General Electric Building - New York, NY
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 40° 45.427 W 073° 58.322
18T E 586770 N 4512303
The Art Deco General Electric Building, a.k.a. Radio Corporation of America (RCA-Victor) Building is located at 570 Lexington Avenue (at 51st) on the east side of midtown Manhattan.
Waymark Code: WMP74A
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 07/12/2015
Views: 11
The General Electric Building at 570 Lexington Avenue and 51st Street in mid-town Manhattan is a 50 story high Art Deco skyscraper designed in 1931 by John Walter Cross and Eliot Cross of the architectural firm of Cross & Cross. It rises 640' high. The building was originally designed for the Radio Corporation of America and called the RCA Victor building but is was deeded to the General Electric Corporation while it was still under construction.
The base contains elaborate masonry work, architectural figurative sculptures. The curved main entrance has a corner clock with the famous script GE logo across the face. Above the clock a pair of silver forearms jut out from the building. Each hand grasping the end of a zig-zagged object. The crown of the building is unique. An intricate elaborate interwoven stone sculpture representing radio waves wraps around all four sides of the tower.
The General Electric Building has been designated a New York City Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 2004.
A plaque on the Lexington Avenue side of the building is inscribed:
DESIGNATED LANDMARK
{Seal of the City of New York}
NEW YORK CITY
570 LEXINGTON AVENUE
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DESIGNED BY THE RENOWNED ARCHITECTURAL FIRM OF CROSS &
CROSS, THIS 1929-1931 ART DECO BUILDING IS ONE OF THE MOST
EXPRESSIVE SKYSCRAPERS OF ITS ERA. IT WAS CONSTRUCTED AS
THE HEADQUARTERS FOR THE RCA CORPORATION BUT WAS
DEEDED TO THE GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY PRIOR TO ITS
COMPLETION. THE OCTAGONAL BRICK-CLAD TOWER RISES FIFTY-
STORIES FROM A ROUNDED CORNER. COMPLEX MULTI-COLORED
BRICKWORK AND TERRA COTTA, CARVED RED MARBLE DETAIL,
AND NICKEL-SILVER ORNAMENTATION ARE ESPECIALLY
NOTEWORTHY. THE STYLIZED FIGURES AT THE TOWER'S CROWN
ARE AN ALLEGORY OF "WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS". AN AWARD-
WINNING RESTORATION OF THE BUILDING WAS UNDERTAKEN IN
1994-96 AS A JOINT VENTURE OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, G. SOROS
REALTY, AND THE MENDIK COMPANY UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
WCA DESIGN GROUP, INC.
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NEW YORK LANDMARKS PRESERVATION FOUNDATION
1998
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