Filling the whole block west of Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th streets, Rockefeller Center was built between 1932 and 1940 by John D. Rockefeller, son of the oil magnate. It's one of the finest pieces of urban planning anywhere - office space with cafés, a theater, underground concourses and rooftop gardens work together with a rare intelligence and grace.
You're lured into the center from Fifth Avenue down the gentle slope of the Channel Gardens to the GE Building , focus of the center. Rising 850 feet, this monumental structure is softened by symmetrical setbacks. At its foot, the Lower Plaza holds a sunken restaurant and bar in the summer months, linked visually to the downward flow of the building by Paul Manship's sparkling Prometheus sculpture; in winter it becomes an ice rink, giving skaters a chance to show off their skills to passing shoppers. Inside, the GE Building's lobby are José Maria Sert's murals, American Progress and Time , which are faded but eagerly in tune with the 1930s Deco ambience.
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