Seagram Building

The Seagram Building is at 375 Park Avenue, on the east side of the avenue between 52nd and 53rd streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, United States. The building was never officially named for its original anchor tenant, Canadian conglomerate Seagram, and is legally known only by its address. The building is assigned its own ZIP Code, 10152; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes . The land lot has a frontage of on 52nd Street to the south, on Park Avenue to the west, and on 53rd Street to the north. The site slopes down to the east, descending about from west to east. The 53rd Street side contains an alley about wide, facing 100 East 53rd Street; the alley allows the Seagram Building to remain symmetrical despite the site's irregular shape. Other nearby buildings include 345 Park Avenue across 52nd Street to the south; 399 Park Avenue across 53rd Street to the north; Lever House diagonally across Park Avenue and 53rd Street; and the Racquet and Tennis Club Building and Park Avenue Plaza across Park Avenue to the west. During the late 19th century, the Seagram Building's site had included the original Steinway & Sons piano factory, as well as tenements made of brick or brownstone. The Park Avenue railroad line had run in an open cut in the middle of Park Avenue until the 1900s. The construction of Grand Central Terminal in the early 20th century covered the line, spurring development in the surrounding area, known as Terminal City. The adjacent stretch of Park Avenue became a wealthy neighborhood with upscale apartments, including the Montana Apartments, built in 1914 on the site of the piano factory. These skyscrapers included the Seagram Building, Lever House, the Union Carbide Building, and the Pepsi-Cola Building. Many of these structures either had setbacks, like many of the city's early-20th-century skyscrapers, or were built as glassy rectangular slabs with few decorations. When the Seagram site was assembled in the early 1950s, it contained the Montana Apartments and four smaller row houses and apartment buildings. ==Architecture==

German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the Seagram Building in the International Style. The partnership of Ely Jacques Kahn and Robert Allan Jacobs were the associate architects. Numerous consultants were involved in the building's design, including mechanical engineers Jaros, Baum & Bolles; structural engineers Severud-Elstad Krueger; electrical engineer Clifton E. Smith; lighting consultant Richard Kelly; acoustics consultant Bolt Beranek and Newman; graphics consultant Elaine Lustig; and landscape architects Charles Middeleer and Karl Linn. Phyllis Lambert—a Bronfman family member and the daughter of Seagram CEO Samuel Bronfman, whose idea it was to develop the building—did not impose a budget on Mies. Lambert said the Seagram Building was supposed to "be the crowning glory of everyone's work, his own, the contractor's, and Mies's". The architects used new or redesigned materials if they believed these innovations provided an improvement over existing products. The design used costly, high-quality materials, including bronze, travertine, and marble. The Seagram Building was the first office building in the world to use extruded bronze on a facade, as well as the first New York City skyscraper with full-height plate glass windows. Form The Seagram Building occupies half the site and is recessed behind Park Avenue. The building's main section is a 38-story high-rise slab topped by a mechanical story; it does not include any setbacks. The slab is about tall. As planned, the slab measured . The spine, which forms part of the building's framework, contains restrooms on the sixth to tenth floor and offices above. There are two wings east of the main slab, facing 52nd and 53rd streets; they are variously cited as measuring four The central section between the wings is sometimes characterized as a "bustle" and is ten stories high. The April 1955 edition of Architectural Forum described the relative simplicity of the building's massing as "a no-setback building but a building all set back". Plaza A pink granite plaza with pools and greenery lies on the western side of the Seagram Building; it measures across, with the longer dimension along Park Avenue. The plaza is raised slightly above Park Avenue's sidewalk, with three steps ascending from the sidewalk midway between 52nd and 53rd streets, There are marble caps atop the retaining walls on the side streets, At the eastern ends of the retaining walls on 52nd and 53rd streets are granite steps from street to lobby, above which are travertine canopies The plaza is largely symmetrical, with rectangular pools at the northwest and southwest corners. The southern pool contains a bronze flagpole, the only deviation from the design's symmetry. The