I.andmarks Preservation Commission october 3, 1989; Designation List 221 IP-1665 SEAGRAM BUIIDING, FIRST FLOOR INTERIOR consisting of the lobby and passenger elevator cabs and the fixtures and interior components of these spaces including but not limited to, interior piers, wall surfaces, ceiling surfaces, floor surfaces, doors, railings, elevator doors, elevator indicators, and signs; 375 Park Avenue, Manhattan. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with Philip Johnson; Kahn & Jacobs, associate architects. Built 1956-58. Landmark Site: Borough of Manhattan Tax Map Block 1307, Lot 1. On May 17, 1988, the landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation as a Landmark of the Seagram Building, first floor interior, consisting of the lobby and passenger elevator cabs and the fixtures and interior components of these spaces including but not limited to, interior piers, wall surfaces, ceiling surfaces, floor surfaces, doors, railings, elevator doors, elevator indicators, and signs; and the proposed designation of the related I.and.mark Site (Item No. 2). The hearing had been duly advertised in accordance with the provisions of law. Twenty witnesses, including a representative of the building's owner, spoke in favor of designation. No witnesses spoke in opposition to designation. The Commission has received many letters in favor of designation. DFSCRIPI'ION AND ANALYSIS Summary The Seagram Building, erected in 1956-58, is the only building in New York City designed by architectural master Iudwig Mies van der Rohe. Constructed on Park Avenue at a time when it was changing from an exclusive residential thoroughfare to a prestigious business address, the Seagram Building embodies the quest of a successful corporation to establish further its public image through architectural patronage. The president of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Samuel Bronfrnan, with the aid of his daughter Phyllis Lambert, carefully selected Mies, assisted by Philip Johnson, to design an office building later regarded by many, including Mies himself, as his crowning work and the apotheosis of International style towers. The space of the tranquil granite and marble plaza extends into the first floor lobby, designed by Johnson. This unity is achieved through the use of conunon materials, continuous horizontal planes, and the transparency of glazed exterior walls. In addition, the design of the lobby is inherently bound to that of the tower: bronze-clad columns along with other carefully crafted rich materials are common to both. Johnson was assisted by a coalition of talented consultants, a successful collaboration rarely realized in twentieth-century architecture. Together they produced a grand but understated lobby, the architectural character of which is accentuated by innovative illtnnination and other technical features. Still virtually intact due to the foresighted maintenance plan of the Seagram Company, the building and plaza, along with the lobby, have inspired the work of many 1

subsequent designers and provided a favorable environment for work and repose. History of the Sitel The history of Fourth (now Park) Avenue begins with the advent of the railroads. In 1834 the New York and Harlem Railroad first carried passengers along grade-level tracks down the center of Fourth Avenue from 42nd to 96th streets. By 1848 the New Haven Railroad entered Manhattan along Fourth Avenue. As railroad traffic increased, the avenue was widened to pe:nnit additional tracks and the city mandated depressed tracks to minimize problems of noise, smoke, and the danger of fire and injury. By the 1880s, Fourth Avenue officially became known as Park Avenue and was lined with one- and two-story connnercial buildings and carriage houses serving the brownstone residences on nearby side streets; the trains ran in an open cut below grade to the Grand Central Depot. The east side of Park Avenue between East 52nd and 53rd streets contained the finishing manuf

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