If you go to New York and look for the Pan Am Building, not find it. The reason is very simple: the Pan Am Building no longer exists. This, at least officially, as the famous octagonal tower that was once the seat of the Pan Am has, for several years, and now renamed calling MetLife Building. The building - imposing, massive, dominant, unique - but what has remained the same since 1963, the year of its inauguration. Here, give me a touch of nostalgia, we will continue to call it the skyscraper of the Pan Am
BIRTH OF AN ICON
Alto 246 meters, arranged over 58 floors, the building was inaugurated on March 7, 1963. At the time, set a record: it was the largest building in the world for business purposes only. Its offices were occupied by the Pan Am (who was also the owner of the entire building) and several other business tenants. The project was developed from 1958 study by Emery Roth & Sons, in collaboration with the acclaimed architect Walter Gropius and Pietro Belluschi. The building originally designed by Emery Roth & Sons was more modest than the final result, and also had a different vision, as it was back on Park Avenue in a north-south. The intervention of Gropius and Belluschi radically changed the design, giving the building its distinctive shape of an octagon crushed and his eye-catching array east-west across Park Avenue. Distinctive mark of the skyscraper was the unmistakable presence at the top, on all four sides, the symbols of Pan Am The Pan Am writing stood out triumphant on the facades north and south, east and west sides while housed the largest company logo in the shape of the globe.
Ownership Change '
In 1981, Pan Am sold the skyscraper that bore his name to the insurance company MetLife, the (then) record $ 400 million dollars. The decision was a result of the crisis that hit the airline in the 70s and the need to monetize some of its assets. The sales agreement stated that Pan Am would continue to occupy their offices inside the building with a rent discount to market price (about 30% less) as stating that the name and logo Pan Am on the building would remain unchanged. So for the 80s, the building continued to be called officially Pan Am Pan Am Building even though he was not more than the owner. In 1991, when Pan Am ceased operations and left empty offices, MetLife saw to change the signs of the building, officially renamed MetLife Building. In 2005, MetLife, in turn, sold the tower (which continues to call MetLife Building) to the real estate company Tishman Speyer Properties (U.S. real estate giant that has held, among others, the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center).
THE MOST 'HATED BY NEW YORK
Fin since its inception, the skyscraper has an individual prior to Pan Am, which is to be the building that New Yorkers hate the most. In 1987 a poll of the magazine put the New York skyscraper Pan Am in the first place among the buildings that the inhabitants of the Big Apple would like to see demolished. The grounds for such a deep antipathy there is definitely its location. The Pan Am bar in fact in mid-Park Avenue, blocking the view of the famous, and obscure, with its massive and powerful figure, other surrounding noble palaces, in particular the Helmsley Building. Despite the opinion of New Yorkers, the Pan Am Building has always been a highly sought after by business address and professional firms. Luxury and convenience are the factors behind the choice of a place of business in this building. Luxury, as the Pan Am remains one of the most famous and instantly recognizable buildings on the skyline of Manhattan. Comfort, as it is located immediately behind the train station, Grand Central Terminal.
IN FLIGHT OVER MANHATTAN
One of the unique characteristics of the Pan Am Building was the presence of a heliport on its roof, which would made possible the striking link service via helicopter between the center of New York (represented precisely the Pan Am Building) and the major city airports. The service was provided by two companies: Pan Am itself and the New York Airways. The helicopters were able to accommodate up to thirty passengers. The service was active between 1965 and 1968 and again briefly in 1977 when a tragic accident caused its discontinuation.
TRAGEDY IN PAN AM SKYSCRAPER
On May 16, 1977, at 17:35, an accident, the dramatic and spectacular, starring a helicopter saw the New York Airways, just as it was parked on the roof of the building of the Pan Am and was embarking passengers, with the rotating blades. Four passengers were already on board (along with three crew members) and others were on board when suddenly, the right of the helicopter landing gear collapsed. The helicopter tilted to the right and struck the pole rotary movement in some of the people who were preparing to go up, killing four and seriously wounding a fifth. Also, a blade broke away from the helicopter and broke in two, one half flew a couple of blocks and fell to the ground at the intersection of Madison Avenue and 43rd Street, killing a passerby and serious injury of another.
This is not the only dramatic piece of news related to the Pan Am Building. Two years earlier, to be exact on February 3, 1975, there was another shocking episode. Eli M. Black, then owner and CEO of United Brands Company (now Chiquita Brands International), shattered a window with the briefcase in his office on the 44th floor and launched into space, finding the underlying death on Park Avenue. A subsequent investigation by the SEC (the American Committee for the Control of Stock Exchange) designed to investigate the reasons for the suicide of Eli M. Black revealed the existence of the scandal known as Bananagate and the payment by the United Brands Company, large sums of money to the president of Honduras in exchange for a substantial reduction in taxes that the country applied on the export of bananas.
THE CINEMA
The skyscraper Pan Am appeared in several films.
In the 1968 film "The Man with the bolo tie" (directed by Don Siegel), the protagonist, an Arizona sheriff played by Clint Eastwood, comes to Manhattan by helicopter landing on top of the Pan Am Building.
