Budova společnosti Pan Am je reprezentantem nastupujícího brutalismu do estetiky mezinárodního stylu. Mrakodrap je ryzí komerční budovou s rozsáhlými pronajímatelnými plochami, jednoduchým tvarováním a absencí luxusních detailů v interiéru i exteriéru. Přestože sklidila ze strany estétů velkou kritiku, její nájemci si budovu oblíbili. Jistě i z toho důvodu, že se nachází v bezprostředním sousedství newyorského nádraží Grand Central.
Velmi silná nevole mnohých Newyorčanů vůči mrakodrapu byla korunována anketou jistého lifestylové časopisu, v níž Pan Am získal první místo na seznamu budov určených k okamžité demolici.
Dům má ale i hodně zastánců. Architekti jej chválí a nacházejí odvážnou konstrukční paralelu mezi Pan Amem a milánskou Pirelli Tower (Gio Ponti, Pier Luigi Nervi; 1959-60). Narozdíl od miesovských skleněných struktur je fasáda Pan Amu plná a plastická, což je ohleduplnější k historickým budovám v sousedství.
Pan American World Airways vlastnily budovu mnoho let. Jejich logotyp zářil v koruně severní a jižní fasády, zatímco na fasádě východní a západní svítil symbol zeměkoule. V roce 1981 koupila mrakodrap The Metropolitan Life Insurance Copany. Když v roce 1991 Pan Am zanikly, vyměnila MetLife logo na fasádě za vlastní a budova byla přejmenována na MetLife Building.
V roce 2005 MetLife budovy prodala za rekordní cenu 1,72 miliardy dolarů společnosti Tishman Speyer Properties, která spravuje v New Yorku dva významné penzijní fondy.
Ve své historii sloužila i jako heliport pro Kennedyho letiště, když cesta z JFK na střechu PanAmu trvala úžasných sedm minut. Tato služba fungovala v letech 1965-1968. Byla ukončena pro nerentabilitu - helikoptéra pojala pouze osm pasažérů. V únoru 1977 byla obnovena. Ukončena byla po třech měsících provozu, když při incidentu zahynuly vinou utrženého rotoru čtyři lidi v helikoptéře a jeden chodec na chodníku.
Nejslavnějšími obyvateli domu je párek sokolů, kterým se přezdívá Lois a Clark.
The MetLife Building, originally called the Pan Am Building, is a skyscraper located at 200 Park Avenue in New York City.
History
The Pan Am Building was the largest commercial office building in the world when it opened on March 7, 1963. It is an important part of the Manhattan skyline and one of the fifty tallest buildings in the United States.
Pan American World Airways was the building's owner for many years. Its logotype was depicted on a sign that was placed on the north and south faces and its globe logo was depicted on a sign that was placed on the east and west faces. In 1981, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company purchased the building from Pan Am. When Pan Am ceased operations in 1991, MetLife replaced the Pan Am logos on the north and south faces with its own, renaming the building the MetLife Building. This name is also informally held by the MetLife Tower.
In 2005, MetLife sold the building for $1.72 billion, the highest recorded price for an office building in the United States at the time. The buyer was a joint venture of Tishman Speyer Properties, the New York City Employees' Retirement System, and the New York City Teachers' Retirement System.
The building was also known for its helicopter service to John F. Kennedy International Airport, a seven-minute flight that left from the rooftop helipad. This service was offered only between December 21, 1965 and February 18, 1968 by New York Airways and for a few months in 1977 and was ended after a spectacular accident that killed five people. On May 16, 1977, a broken landing gear caused a parked Sikorsky S-61L with rotors still turning to tip over, killing four people who were outside the helicopter waiting to board, including exploitation filmmaker Michael Findlay. Part of a rotor blade sailed over the side of the building and killed a pedestrian on the corner of Madison and 43rd Street. Two other people were seriously injured.
Another notorious moment in the building's history was the historic suicide of Eli M. Black (the father of Leon Black) on February 3, 1975. The CEO of United Brands Company (now Chiquita Brands International) used his briefcase to shatter an external window and then jumped out of the forty-four story window to his death on Park Avenue.
