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General Electric Building

General Electric Building

John Walter Cross

Cross & Cross

Photo: Fletcher6 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
570 Lexington Avenue, Midtown Manhattan, New York
Client / Owner
Bartholomew Building Corporation
Year
Completed 1931
Access
Public
Typology
Commercial

The General Electric Building at 570 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan was designed by John Walter Cross of Cross & Cross for the Bartholomew Building Corporation, originally for RCA. Construction began on May 3, 1930, and ended at the close of 1931. The infobox gives Art Deco, and the text adds Gothic Revival ornamentation.

The 50-story building is 640 feet (195 m) high, with a base filling the lot for twelve stories and an octagonal tower above. The brick matches nearby St. Bartholomew's Church, and terracotta on the upper stories was sprayed with 14-carat gold. Lightning-bolt decoration and a GE clock mark the exterior.

A 1935 fire damaged the 48th and 49th floor dining rooms, and a 1993 to 1995 renovation refurbished the lobby. The lobby is not an official landmark because GE opposed designation. It is an office building, with a food hall in the base opened in 2018.

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