pools measure wide by long and each contain of water recirculated every two-and-a-half hours. East of both pools are three planting beds with ivy and a ginkgo tree. The plaza contains a heating system to prevent ice buildup. At the building's completion, the plaza's surface required daily vacuuming with a sweeper. From its construction, the plaza was intended not only as an urban green space but as a point of interest. In its simplicity, the plaza's design was a marked contrast to the Channel Gardens in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, which architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern describes as being known for its festiveness. Though Stern and a National Park Service report both state that Mies could not find a sculptor he felt could produce work suited for the landscape, Each column measures across and two stories tall, rising about . The arcade's ceiling contains recessed light fixtures within a ceramic tile surface. The eastern section of the 52nd Street wing's southern elevation features an entrance to the Grill and Pool restaurant. The curtain wall begins above the lower stories and is composed of non-structural glass walls, which are pinkish-gray. The use of a non-structural curtain wall contrasted with Mies's earlier work, such as 860–880 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, where part of the structural framework was incorporated into the facade. The Seagram Building's glass panels cover about and are designed to be heat- and glare-resistant. Because the windows are sealed permanently, and because there were no setbacks, the Seagram Building's window washing team could not use standard window-washing equipment. Instead, a custom-made pneumatic scaffold was installed, with a deck spanning the width of six windows. Inside, Mies sought to avoid irregularity when window blinds were drawn. As a result, the building uses window blinds with slats at 45-degree angles, allowing the blinds to be set in three positions: fully open, halfway open, or fully closed. The facade uses of bronze, manufactured by the General Bronze Corporation at its plant in Garden City, New York. The glass panes are set within vertical bronze mullions made from extrusions of I-beams. The tops and bottoms of the mullions are tapered, exposing their cross-sections. At the building's completion, General Bronze said the facade would need to be cleaned twice a year with soap, water, and lemon oil to prevent discoloration; this work could be performed using the window-washing scaffold. Each of these shear walls is concealed behind a marble cladding, which itself is covered with curtain-wall panels. The curtain-wall facade cost , equivalent to in . At the time, American building codes required that all structural steel be covered in a fireproof material, such as concrete, because improperly protected steel columns or beams may soften and fail in confined fires. The concrete core shear walls rise to the 17th floor, while the diagonal core bracing, with shear trusses, extends to the 29th floor. The structural system also includes steel columns whose centers are apart. The Seagram Building's heating and air conditioning systems are divided into two sections: a basement unit serving the 20th story and all floors below, and a roof unit serving the 21st story and all floors above. Ducts for utilities such as electric, telephone, and closed-circuit television cables were embedded into the concrete floor slabs. Inside the building were the Four Seasons and Brasserie restaurants, originally designed by Philip Johnson. The restaurant interiors were decorated with numerous artworks. These included the Seagram murals by Mark Rothko, which he claimed were intended to sicken the patrons of the Four Seasons Restaurant, as well as Pablo Picasso's painted curtain Le Tricorne, designed for the Ballets Russes in 1919. By 2017, the building housed three restaurants owned by Major Food Group: the Pool, the Grill, and the Lobster Club. The Pool was merged with the Grill in 2020, though a separate event space called the Pool Lounge continues to operate. connected to the lobby via its own elevator. Covering or , the gym was designed in a contrasting style to the original building to attract younger employees. Next to the court was a multipurpose exercise room, a training area, a spin bike room, and an open lounge. Architecturally, the lobby is treated as an extension of the plaza, sharing its granite floor. This led Mumford to write: "Outside and inside are simply the same." The lobby is divided into three parts: a western section facing the plaza; a central section with elevators; and an eastern section facing the restaurant space. The western part of the lobby has three bronze revolving doors and is interrupted by two bronze columns. The central section comprises three corridors connecting the