal to approximately $5 billion, and it involved the participation of several architectural firms. The complex quickly grew to become a bustling business center, rivaled only by Wall Street in terms of per square-meter concentration of high-profile corporate tenants.
The central and tallest edifice in the fourteen-building complex is the GE Building, located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The seventy-floor, 850-foot-high structure was constructed in 1933 by architect Raymond Hood and today is also known as "the Slab" or "30 Rock." A famous photograph taken during its construction titled Lunch atop a Skyscraper shows a group of workers having lunch suspended on a metal beam without any safety ropes. The skyscraper today is owned by NBC Universal, one of America's leading mass media companies. In fact, it serves as the headquarters of the NBC TV channel with the studios being on the 8th and 9th floors. Such popular TV shows as the Today Show, Saturday Night Live, the Tonight Show and Late Night are filmed at 30 Rock. On the very top of the building is the On Top of the Rock Observation Deck, offering splendid views of midtown and uptown Manhattan.
Other famous attractions within the complex include the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. The Norway spruce has been put up every winter since 1933. It is usually taken from forests in upstate New York, Connecticut, Vermont, or even Canada. It can rise up to one hundred feet and it is installed right after Thanksgiving Day or in the first days of December. As many as 20,000 lights decorate the tree annually and the stars that top it could weigh anywhere up to five hundred pounds. The tree is taken down on Epiphany Day on January 6 and is then recycled for different purposes.
Dominating the Plaza all year around is the eighteen-foot high, eight-ton, gilded bronze statue of Prometheus bringing fire to mankind. It was sculpted by Paul Manship and is considered the fourth most famous American statue after the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore and the Lincoln Memorial. On its base there is an inscription of a phrase taken from the Greek tragedian Aeschylus, "Prometheus, teacher in every art, brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends."
In the sunken Lower Plaza in front of the GE Building, right below the winter Christmas Tree, we find an ice rink surrounded by restaurants and cafes. It has been there since 1936, just like the Prometheus statue looking over it. The Lower Plaza is one of the most crowded places in Manhattan during the cold season. If you want to go ice-skating, sometimes you may first have to spend half of the day in line. The Channel Gardens and Promenade leading from the plaza to Fifth Avenue are also decorated with lights and, along with the luxurious Saks Fifth Avenue department store on the other side of Fifth Avenue, contribute to the colorful festive spirit reigning during the Winter Holidays.
Another famous sculpture found in Rockefeller Center is the bronze statue of Atlas, which stands right outside the plaza on Fifth Avenue. The statue was sculpted by Lee Lawrie in 1937 and depicts the mythological titan holding up the heavens, represented by a set of intertwining rings. The entire statue stands forty-five feet high and weighs seven tons. No doubt the sculptor wanted to create a parallel between the titan and the Rockefeller family, which, actually, did not have to carry the world on its shoulders because it already had it in the palm of its hand.
Rockefeller Center remains today one of most beloved locations for foreigners visiting New York. It is a symbol of the American entrepreneurial spirit. It exhibits wealth, but at the same time dignity and order, serving as a reference point for aspiring businessmen and urban planners alike.