The Empire State Building and Its Colors

Blog, New York City•on March 29th, 2011•No Comments

The best thing about what is arguably New York’s most famous building is that it is constantly rotating the color of its lights, which means the appearance of the building — and the New York skyline — is always changing. The color choices represent holidays, anniversaries or organizations, and I love to look up the meaning of the different combinations.

For example, the colors in the photo above are in honor of WNET, the Celebration of Teaching and Learning. On April 1, the lights will turn all blue in honor of autism awareness; then orange, orange and white on April 8-10, in honor of Parkinson’s Awareness Month. On April 13, the lights will return to all blue in honor of the Blue Man Group’s 20th anniversary. They’ll be all green on April 22 in honor of Earth Day. So random, yet so fun.

Click here for a great site that shows the building’s current colors and what they mean.


General Electric Building in Midtown Manhattan

Blog, New York City•on February 23rd, 2011•2 Comments

Old General Electric BuildingLast week, a friend and I were walking around after a meeting and we came across this building: the old General Electric building at 570 Lexington Avenue. I’ve passed it hundreds, if not thousands, of times, but I have never really stopped and paid attention to it before.

The building, not to be confused with the GE building at Rockefeller Center, was built in 1931 by architects Cross & Cross. It’s amazing. From the art-deco accents to the beautiful spire to the interesting hands holding what looks like a lightning bolt, the amount of detail and work that went into every inch of this building is incredible. And the interior is as impressive as the exterior, with intricate metalwork and Art Deco chandeliers. Also, the security guard was pretty cool with us stepping in and taking pictures, which is always a bonus.

(See a few detail shots behind the jump.)

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