western and eastern thirds of the lobby, within four elevator and stair enclosures, whose walls are clad with travertine. There are three elevators on each corridor's north and south walls, for a total of eighteen elevators. The northernmost and southernmost elevator enclosures have fire stairs exiting to the plaza, and all enclosures have mechanical spaces and service closets. The interiors of the elevator cabs contain stainless steel and bronze mesh panels, while the ceilings contain white panels that illuminate each cab. Above the elevator doors are fluorescent lights installed in the doorway soffits. The central third of the lobby contains mailboxes, a standpipe alarm box, and service doors made of bronze. The eastern section has two additional revolving doors within the northern and southern glass walls. Throughout the entire lobby, the -tall ceiling is made of black cement and gray glass mosaic tiles. Recessed within the lobby ceiling are lights with dimmers. When they opened as separate restaurants in 2017, the Grill served mid-20th-century cuisine while the Pool largely served seafood. Johnson was the main designer of these spaces. The Pool is on the north side of the first floor; the Grill is on the south side. There are two dining areas on a balcony above the Grill, as well as a balcony above the Pool. A staircase leads down from the Grill Room to a separate entrance lobby and foyer on 52nd Street. Both major rooms and their auxiliary spaces have ceilings with gridded off-white aluminum panels and recessed lighting. The outer walls are glass curtain walls, containing metal curtains that ripple from air released by hidden ventilating ducts. Running north–south between them is a corridor, which is at the top of the stairs leading from the eastern lobby. A glass wall and bronze double doors separate the corridor from the main lobby. The Pool is centered around a white marble pool. On the eastern side of the Pool, a staircase connects to a mezzanine on a podium slightly above the main floor. The Grill had a lounge in its northwest corner and a bar at its southwest corner. The two private dining rooms are on a balcony raised above the main Grill, accessed by separate staircases and separated from the main Grill by walnut paneled doors. Thick girders in both rooms' ceilings eliminated the need for columns in the center of each room. Philip Johnson had designed the original interior, which was damaged in a fire and redesigned by Diller + Scofidio from 1995 to 1999. During a 2017 renovation, the Lobster Club was redesigned by Peter Marino. The second dining room is a private suite with white partition walls, red terrazzo flooring, and metal sculptures. The main dining room had a U-shaped counter surrounded by circular tables and glass-partitioned dining alcoves. The room had wooden panels on its walls; a set of plates designed by Picasso was mounted onto the wooden paneling. The west wall contained a bar on its northern section and a dining alcove on its southern section. The bar, alcove, and second dining room had carpeted floors; the main dining room had wooden floors. The ceiling was made of flat plaster with recessed lighting fixtures. The rear wall of the main dining room contained a double-paned glass wall, behind which sculptures were placed. The men's and women's bathrooms used the same cast-resin sink and were decorated with hexagonal tiles. In general, each of the second through fourth stories has about of rentable office space; the fifth through tenth stories, around ; and the upper stories, around . Johnson mainly oversaw the interior design; The elevator landings have green terrazzo floors, travertine walls, gray elevator-door surrounds, and gypsum ceilings. The elevator doors, suite doors, and partitions were designed to rise from floor to ceiling, which made the openings appear as though they were part of the paneling. The ceilings are acoustically tiled dropped ceilings. which are arranged in a consistent band measuring about wide. The luminous panels, in turn, contain vinyl diffuser panels measuring wide. The Seagram Company occupied the second through eighth stories when the building was completed. The offices had a reception room, containing tapestries and a travertine wall with Seagram's seal. The executive suites contained an oak-paneled dining room (which could double as a conference room) and a kitchen. The fourth floor contained several large spaces for meetings and receptions, including a assembly room that could be partitioned into three sections. Floor-to-ceiling travertine partitions walled off the restrooms in the Seagram suites. Another feature of the Seagram suites was display lights that could retract into the ceiling when they were not being used. Architectural Forum described Seagram's offices as setting "a high standard" for subsequent tenants. ==History==

