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1221 Avenue of the Americas

1221 Avenue of the Americas

Wallace Harrison

Photo: Capcor1 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
New York City
Client / Owner
Rockefeller Group
Year
Completed 1969
Access
Private
Typology
Commercial

1221 Avenue of the Americas is an International Style office skyscraper on Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The architect Wallace Harrison, of Harrison & Abramovitz, drew its plans in 1963 as part of the Rockefeller Center expansion known as the XYZ Buildings. Construction began in 1966, the building was completed in 1969, and it opened in 1972.

The tower has 51 floors and stands 674 feet tall. It rests on a seven-story base, with red granite piers alternating with glass stripes. A sunken courtyard once held Athelstan Spilhaus's Sun Triangle sculpture, and the lobby has red marble and terrazzo.

McGraw-Hill Financial had its headquarters there from 1972 to 2015. The building earned LEED certification in 2009, and its plaza was renovated in 2023 at a cost of $50 million.

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