The Seagram Building is recognized as one of the world's great architectural masterpieces. The distinctive landmark building was commissioned in 1958 by the Seagram Company. Clad in 1500 tons of bronze, it was noted for the metal vertical columns affixed the the curtain wall to express structure. Window shades operated in only 3 positions. Its plaza caused the NY City Zoning ordinance to be changed in 1961 to allow ten additional square feet of interior space for each square foot of street-level open space. With that provision, plazas soon appeared at office building sites throughout the city. The New York Times heralded the Seagram Building as "the millennium's most important building."Charles Bronfman had made his fortune in bootlegging and had a dubious reputation which he was anxious to redeem. So he bought the block on 53rd Street. He actually commissioned Charles Luckman to do a design. His daughter was travelling in Italy at the time; he sent it to her and she wrote back 'NO NO NO NO'. She took on the role of hiring the architect. She ended up hiring Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, then Architecture Curator at the new Museum of Modern Art. The building's elegant simplicity juxtaposed against its constructional rigor embodies Mies van der Rohe's famed dictum "less is more" and personifies modern architecture.

Seagram Building

 Barry Bergdoll, Phillip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA speaks on how the interaction between the Seagram Building, Lever House, and Tennis and Racquet Club activates the urban environment at 53rd Street and Park Avenue. 

 Architectural historian Carol Krinsky talks about the Seagram Building. 

 Phyllis Lambert discusses the Seagrams Building and its Plaza and its effect on New York City. 

 This Byzantine-style church incorporates a 1903 French Romanesque portal from its previous Madison Ave. location. Designed by Stanford White and funded as a memorial for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, the portal features Renaissance-inspired sculpture and ornate brass doors. There are stained glass windows by Hildreth Meire and the city's largest pipe organ. The community house was constructed later by Goodhue's firm after he had died. 

 Architectural historian Carol Krinsky on the Helmsley Building, the electrification of the railroad, and the creation of Park Avenue. 

 Architectural historian Carol Krinsky explains how zoning laws shaped the development of Midtown Manhattan in the mid-twentieth century. 

Charles Luckman was fired as the President of Unilever just before Lever House opened. Ever resourceful, he called up his former roommate from architectural school William Perreira who invited him to join his Los Angeles Architectural practice. He moves and gets immediately tapped by Charles Bronfman to design the Seagram Building. Bronfman shows the design to his daughter Phyllis who does not approve, takes over the design process and hires Mies Van Der Rohe and Phillip Johnson to design the building.