After the 1933 repeal of Prohibition in the United States, Seagram Distiller's CEO Samuel Bronfman began planning a large Manhattan headquarters, though this plan was not executed for almost two decades. Bronfman decided the headquarters should be situated somewhere on Park Avenue between 50th and 59th streets, which was becoming a commercial area. By the 1950s, New York City was experiencing increased office-tower development, after two decades of reduced demand during the Great Depression and World War II. Bronfman sought to develop a structure that would be considered an "important building", He wanted the building's completion to coincide with the company's centenary in 1957. According to Philip Johnson, the earlier Lever House had set an example for the construction of what became the Seagram Building. Ely Jacques Kahn sent a letter and a brochure to Bronfman in July 1951, requesting an interview with him. The next month, prominent lawyer Alfred L. Rose wrote a letter to Bronfman endorsing Kahn and Jacob's work. Kahn, working with several rental agents, sketched numerous diagrams for the massing of a hypothetical tower on the site, which they called "Operation Skytop". The only extant diagram, labeled as "scheme 2", depicted a bulky tower rising from several shallow setbacks, In June 1954, Bronfman met with Charles Luckman, the former president of Lever Brothers soap company. Bronfman told Luckman that he intended to build a 35-story office tower topped by an imported English castle. The firm had designed many commercial structures after World War II, and Luckman, who had overseen the development of Lever House, said he was "very happy to come back to Park Avenue for a repeat performance". Seagram's building, as originally planned, would have contained a four-story base of marble and bronze topped by a 30-story metal-and-glass shaft. The design would have included an auditorium, film screening room, display rooms, and executive offices, Pereira & Luckman's design attracted negative criticism when it was announced. According to the August 1954 edition of Architectural Forum, critics likened the building's appearance to an "enormous cigarette lighter" and "big trophy". Lambert, Bronfman's 27-year-old daughter, was living in Paris when she saw a rendering of Pereira & Luckman's plan in the New York Herald Tribune Paris edition. Lambert was particularly critical of the plans, Lambert wrote a letter to her father that August, arguing that any new headquarters should be a "contribution" to the city in addition to serving as a symbol of Seagram. In a 2013 book recalling the building's development, Lambert wrote, "This letter starts with one word repeated very emphatically...NO NO NO NO NO." To mollify his daughter, Bronfman offered to allow Lambert to select the marble that would be used on the building's ground floor, an offer that she flatly refused. Pereira & Luckman's design was still publicly marketed as a "preliminary model" but, as Interiors managing editor Olga Gueft said, media reports suggested the original plan "had been dumped overboard". Lambert reached out to a friend at the Museum of Modern Art, who in turn introduced her to Philip Johnson, MoMA's departmental director of architecture and design. Following his recommendation, Lambert examined numerous leading modernist architects and conducted several interviews, asking each architect who they thought should design the building. She eventually narrowed the choice to three architects: Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. Lambert later rejected Wright's design as "not the statement that is needed now", and she expressed concerns that Le Corbusier had little experience designing American buildings. By contrast, Lambert saw Mies as the most trustworthy. Lambert selected Mies to design the building in November 1954. and that younger architects had been inspired by Mies's work. Lambert recalled that Bronfman had few requirements for the building. He created several scale models for the proposed structure and a model of buildings on the avenue between 46th and 57th streets. Ultimately, Mies selected the third plan, which Lambert praised. At the time, 20 of 250 existing tenants on the site had left. Upon Bronfman's suggestion, After Bronfman suggested that the lobby be extended into the plaza to provide space for a bank, Mies traveled to Bronfman's house to convince him against the proposal. Demolition of existing buildings on the site began in September 1955 and was completed in March 1956. Mies applied for membership in the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) New York division, but was rejected in December 1955, Seven hundred workers fitted over 5,000 individual pieces of steelwork together, which weighed in aggregate . Because of a no-idling rule implemented in Midtown Manhattan, some truckers were ticketed