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Iconic Rainbow Room Inching Towards Landmark Status
By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 13, 2012
Modified Aug 13, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 13, 2012
Modified Aug 13, 2012
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It has been more than a year since even the slightest of peeps were heard from that late, great, symbol of New York City decadent dining and dancing: The Rainbow Room. So it makes sense for an update about now—and depending on your perspective the news is good. Interior landmark status, anyone?
Yup, the city Landmarks Preservation Commission is holding a meeting tomorrow to discuss turning the interior of the the famed Rockefeller Center restaurant in the sky into a New York City landmark [PDF]. Specifically they want to landmark:
Part of the 65th floor interiors, east side, consisting of the fixtures and interior components of this space, including but not limited to, walls and ceiling surfaces, floor surfaces, seating platforms, stage, rotating dance floor, metal railings, lighting fixtures, and mirrors, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, (aka 1240-1256 Avenue of the Americas; 31-81 West 49th Street; 30-64 West 50th Street), Manhattan.
Or, pretty much the stunning ballroom which, floating above the city, is much more impressive in person than it appears in pictures. Still, if the Commission moves the plan forward, it won't immediately become a landmark. Public hearings would have to be held on the proposal. And Tishman Speyer, which owns the space and has been "looking" for a new tenant since Cipriani got the boot in 2008, is not keen on getting landmarked. That designation will only make any renovations they want to do more expensive and make the place trickier to maintain. According to the Post, they "recently gutted areas surrounding the ballroom, including space for a new kitchen. The old kitchen on the 64th floor was converted to offices for another tenant."
There aren't that many interiors left in New York City that can qualify for landmark status, but the Rainbow Room is easily one of them. That ballroom is freaking gorgeous. And considering how much the city royally screwed up the Tavern on The Green it'd be a shame to see Tishman Speyer do the same to Rockefeller Center locale.
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rainbow room
rockefeller center
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Garth Johnston
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