Plaza extension.

[340][341] In January 1935, newly elected mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia proposed that a

Municipal Art Center be built in or near the Rockefeller complex. It would have contained
the Museum of Modern Art; the Guggenheim Collection; a costume museum; or broadcasting
facilities for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).[371] Initially, the project was supposed to be
located in Central Park. However, due to legal challenges, the site for the planned art center was
moved several blocks south to a site between 51st and 53rd streets between Fifth and Sixth
avenues, immediately north of Rockefeller Center.[372] In October 1936, the Museum of Modern
Art acquired a site on 53rd Street, across the street from the Municipal Art Center site. [373] Several
plans for an art center were discussed, but none were executed because of the same complications
that befell the aborted Rockefeller Plaza extension. [374]
Also in 1935, plans were filed for a 16-story western extension of the RCA Building, made of the
same material but with extensive links to the pedestrian tunnel system and an elaborate entrance
from the under-construction IND station at 47th–50th streets. [375] The subway connection started
construction in 1936[369] but would not open until 1940. [36] Until the subway connection opened, the
underground shopping mall was an elaborate catacomb that dead-ended on all sides. [369] The retail
space on the lower plaza was not profitable because the stores in the plaza were hidden underneath
the rest of the buildings and behind the Prometheus statue, which made the shops hard for tourists
to find.[376][377] By 1935, there were ten times as many workers entering the RCA Building every day as
there were visitors to the lower plaza.[377] After several rejected suggestions to beautify the plaza, the
managers finally decided on building the Rink at Rockefeller Center for $2,000 [377][378] after Nelson
Rockefeller found that a new system had been invented that allowed artificial outdoor ice skating,
enabling him to bring the pastime to Midtown Manhattan. [379] The new rink was open by Christmas
1936.[380][377][378] The rink was originally intended as a "temporary" measure, [379][378][381] but it became
popular, and so it was kept.[381][382]

Completion[edit]

Construction progress in 1937, as seen from the east. Most of the original complex was completed, but a
parking lot can be seen in the center left on the site of the future 10 Rockefeller Plaza, and the construction of
50 Rockefeller Plaza can be seen in the center right.
By 1936, ten buildings had been built and about 80% of the existing space had been rented. [198] The
buildings, constituting the first phase of construction, [198] were the International Building; the four small
retail buildings; the RKO Building; the Center Theatre; the Music Hall; the RCA Building; and the
RCA Building's western extension.[383][198] The total investment in the center up to that point had been
about $104.6 million[383][198] (about $1.5 billion in 2019 dollars[14]), which was composed of $60 million of
John Rockefeller Jr.'s money and $44.6 million from Metropolitan Life. [198]

Developing the remaining empty lots[edit]

Rockefeller Center Inc. needed to develop the remaining empty lots of the northern and southern
blocks.[378] Notably, the southern plot was being used as a parking lot,[262] and at the time, it was the
city's largest parking facility.[384] In 1936, Time Inc. expressed interest in moving out of their Chrysler
Building offices into a larger headquarters, having just launched their Life magazine.[385] Rockefeller
Center's managers persuaded Time to move to a proposed skyscraper on part of the southern
empty lot, located on Rockefeller Plaza between 48th and 49th streets. [378] The steelwork for that
building was begun on September 25, 1936, and was complete by November 28, forty-three working
days later.[386] The 36-story Time & Life Building, as it was known,[f] opened on April 1, 1937,[378]
[389]
 along with the final block of Rockefeller Plaza abutting the building, between 48th and 49th
streets.[389]
Rockefeller Center's executives had talks with the Associated Press for a building on the northern
empty lot,[390] which was occupied by the complex's truck delivery ramp. [198] The lot had been reserved
for the Metropolitan Opera house, but the managers could not wait anymore to develop the lot, and
in 1937, the opera plans were formally scrapped.[176][391] The lot had also been planned as a hotel site,
but this was also deemed economically infeasible. [392] In January 1938, the Associated Press agreed
to rent four floors within the structure at 50 Rockefeller Plaza. In exchange, the building would be
renamed for the company.[393] Construction of the steelwork started in April 1938; [392] after 29 working
days, the 15-story structure was topped out on June 16. [394] The Associated Press moved into 50
Rockefeller Plaza in December.[395] The presence of the Associated Press and Time Inc. expanded
Rockefeller Center's scope from strictly a radio-communications complex to a hub of both radio and
print media.[396] In 1938, the Associated Press opened the Guild, a newsreel theater,[396] along the
curve of the truck ramp below the building.[397]
It was impossible to build any smaller buildings in the remainder of the complex, since the demands
of tenants stipulated larger buildings.[398] Additionally, it was no longer viable to build a system of
rooftop gardens because the 15-story Associated Press Building was much taller than the 7- to 11-
story-high gardens on the rest of the buildings, making it extremely hard to create a system of
gardens without the use of extraordinarily steep bridges. [164][357][390] The final plot on the southernmost
block needed to be developed, and several tenants were being considered. [391] In early 1937, the
center's managers approached the Dutch government for a possible 16-story "Holland House" on
the eastern part of the plot.[399][400] The Dutch government did not enter into the agreement because of
troubles domestically, most notably the social unrest that preceded Hitler's 1940 invasion of the
Netherlands.[384][401] However, the Rockefeller Center's managers were already in negotiations
with Eastern Air Lines.[402] Despite the lack of a definite tenant, the excavation of the 16-story
structure at 10 Rockefeller Plaza started in October 1938, and the building was topped out by April
1939.[403] Eastern Air Lines' CEO, Eddie Rickenbacker, did not sign a lease until June 1940. At that
time, 10 Rockefeller Plaza was renamed the "Eastern Air Lines Building". [402][404]