while delivering steel beams to the work site, prompting them to strike temporarily until the rule was changed to allow deliveries. The steelwork's construction involved bolting steel beams, rather than riveting them, to reduce noise; this work received an official "Quiet City Award" from the city. The building's bronze and glass facade was installed starting in September 1956 and was completed in April 1957. According to Kahn's diary, the architects discussed "violent changes" to the building's cost and design in July 1957, though these changes were not implemented. and the Department of Buildings granted a temporary certificate of occupancy the next year. The Seagram Building officially opened on May 22, 1958, with the Seagram Company leasing the office space that it did not occupy. Other sources disagree on the final cost, which has been variously cited as $40 million, Cushman & Wakefield was hired as the rental agency. as well as Bethlehem Steel and Maruzen Oil. The building also housed Goodson-Todman Productions; the sales headquarters of Eagle Pencil; an industrial designer; a property manager; an art producer; a direct-mail advertising company; and various other commercial tenants. Restaurant Associates took ground-level space for the Four Seasons and Brasserie restaurants, which opened in 1959. By 1961, there was a waiting list for space in the Seagram Building. In its early years, the Seagram Building and its plaza were used for displays and exhibitions. For instance, in 1958, the building held an art show to celebrate the 13th anniversary of the United Nations. A sculptured head from the Mesoamerican Olmec civilization was displayed in the plaza in 1965. The World Monuments Fund displayed a moai head in the Seagram Building's plaza in 1968 to draw attention to the artifacts on Easter Island, which were seen as endangered. Atmospheres and Environment XII, an environmental steel sculpture by Louise Nevelson, was installed at the Seagram Building's plaza in 1971. Other sculptures or artworks erected in the Seagram Building and plaza included Barnett Newman's sculpture Broken Obelisk, displayed in 1967, as well as Jean Dubuffet's sculpture Milord la Chimarre, displayed in 1974. The recalculated tax assessment of $21 million was based on the potential value if the building were to be demolished, whereas Seagram fought to keep the assessment at $17 million, based on the rental income it earned. The higher tax assessment was upheld by the New York Court of Appeals, a decision the Regional Plan Association criticized as potentially destroying "the hope of great commercial architecture in New York State". Architectural writer Ada Louise Huxtable called the tax a beginning of the city's "architectural annihilation", saying the higher tax assessment was a "special method of taxing architectural excellence". There was still high demand for office space in Midtown Manhattan, despite a myriad of new development in the area. For example, when real estate investment firm Realty Equities moved its headquarters to the Seagram Building in 1968, another company immediately offered to sublet Realty's space at a much higher price. 1970s The Seagram Company eventually found its own headquarters' rent to be too high, giving up half of its in the building and moving approximately 600 of its 983 employees elsewhere in 1972. In a letter to mayor John Lindsay, Seagram officials attributed the relocation in part because of the high tax assessment on the Seagram Building. During the 1970s, Seagram received several offers for the building from potential buyers, and the company contemplated selling it and leasing back its own space. The same year, Bronfman's son and Seagram's president Edgar Bronfman Sr. asked the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to grant city-landmark status to the building. The move surprised mayor Abraham Beame, since the city's landlords typically attempted to prevent their buildings from being listed as landmarks. Bronfman proposed that the LPC allow designations of buildings less than 30 years old if their owners supported landmark status, but no action was taken on the proposal. TIAA ownership In February 1979, Seagram offered the tower for sale at $75 million. In the absence of official landmark status, the company mandated that the new owner preserve the exterior and public spaces in their original condition. Seagram sold the building to the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) for $85.5 million in June 1979, leasing some space back from them. This fee included $70.5 million for the structure and $15 million for the underlying land. As part of the sale, the building retained the "Seagram" name, although it was only identified on signage by its address.