Completed in 1958 as the headquarters of the Seagram distilling company, this 38-story tower on Park Avenue was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with Philip Johnson. Phyllis Lambert, the daughter of Seagram's chief executive, objected to the first design, and Mies was chosen instead.
Mies set the tower back from the avenue behind an open plaza of pink granite with two fountains, a generous gesture in crowded Midtown. The walls are a curtain of glass held by bronze mullions, and the building was finished in costly materials throughout, from bronze to travertine and marble.
The New York Times called it one of the city's most copied buildings. Its plaza helped shape New York's 1961 zoning rules, which let developers build more floor space in exchange for public plazas. The exterior and lobby became official landmarks in 1989.
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