Erwin S. Wolfson developed the tower, then called the Pan Am Building. Emery Roth & Sons, with Walter Gropius and Pietro Belluschi, designed it. Construction began on November 26, 1959, the steel topped out in May 1962, and it formally opened on March 7, 1963, though the lead gives 1962 for completion. The article calls the style International.
It is an elongated octagon 808 feet (246 m) high, with 59 stories, over railroad tracks leading into Grand Central Terminal. About 9,000 precast concrete Mo-Sai panels cover stories 10 through 59. The steel frame weighs over 45,000 short tons, and columns reach bedrock about 55 feet (17 m) down. Gross floor area is 2.8 million square feet.
Pan American World Airways was the anchor tenant, and MetLife bought the building in 1981. A rooftop helipad was used until a May 16, 1977 crash killed five people, which ended service. The article reports no landmark designation.
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