Avenue of the Americas in New York City

15 November 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Historic Ladies' Mile shopping district © Beyond My Ken/cc-by-sa-4.0

Historic Ladies’ Mile shopping district © Beyond My Ken/cc-by-sa-4.0

Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers – is a major thoroughfare in New York City‘s borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or “uptown”. It is commercial for much of its length. Sixth Avenue begins four blocks below Canal Street, at Franklin Street in TriBeCa, where the northbound Church Street divides into Sixth Avenue to the left and the local continuation of Church Street to the right, which then ends at Canal Street. From this beginning, Sixth Avenue traverses SoHo and Greenwich Village, roughly divides Chelsea from the Flatiron District and NoMad, passes through the Garment District and skirts the edge of the Theater District while passing through Midtown Manhattan. Sixth Avenue’s northern end is at Central Park South, adjacent to the Artists’ Gate entrance to Central Park via Center Drive. Historically, Sixth Avenue was also the name of the road that continued north of Central Park, but that segment was renamed Lenox Avenue in 1887 and co-named Malcolm X Boulevard in 1987.   read more…

Bank of America Tower in New York City

1 May 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, New York City Reading Time:  8 minutes

New York Public Library Main Branch and Bank of America Tower in the background © Tdorante10/cc-by-sa-4.0

New York Public Library Main Branch and Bank of America Tower in the background © Tdorante10/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Bank of America Tower is a 1,200 ft (365.8 m) skyscraper in the Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is located at One Bryant Park, on Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets diagonally opposite Bryant Park. The $1 billion project was designed by COOKFOX Architects. Work on the building started in 2004 and it was completed in 2009. The building was appraised in July 2019 at over $3.5 billion, ranking it among the most valuable office buildings in the city. The Bank of America Tower is advertised to be one of the most efficient and ecologically friendly buildings in the world. It is the eighth tallest building in New York City, after One World Trade Center, 432 Park Avenue, 30 Hudson Yards, and the Empire State Building, and the seventh tallest building in the United States.   read more…

Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan

2 June 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, New York City Reading Time:  21 minutes

Rockefeller Center's Landmark plaque © Sam Weber/cc-by-2.5

Rockefeller Center’s Landmark plaque © Sam Weber/cc-by-2.5

Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 high-rise commercial buildings covering 22 acres (89,000 m2) between 48th and 51st Streets in New York City. Commissioned by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. It is famous for its annual Christmas tree lighting. Rockefeller Center was named after John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who leased the space from Columbia University in 1928 and developed it beginning in 1930. Rockefeller initially planned a syndicate to build an opera house for the Metropolitan Opera on the site, but changed plans after the stock market crash of 1929 and the Metropolitan’s continual delays to hold out for a more favorable lease, causing Rockefeller to move forward without them. Rockefeller stated, “It was clear that there were only two courses open to me. One was to abandon the entire development. The other to go forward with it in the definite knowledge that I myself would have to build it and finance it alone.” He took on the enormous project as the sole financier, on a 27-year lease (with the option for three 21-year renewals for a total of 87 years) for the site from Columbia; negotiating a line of credit with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and covering ongoing expenses through the sale of oil company stock. The initial cost of acquiring the space, razing some of the existing buildings and constructing new buildings was estimated at $250 million. The current Center is a combination of two building complexes: the original 14 Art Deco office buildings from the 1930s, one building across 51st Street built in 1947, and a set of four International-style towers built along the west side of Avenue of the Americas during the 1960s and 1970s.   read more…

The Flatiron District in Manhattan

12 December 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  6 minutes

Flatiron District © flickr.com - Dave Lindblom/cc-by-2.0

Flatiron District © flickr.com – Dave Lindblom/cc-by-2.0

The Flatiron District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, named after the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Generally the Flatiron District can be said to be bounded by 20th Street, Union Square and Greenwich Village to the south; the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) or Seventh Avenue and Chelsea to the west; 25th Street and NoMad to the north; Rose Hill to the northeast, and Lexington Avenue/Irving Place, Gramercy Park to the east.   read more…

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