From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1251 Avenue of the Americas

Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

Field	Value
name	1251 Avenue of the Americas
status	Complete
former_names	Exxon Building
image	50th St 6th Av td 30 - 1251 Avenue of the Americas.jpg
caption	The base of 1251 Avenue of the Americas
location	1251 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, New York, U.S.
mapframe-wikidata	yes
coordinates
start_date	1965
completion_date	1968
opening_date	1971
architect	Wallace Harrison
owner	Mitsui Fudosan
floor_area	2,101,115 sqft
top_floor	715 ft
floor_count	54
architectural_style	New Formalism
building_type	Office
roof	750 ft
elevator_count	36
structural_engineer	Edwards & Hjorth
main_contractor	George A. Fuller Co.
opening	1972
references

| mapframe-wikidata = yes

1251 Avenue of the Americas (formerly known as the Exxon Building) is a skyscraper on Sixth Avenue (also known as Avenue of the Americas), between 49th and 50th Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is owned by Mitsui Fudosan. The structure is built in the international style and looks like a simple cuboid devoid of any ornamentation. The facade consists of alternating narrow, vertical stripes of glass and limestone. The glass stripes are created by windows and opaque spandrels, forming continuous areas that are washed by machines sliding down the facade. A seven-floor base wraps around the western portion of the building, and there is a sunken plaza with a large two-tier pool and fountains facing Sixth Avenue. In the plaza stands the bronze statue named Out to Lunch by John Seward Johnson II—of the same series as the one that once stood outside 270 Park Avenue.

Background

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 & 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). 1251 is the second-tallest building in the whole of Rockefeller Center, after 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Despite being one of the 100 tallest buildings in the United States, 1251 Avenue of the Americas is almost impossible to see from more than just a few blocks away as it is flanked on all sides by buildings over 500 feet tall. The result is that even though 1251 Avenue of the Americas is approximately as tall as the tallest buildings in cities such as Boston or Minneapolis, it has almost no presence on the New York City skyline.

In 1989, Exxon announced that it was moving its headquarters and around 300 employees from New York City to the Las Colinas area of Irving, Texas. Exxon sold the Exxon Building, its former headquarters, to a unit of Mitsui Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. in 1986 for $610 million. John Walsh, president of Exxon subsidiary Friendswood Development Company, stated that Exxon left New York because the costs were too high. Its New York offices moved to Brooklyn; it no longer retains a presence in Rockefeller Center.

In May 2013, the structure received silver certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Existing Buildings Rating System.

Art

Artist-authorized replica of Pablo Picasso's tapestry for the ballet ''Mercure''

Inside, on the western end of 1251's atrium hangs an artist-authorized replica of a tapestry Pablo Picasso created for the ballet Mercure, the original of which hangs in the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, France. It was created specifically for the building, as per the plaque beneath it.

References

"Emporis building ID 114546". [[Emporis]].
(1998). "100 of the World's Tallest Buildings". Images Publishing.
(May 1989). "Frre to be... Philistine".
"THE EXXON BUILDING (1251 Sixth Ave.)".
(1999). "Manhattan Skyscrapers". [[Princeton Architectural Press]].
Krinsky, Carol H.. (1978). "Rockefeller Center". Oxford University Press.
(2005). "Manhattan Skyscrapers". Princeton Archit.Press.
(October 27, 1989). "Exxon moving corporate headquarters to Dallas". [[Houston Chronicle]].
(May 6, 2013). "1251 Avenue of the Americas Earns LEED Silver Certification". Hines.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

exxonmobil-buildings-and-structures mitsui-fudosan skyscraper-office-buildings-in-manhattan rockefeller-center 1970s-architecture-in-the-united-states sixth-avenue office-buildings-completed-in-1972 leadership-in-energy-and-environmental-design-basic-silver-certified-buildings 1972-establishments-in-new-york-city

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1251 Avenue of the Americas — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report