Rockefeller Center
A “city within a city” built during the Great Depression, with the country’s most famous Christmas tree
The story
Before you is Rockefeller Center. In 1928 John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased nearly three blocks between Fifth and Sixth Avenues from Columbia University. He dreamed of a “city within a city.” It was built during the Great Depression. In December 1931 the construction workers pooled their money and bought a twenty-foot fir tree. They decorated it with homemade garlands and stood it right on the building site as a sign of hope. Two years later the tree became a tradition, and now it is lit here every winter. The main tower is 30 Rockefeller Plaza. For its lobby, the Mexican artist Diego Rivera painted the mural Man at the Crossroads in 1933. Among its figures was Lenin. Nelson Rockefeller asked him to remove the portrait, and Rivera refused. The artist was dismissed, the mural was covered, and in February 1934 it was destroyed. Rivera later painted it again in Mexico City, at the Palace of Fine Arts. Above the rink before you is the golden Prometheus by the sculptor Paul Manship, from 1934. It is eighteen feet tall and weighs eight tons. The Titan who stole fire from the gods flies above a mountain; the fountain below stands for the sea, and the ring of the zodiac around him for the heavens. Nearby is the inscription: Prometheus, teacher in every art, brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends.
Visiting
Between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, from 48th to 51st Street; the Channel Gardens lead from Fifth Avenue to the rink. The plaza is open to all. The winter rink and the Top of the Rock observation deck at 30 Rockefeller Plaza are paid; tickets on rockefellercenter.com.
Sources
- Rockefeller Center — Art & History
- Rockefeller Center Magazine — The Story of the Prometheus Sculpture
- MoMA — Diego Rivera: Murals for the Museum of Modern Art, Chronology
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Diego Rivera
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