In the 1998 film "Godzilla", the Pan Am building is devastated by the passage of Godzilla, who goes crazy for New York and dig a giant hole in the building.
BIRTH OF AN ICON
Alto 246 meters, arranged over 58 floors, the building was inaugurated on March 7, 1963. At the time, set a record: it was the largest building in the world for business purposes only. Its offices were occupied by the Pan Am (who was also the owner of the entire building) and several other business tenants. The project was developed from 1958 study by Emery Roth & Sons, in collaboration with the acclaimed architect Walter Gropius and Pietro Belluschi. The building originally designed by Emery Roth & Sons was more modest than the final result, and also had a different vision, as it was back on Park Avenue in a north-south. The intervention of Gropius and Belluschi radically changed the design, giving the building its distinctive shape of an octagon crushed and his eye-catching array east-west across Park Avenue. Distinctive mark of the skyscraper was the unmistakable presence at the top, on all four sides, the symbols of Pan Am The Pan Am writing stood out triumphant on the facades north and south, east and west sides while housed the largest company logo in the shape of the globe.
Ownership Change '
In 1981, Pan Am sold the skyscraper that bore his name to the insurance company MetLife, the (then) record $ 400 million dollars. The decision was a result of the crisis that hit the airline in the 70s and the need to monetize some of its assets. The sales agreement stated that Pan Am would continue to occupy their offices inside the building with a rent discount to market price (about 30% less) as stating that the name and logo Pan Am on the building would remain unchanged. So for the 80s, the building continued to be called officially Pan Am Pan Am Building even though he was not more than the owner. In 1991, when Pan Am ceased operations and left empty offices, MetLife saw to change the signs of the building, officially renamed MetLife Building. In 2005, MetLife, in turn, sold the tower (which continues to call MetLife Building) to the real estate company Tishman Speyer Properties (U.S. real estate giant that has held, among others, the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center).
THE MOST 'HATED BY NEW YORK
Fin since its inception, the skyscraper has an individual prior to Pan Am, which is to be the building that New Yorkers hate the most. In 1987 a poll of the magazine put the New York skyscraper Pan Am in the first place among the buildings that the inhabitants of the Big Apple would like to see demolished. The grounds for such a deep antipathy there is definitely its location. The Pan Am bar in fact in mid-Park Avenue, blocking the view of the famous, and obscure, with its massive and powerful figure, other surrounding noble palaces, in particular the Helmsley Building. Despite the opinion of New Yorkers, the Pan Am Building has always been a highly sought after by business address and professional firms. Luxury and convenience are the factors behind the choice of a place of business in this building. Luxury, as the Pan Am remains one of the most famous and instantly recognizable buildings on the skyline of Manhattan. Comfort, as it is located immediately behind the train station, Grand Central Terminal.
IN FLIGHT OVER MANHATTAN
One of the unique characteristics of the Pan Am Building was the presence of a heliport on its roof, which would made possible the striking link service via helicopter between the center of New York (represented precisely the Pan Am Building) and the major city airports. The service was provided by two companies: Pan Am itself and the New York Airways. The helicopters were able to accommodate up to thirty passengers. The service was active between 1965 and 1968 and again briefly in 1977 when a tragic accident caused its discontinuation.
TRAGEDY IN PAN AM SKYSCRAPER
On May 16, 1977, at 17:35, an accident, the dramatic and spectacular, starring a helicopter saw the New York Airways, just as it was parked on the roof of the building of the Pan Am and was embarking passengers, with the rotating blades. Four passengers were already on board (along with three crew members) and others were on board when suddenly, the right of the helicopter landing gear collapsed. The helicopter tilted to the right and struck the pole rotary movement in some of the people who were preparing to go up, killing four and seriously wounding a fifth. Also, a blade broke away from the helicopter and broke in two, one half flew a couple of blocks and fell to the ground at the intersection of Madison Avenue and 43rd Street, killing a passerby and serious injury of another.
This is not the only dramatic piece of news related to the Pan Am Building. Two years earlier, to be exact on February 3, 1975, there was another shocking episode. Eli M. Black, then owner and CEO of United Brands Company (now Chiquita Brands International), shattered a window with the briefcase in his office on the 44th floor and launched into space, finding the underlying death on Park Avenue. A subsequent investigation by the SEC (the American Committee for the Control of Stock Exchange) designed to investigate the reasons for the suicide of Eli M. Black revealed the existence of the scandal known as Bananagate and the payment by the United Brands Company, large sums of money to the president of Honduras in exchange for a substantial reduction in taxes that the country applied on the export of bananas.
THE CINEMA
The skyscraper Pan Am appeared in several films.
In the 1968 film "The Man with the bolo tie" (directed by Don Siegel), the protagonist, an Arizona sheriff played by Clint Eastwood, comes to Manhattan by helicopter landing on top of the Pan Am Building.
In the 1998 film "Godzilla", the Pan Am building is devastated by the passage of Godzilla, who goes crazy for New York and dig a giant hole in the building.
0 comments:
Post a Comment