--> For decades after the sale, Lambert continued to be involved with the Seagram Building's operation. The Four Seasons' operators also separately endorsed landmark designation for their restaurant's interior in the Seagram Building. On October 3, 1989, the LPC designated the Seagram Building's exterior, the lobby, and the Four Seasons Restaurant as landmarks. The Four Seasons was only the second restaurant interior in the city to be designated a landmark, after Gage and Tollner in Brooklyn. While the TIAA had strongly supported the exterior and lobby landmark designations, it sued the LPC in 1990 to have the designation for the Four Seasons removed. The TIAA argued that the restaurant was personal property and that the designation would force the restaurant to continue operating even if the owners wished to close it. The state's Court of Appeals upheld the designation in 1993. The Brasserie, not covered in any of the landmark designations, was renovated in 1999 after being damaged by a fire in 1995. completing his purchase that December. At the time, 99.5 percent of the building's space was occupied, but only six original tenants remained. and spent $20 million on renovations over the next four years. The French media conglomerate Vivendi, which acquired the Seagram Company in 2000, started selling off the building's art in 2003 to raise money. RFR received the LPC's permission in 2005 to transfer unused development rights at the Seagram Building site to a neighboring building. In exchange, the Seagram Building's owners would be required to keep the facade in near-original condition. The Seagram Building was nominated for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on January 12, 2006, and was added to the NRHP on February 24, 2006. RFR obtained full ownership of the Seagram Building in 2013, when it purchased a 14 percent stake from Harry Lis. In 2015, RFR decided to terminate Four Seasons' and the Brasserie's leases ahead of schedule, and the restaurants were closed. RFR proposed changes to the Four Seasons' interior, including removing the glass wall between the Grill Room and Pool Room, as well as converting the wine cellar to restrooms. The LPC rejected RFR's proposal to change the interior of The Four Seasons Restaurant, except for a carpet replacement, which the commission allowed. Annabelle Selldorf restored the physical structure while William Georgis oversaw the interior design. That year, architect Peter Marino designed the Lobster Club within the former Brasserie space in the basement. Initially, RFR did not seek the LPC's permission to change the landmark-designated Four Seasons interior, only requesting permission in late 2017 after the renovations were completed. The LPC retroactively approved the renovations nearly two years later, with some modifications. To conform to the plans that the LPC had approved, the Pool's lounge room was closed in December 2019 for a one-month renovation. The next month, the Grill took over the Pool because of higher demand for cuisine in the Grill. 2020s to present Rosen announced in mid-2020 that he would renovate much of the garage into the Seagram Playground, a communal workers' space and gym, over the following one and a half years. The communal space was announced as a way to attract tenants in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, as well as the departure of Wells Fargo, a major tenant. The Seagram Playground was completed in August 2022 for $25 million; The building was almost fully occupied by the end of 2022, after firms such as Blue Owl Capital and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice signed or renewed their leases. Rosen and his partner Michael Fuchs sought to refinance the Seagram Building by early 2023, as a $783 million commercial mortgage-backed security loan on the building was expected to mature at the end of the year; the loan was extended that May. Rosen refinanced the building for $1.1 billion in December 2023 and renewed leases for more than of space during that year. In February 2025, Rosen refinanced the building again, obtaining a $1.2 billion commercial mortgage-backed security loan from a syndicate led by Morgan Stanley. ==Impact==

Reception When the Seagram Building was completed, Lewis Mumford described the structure as a "Rolls-Royce" of buildings and wrote that "it has the aesthetic impact that only a unified work of art carried through without paltry compromises can have". In 1957, Thomas W. Ennis of The New York Times wrote the building was "one of the most notable of Manhattan's post-war buildings" and characterized its design as the high point of Mies's career. Similarly, Progressive Architecture described the Seagram Building as "probably the most heralded new building in the U.S." in 1958. According to Architectural Forum in 1958, "Seagram challenges accepted skyscraper practice all the way down the line." At a meeting of the Italian Cultural Institute the following year, architect