MetLife Building

The Pan Am Building (or Metlife Building ) located at the 200 Park Avenue with New York was the largest office building in the world when it was inaugurated the March 7th 1963.

Conceived by Emery Roth & helped Sounds of Walter Gropius and Pietro Belluschi, the Side Am Building (at the origin baptized Great exchange city Building) is an example of architecture brutalist. It was conceived in a preoccupation with an effectiveness with its vast surfaces and its absence of useless decorations. Simple and massive, it was rejected by criticism and of many New Yorkean but its proximity with Grand Exchange Station does of them one of the office buildings with dimensions of Manhattan.

The NewYork Times wrote besides during the inauguration of this massive building: " We gained the largest office building of the world. We lost some of the most impressive prospects for the monde" , by referring to Park avenue, located just behind, which literally was found masked…

The Side Am Building is also known for its heliport which made it possible to join JFK International Airport in seven minutes. The heliport was open of 1965 to 1968 then a few months in 1977. It was closed following a spectacular accident which made 5 victims.

The building was the property of Pan American World Airways during many years and the logo of the airline company decorated its four frontages. When PanAm went bankrupt in 1991, the building was repurchased by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, which rented there already offices, which renamed it MetLife Building and replaced the logo of PanAm by his.

Statistics

Height: 246 meters (808 feet)
Many stages: 59
Surface: 260.000 m ²

External bonds

Official site MetLife Building

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