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Landmarks
10 Rockefeller Plaza – Application for a Certificate of Appropriateness for Entrance Alterations including new artwork, new canopy installation, new signage, and new door infill
At the regularly scheduled monthly Community Board Five meeting on Thursday, May 11, 2023, the following resolution passed with a vote of 28 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, 10 Rockefeller Plaza (“Applicant”), aka the Eastern Airlines Building, is a 17-story building located on the west side of Rockefeller Plaza between 48th and 49th Streets opening in 1940 and made of Indiana Limestone, and is one of 14 buildings on the 12-acre site of Rockefeller Center constructed by Associated Architects including Raymond Hood; and
WHEREAS, Applicant is proposing several alterations to the West 48 th Street entrance which will serve as the main entrance to The Little Nell Hotel which will partially occupy this building, including new artwork, a new canopy installation, new plaque signage, and a renovated entry hall leading to new door infill; and
WHEREAS, Applicant is proposing new, large scale artwork in the form of a white bronze bas relief above an existing building entrance on West 48th Street that will require the removal of original limestone façade, and the installation of new limestone enframement matching the existing limestone; and
WHEREAS, Applicant is proposing a new canopy extending 9ft over the sidewalk and built 11ft 3.5in wide, with a brushed nickel finish and opaque glass with a bronze textured mesh, and with embedded down-lighting, along with up-lights to highlight the proposed artwork; and
WHEREAS, Applicant is proposing signage measuring 16in x 18in on each side of the entrance with a brushed nickel finish with back-lighting to highlight the hotel logo; and
WHEREAS, Applicant is proposing new entry infill to replace non-historic materials in a recessed entryway that extends about 25ft in from the sidewalk, including new recessed cove lighting, electric heat panels, new limestone wall panels to match existing panels, new terrazzo flooring to match the existing terrazzo flooring, new white bronze and glass swing doors, as well as an undulating ceiling design extending from the lobby to the canopy; and
WHEREAS, Applicant is urged to re-use any original limestone and other original materials in other places throughout the Center as needed, or to have it stored properly on-site; and
WHEREAS, Replaced limestone and terrazzo materials in-kind will be deemed original material and part of the historic fabric of this Landmark; and
WHEREAS, The proposed artwork is contextual to the Landmark and is similar in scale and material to other artwork throughout the Center, and is being placed in a location that was originally planned to have artwork based on early architectural drawings but was never installed; and
WHEREAS, Proposed limestone enframement is of like-material and is to scale with the building features; and
WHEREAS, Proposed signage is contextual in size and material, but the back-lighting is too modern and not appropriate for this Landmark; and
WHEREAS, The proposed canopy is very modern with integrated down-lighting and of much larger scale than other canopy designs in the Center; and
WHEREAS, Proposed entry renovations are using in-kind materials on the walls and floors, and appropriate doors that would be preferably of a bronze-like finish (although it’s noted there are several styles throughout the Center), but the undulating ceiling design is very modern and not appropriate for an entrance into this historic building; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends denial unless 1) the proposed canopy is reduced in scale and has the integrated down-lighting removed, 2) the proposed signage removed the back-lighting, and 3) the proposed undulating ceiling between the canopy and the entry is designed to be less modern and more contextual with the Landmark.