Gino Pollini said the Seagram Building was "a masterpiece of functional and esthetic architecture". When Mies died in 1969, The New York Times wrote that he had considered the Seagram Building his third-favorite design, after Crown Hall and the Chicago Federal Center in Chicago. Eight years after the building opened, Ada Louise Huxtable wrote that it was "dignified, sumptuous, severe, sophisticated, cool, consummately elegant architecture". The New York Times Magazine described the lobby in 1975 as one of "The Ten Best Lobbies in New York". Architectural writer G. E. Kidder Smith found the building and its features to be "in toto incomparable" in 1981. Franz Schulze described the building's design in 1985 as having been enhanced by its setting, According to Jerold Kayden, who wrote about the building in 2000, the Seagram Building "remains the city's quintessential International Style masterpiece of 'tower in the park' architecture". Architectural Record magazine described the Seagram Building the same year as one of the United States' "most famous [architectural] works of the mid-20th century" that were protected as local or national landmarks. In 2001, architecture critic Herbert Muschamp referred to it as "the Building of Two Millenniums," writing that it encompassed "everything essential in Western architecture". Ricardo Scofidio of Diller Scofidio + Renfro said the construction of the Seagram Building "was the first time you really realized that architecture brought something to the city that didn't exist". While Mumford largely praised the design, he found the plaza's pools and fountains to be a "gross defect" in what was otherwise a "masterpiece". Architectural recognition The Fifth Avenue Association called the Seagram Building the best edifice constructed on Park Avenue between 1956 and 1957. The city government gave the Seagram Company an award in 1963 for the building's positive impact on the city's beauty. The following year, the Municipal Art Society (MAS) gave a bronze plaque to the building, recognizing it as a "modern landmark". Philip Johnson received the city's Bronze Medallion for the Seagram Building's design in 1979. Simultaneously, the AIA's New York division gave the Seagram Company a special citation recognizing the company's "most elegant contribution to the art of architecture and the care with which it is maintained". A 1976 poll of American-architecture experts ranked the Seagram Building as the fifth-best structure in the U.S., while a 1982 poll of Architecture: the AIA journal readers ranked the Seagram Building as the second-best. The AIA further recognized the Seagram Building in 1984 with a Twenty-five Year Award for its "ability to stand to the test of time". In a survey of 170 AIA fellows the next year, the building was ranked second on a list of the "most successful examples of architectural design". In addition, it was included in the 2013 PBS documentary and companion book 10 Buildings that Changed America. The building received lower rankings from the general public; a survey in 2007 found that it was not among Americans' 150 favorite buildings. Design influence , which followed the Seagram Building's model of a slab behind a plaza The Seagram Building's plaza was popular immediately when the building opened, being frequented by both office workers and tourists. In 1971, the plaza was the setting of a planning study by sociologist William H. Whyte, whose film The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, produced with the Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS), records the daily patterns of people socializing around the plaza. Whyte praised the plaza as allowing a sense of choice, in that patrons could lie down or sit on the ledges or steps, despite their relatively plain design. The plaza's presence helped influence the 1961 Zoning Resolution, Even before the 1961 zoning codes had been implemented, some New York City buildings followed the Seagram's model of a slab behind a plaza, such as the Time–Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, the former Union Carbide Building at 270 Park Avenue, and the One Chase Manhattan Plaza building at 28 Liberty Street. Though Mies did not believe that the Seagram Building was especially different from his other designs, as well as Chicago's Richard J. Daley Center. According to writer E. C. Relph, the design was "widely in various and shapes by other architects", though Relph considered some of the other towers to be "devoid of interesting copies". In mid-2005, the Skyscraper Museum in Lower Manhattan asked 100 architects, builders, critics, engineers, historians, and scholars, among others, to choose their 10 favorites among 25 of the city's towers. The Seagram Building came in second place behind the Chrysler Building, with 76 respondents placing it on their ballots. ==See also==