Change in leadership[edit]
The management of Rockefeller Center shifted around this time. [405] In November 1936, John Todd
was featured in two New Yorker articles that emphasized his role in the complex's construction. [406] At
the same time, Nelson was gaining clout within Rockefeller Center Inc., and he disagreed with nearly
all of Todd's suggestions.[407] Nelson's father, John, was relinquishing his responsibilities, since the
Rockefeller family's youngest son David had moved out of the family home at 10 West 54th Street,
and John was now focusing on his own personal life. [408] By April 1937, Todd regretted his decision to
be featured in The New Yorker.[409] In March 1938, Nelson became the president of Rockefeller
Center Inc. He then fired Todd as the complex's manager and appointed Hugh Robertson in his
place.[405][410] Nelson and Robertson wanted to avoid workers' strikes, which would delay the
completion of construction. Nelson, Robertson, and the workers' unions agreed to a contract in
which the unions would not strike, Robertson would not lock out union workers, and both would
agree to arbitration if a labor dispute arose.[411] Rockefeller Center was one of Nelson's primary
business ventures until 1958, when he was elected Governor of New York.[412]
Public relations officials were hired to advertise the different parts of the complex, such as the
gardens and the plaza.[413] A viewing platform was set up on the east side of Rockefeller Center, and
the facetious "Sidewalk Superintendents' Club" was founded so the public could view construction, [408]
[g]
 with cards being issued to club members.[414][415]

Final building[edit]

The U.S. Rubber Company Building (now Simon & Schuster Building), the last building in the original complex
to be built
The western half of the southern plot was still undeveloped due to perceived negative effects of the
Sixth Avenue elevated.[416][417] (The elevated line was closed in early December 1938, to be replaced
by the IND Sixth Avenue subway,[418] and was razed the next year.[419]) Ultimately, the United States
Rubber Company was convinced to move from their headquarters at Columbus Circle to the
proposed 1230 Avenue of the Americas building at Rockefeller Center. The company leased eleven
floors in the new building, a decrease of 35,000 square feet (3,300 m2) from the 12 stories that they
leased at 1790 Broadway.[420] The U.S. Rubber Company Building had been planned as a mirror of
the RKO Building, but this was not possible because the symmetrical structure would have entailed
constructing an expensive cantilever over the Center Theatre. [405] Excavation of the U.S. Rubber
Company Building site commenced in May 1939. [421]
The complex was deemed complete by the end of October 1939. [422] John Rockefeller Jr. installed the
building's ceremonial final rivet on November 1, 1939, marking the completion of the original
Rockefeller Center complex.[66][423][424] The installation of the last rivet was accompanied by a
celebratory speech by Rockefeller and many news accounts about the event. [425] 10 Rockefeller
Plaza, though, was not officially complete until its dedication in October 1940. [402][426] Although the
Dutch government had initially declined to enter an agreement to occupy 10 Rockefeller Plaza, it
moved its offices-in-exile into the building once it opened. [384]

Later construction[edit]
After the original complex was finished, Rockefeller started to look for ways to expand, even though
the outbreak of World War II stopped almost all civilian construction projects. [427] In 1943, the
complex's managers bought land and buildings on three street corners near the complex.
[428]
 Rockefeller Center unveiled plans for expansion to the southwest and north in 1944. At the time,
the complex's existing rentable area totaled 5.29 million square feet (491,000 m2), with 99.7% of the
space being leased.[429]

1940s and 1950s[edit]

Esso was one of the tenants that wanted to expand, and the company signaled that it would build its
own office tower if Rockefeller Center's managers did not construct a building for them. [430] In 1944,
John Rockefeller Jr. officially approved Esso's proposal to construct a building on land that
Rockefeller controlled, located at the north end of Rockefeller Plaza. At first, the managers of the
property wanted to build a 16-story, $2 million structure on that property, but Hugh Robertson, the
original complex's sole remaining architect, stated that the tower needed to be 36 floors high in order
to be profitable.[431] In February 1947, the under-construction Esso Building, at the north end of the
existing property, became part of Rockefeller Center after ownership of the building was transferred
from the Haswin Corporation to Rockefeller Center, Inc.[432] The 33-story Esso Building was topped
out the next month.[433]
In