Full text of "Rockefeller Center."

SEYMOUR DURST

Rockefeller Center, Inc. New York

Rockefeller Center, Inc., represents the corporate ownership and con- trol of the entire project. As the representatives of this ownership corporation, Todd, Robertson, Todd Engineering Corporation and Todd & Brown, Inc., were desig- nated as builders and managers for the Development.

( 3 Todds lol yeah ok nothing weird there ))

To the builders and managers was assigned the task of creating and managing the exten- sive organization required to plan and carry through all of the many features of the project.

Three firms were officially engaged as architects for Rockefeller Center. These firms are: Reinhard & Hofmeister; Corbett, Harrison & Mac- Murray; and Hood & Fouilhoux.

Under their direction has been devel- oped and perfected the organization of artists and technicians engaged in the building of Rockefeller Center. Clyde R. Place has handled the electrical and mechanical features, and H. G. Balcom has taken care of all structural engineering problems.

Other important consultants who have contributed to the technical perfection of Rockefeller Center include Professor Stanley R. McCandless of Yale University, consultant on lighting; Dr. Paul E. Sabine of the Riverbank Laboratories, Geneva, 111., and Clifford M. Swann of New York City, consultants on acoustics;

The British Empire Building

The British Empire Building is located at 620 Fifth Avenue, at 50th Street. Seven stones high, it has a Fifth Avenue frontage of 70 feet, and a frontage on West 50th Street of 200 feet. Excavation for the structure was begun in February, 1932.

The building was opened to tenants on May 1, 1933. Barr, Irons & Lane, Inc., New York City, were the general contractors. Architects: Reinhard & Hofmeister; Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray; Hood & Fouilhoux.

The British Empire Building is dedicated to the commerce, indus- try and art of the Empire, and is substantially restricted in tenancy to British individuals and companies, or to the American representatives of British companies handling British Empire products.

It flies the British flag and is staffed largely by British Great War veterans.

The Fifth Avenue entrance to the building bears a sculptured decora- tion by Carl Paul Jennewein, American sculptor. The figures set in three panels above the doorways represent nine industries which are of major importance in the economic structure of the British Empire.A fisher- man, a seaman, and a coal miner typify industries of the British Isles; a woman carrying a bag of salt, another female figure standing beside a tobacco plant, and a man holding several stalks of sugar cane graphically suggest the industries of India; a shepherd represents the wool of Australia, a reaper the wheat of Canada, and a woman standing among cotton plants bespeaks Africa's contribution to the varied economic activities of the United Kingdom.

Below the figure of the seaman is a bronze sun sym- bolic of the widespread dominions on which "the sun never sets."

These figures are cast in bronze and finished in gold leaf Surmount- ing them, some thirty feet above the street level, is the British coat-of arms, carved in limestone from models by Mr. Jennewein.

Accross the top of the Fifth Avenue facade are four panels designed by Rene P. Chambellan, American sculptor.

The panels, carved in limestone, are heraldic, the motifs being drawn from the coats-of arms of the historic divisions of the British Kingdom.

The north and south entrances to the British Empire Building, on 50th Street and the Channel, respectively, are decorated with panels designed by Lee Lawne, American sculptor.

Symbolic of the power and authority of the British Empire, the panel over the 50th Street entrance bears the arms of England — the three lions passant-guardant, first worn on the shield of Richard I, King of England, 1 1 89- 1 199. The Tudor rose is incorporated in a decorative strip across the bottom of the panel.

Over the Channel entrance, on the south side of the building, Mr. Lawrie has designed a panel of the winged Mercury, mythical god of commerce.

He is represented as traveling swiftly over the waves, and he signifies the mercantile marine upon which much of England's wealth and power is founded. The waves form an ornamental border across the lower part of the panel.

Modern in Design, Equipment, and Ornamentation

The British Empire Building is modern both in design and in equip- ment. It is air-conditioned throughout, insuring automatic temperature control and comfort at all seasons of the year. A modern type sprinkler system furnishes protection against fire. Westinghouse elevators provide ample interior transportation. The elevator cabs are finished with Madrone burl. The main lobby is faced with English Ashburton marble.

On the roof terrace of the seventh floor a distinctive English garden has been constructed. Built by Ralph Hancock, landscape architect, from plans prepared by the architects of Rockefeller Center, the garden contains a large growing lawn, hedges, trees and several hundred varieties of Alpine plants, roses, tulips and dwarf growing bulbs, planted in specially prepared soil: A retaining wall of selected English sandstone and flagged walkways of the same material surround the lawn. At the Fifth Avenue end is a reflecting pool banked by yew hedges and growing greenery.

The garden was completed in the autumn of 1933, and was the first unit in an extensive landscape gardening program which utilizes modern materials to transform the open areas and the lower roofs of Rockefeller Center into an enchanted land in the heart of the city.

The cornerstone of the building was laid on July 2, 1932, by the Right Honorable the Lord Southborough, chairman of a British group which sponsored the British Empire Building.

The figures, cast in bronze and gold- leafed, represent nine major industries of the United Kingdom. Above them is the British coat-o farms, carved in limestone.

"Right Honorable the Lord Southborough, chairman of a British group which sponsored the British Empire Building"

Francis John Stephens Hopwood, 1st Baron Southborough, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, KCSI, PC (2 December 1860 – 17 January 1947) was a British civil servant and solicitor.

Hopwood was born in Bayswater, London, the son of a barrister. He was educated at King Edward VI School, Louth, Lincolnshire, of which his uncle was headmaster, and was admitted solicitor in 1882. In 1885 he became an assistant law clerk to the Board of Trade, and was appointed Assistant Solicitor to the Board in 1888 and private secretary to the President of the Board of Trade in 1892. In 1893 he became Secretary to the Railway Department and in 1901 Permanent Secretary to the Board of Trade. In 1906 he went to South Africa as a member of the committee to determine the constitutions of the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony.

In 1907 he was appointed Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies and in 1910 Vice-Chairman of the Development Commission. In 1912 he was appointed to the Privy Council and appointed Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty. In 1917 he was elected secretary to the Irish Convention, set up to explore solutions to the Irish Home Rule question. In 1919 he chaired the Franchise Committee looking into the suffrage in India. Thereafter he entered business, taking a number of directorships.

Hopwood was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1893, Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1895, Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in November 1901, Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1906, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in 1908, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in 1916, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1917, and Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI) in the 1920 New Year Honours. On 1 November 1917 he was created Baron Southborough, of Southborough in the County of Kent.

The lifeboat RNLB Lord Southborough (Civil Service No. 1) (ON 688) was named after him.

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