The building's most famous "residents" are a pair of Peregrine Falcons nicknamed Lois and Clark who nest there and dine on the pigeons.
Architecture
Designed by Emery Roth & Sons with the assistance of Walter Gropius and Pietro Belluschi, the Pan Am Building is an example of a Brutalist or International style skyscraper. It is purely commercial in design with large floors, simple massing, and an absence of luxurious detailing inside or out. Although disliked by architecture critics and many New Yorkers, it has been popular with tenants, not least because of its location next to Grand Central Terminal.
The MetLife Building is arguably the most hated skyscraper in the city. In 1987, the lifestyle periodical New York revealed in a poll that MetLife—then Pan Am—was the building that New Yorkers would most like to see demolished. Perhaps contributing to the hatred of the building is the fact that it is so visible. Situated behind Grand Central Terminal outside of the grid, the building, which would have otherwise been tucked away into the city, is left totally exposed and contrasted with the other buildings around it, most notably the New York Central Building, which is now called the Helmsley Building. Today the building is one of the most recognizable skyscrapers in the City.
While condemned by some, many of the most influential architects of the twentieth century have commended the MetLife Building since its completion. With a shape similar to that of Pirelli Tower in Milan, MetLife is subtle while unique in its lozenge shape, in effect referencing its monumental position. Set apart from many of its contemporaries, MetLife has a heavy pre-cast facade that might have appealed to those looking for a historicist design. The importance of this design and the stress placed on its subtleties may be clearer after a close look at both Gropius's other tall building projects, such as the Chicago Tribune Tower competition.
Statistics
- Height: 808 ft (246.6 m)
- Floors: 60 (above ground)
- Floor space: 3.14 million ft² (307,000 m²)
Tenants
In addition to being the official headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the MetLife Building houses a number of other major firms, including the headquarters of Dreyfus Corporation, the largest office of Greenberg Traurig, and the New York offices of Barclays Capital, CB Richard Ellis, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Hunton & Williams, and Winston & Strawn.
Pop cultural references
As a prominent New York landmark, the Metlife Building has been featured in numerous movies, including Coogan's Bluff in which Clint Eastwood's character arrives in city by helicopter, the American version of Godzilla as its middle body is destroyed, after Godzilla storms Grand Central Terminal, in the main titles of the HBO presentation of Angels in America, at the end of Antz, and is shown in and is an important part of Catch Me if You Can in which the main character poses as a Pan Am Pilot.
The children's fantasy book So You Want to Be a Wizard prominently features the Pan Am building in a setpiece where the protagonists step off its roof onto an invisible bridge.
Yves Montand sang the song "Come Back to Me" on top of the Pan Am Building in the 1970 Barbra Streisand musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.
The movie Hackers also features the building, and in a continuity error arising out of the use of stock footage, features the Pan Am logo in the helicopter shots and the MetLife logo in the ground shots.
The 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die features the PanAm Building in the opening shot following the gun barrel logo as the camera zooms into the United Nations Headquarters where a British agent ambassador is assassinated during a General Assembly simulation.
Several video games also feature the MetLife Building, such as Freedom Fighters. In Grand Theft Auto IV, it is called the "GetaLife Building."
In the 2005 movie Rent a quick shot shows the building with its current MetLife sign (MetLife's pre-1998 logo), but since the movie takes place during a 365 day period between 1989 and 1990 this is an error: it should have read Pan Am. In the 2006 movie Superman Returns it can be seen in several of the shots showing the Metropolis skyline.
Joni Mitchell has the memorable line "A helicopter lands on the Pan-Am roof like a dragonfly on a tomb" in her song "Harry's House" on the The Hissing of Summer Lawns album.
In Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer it can be seen when Human Torch sees Silver Surfer break the windows in the Chrysler Building.
Midtown Manhattan
- Madison Square Garden
- MetLife Building
- New York Times Building
