10 Rockefeller Plaza

25 West 48th Street | also 10 Rockefeller Plaza, 32 West 49th Street, 2 Rockefeller Plaza | Midtown | built 1937

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1937

    Spring

    Rockefeller Center's managers offer the Dutch government a planned Holland House on the last open southern plot

    In spring 1937 the managers of Rockefeller Center approached the Dutch government about occupying a 16-story building to be called Holland House on the final undeveloped plot of the southern block. Plans included a six-floor garage to fill the hard-to-lease lowest floors, plus three basement levels. The Dutch did not sign on, as their country was in turmoil, and the managers were already negotiating with Eastern Air Lines, whose chief Eddie Rickenbacker signed a lease in June 1940.

    “In spring 1937, the center's managers approached the Dutch government for a possible 16-story "Holland House" on the eastern part of the plot.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1940

    October

    10 Rockefeller Plaza opens as the Eastern Air Lines Building

    Excavation for the 16-story building began in October 1938, and it topped out by April 1939. Eastern Air Lines chief Eddie Rickenbacker signed a lease in June 1940, and the building was dedicated that October as the Eastern Air Lines Building. It contained a six-floor garage with 800 spaces, the city's first garage in an office building.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1946

    Dean Cornwell paints The History of Transportation in the lobby

    Muralist Dean Cornwell created 'The History of Transportation' in 1946 for the west wall of the lobby. The mural is made up of 'Night Flight,' 'New World Unity,' and 'Day Flight,' and shows planes, steamboats, steam trains, and Rickenbacker's racecar. Gold and silver leaf give it texture, with the two metals standing for earthbound and airborne themes.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1975

    Eastern Air Lines moves its headquarters from 10 Rockefeller Plaza to Miami under president Frank Borman

    Eastern Air Lines, whose name the tower once carried, was headquartered at 10 Rockefeller Plaza in 1975. Once Frank Borman took over as president in late 1975, he relocated the airline's headquarters out of Rockefeller Center to Miami-Dade County, Florida.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1994

    NBC's Today show moves into the ground-level Studio 1A at 10 Rockefeller Plaza

    From 1994 NBC's morning program Today has been produced in Studio 1A, a ground-level studio with street windows across 49th Street from 30 Rockefeller Plaza, in this building; before that it was broadcast from inside 30 Rock. The multilevel studio has an upstairs kitchen used for cooking segments. In October 2001 NBC Nightly News also used it briefly while its own facilities were being decontaminated after the anthrax attacks.

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 1997

    Christie's leases 400,000 square feet in the building

    In 1997 Christie's, the auction house, leased 400,000 square feet in the building, with an address at 20 Rockefeller Plaza. The lease came decades after Eastern Air Lines had given the tower its original name. Christie's renewed the lease for 25 years in 2024.

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 2005

    The Nintendo New York store becomes a tenant in 2005

    Since 2005 the building has been home to the Nintendo New York store, which the history lists among the tower's notable modern tenants. NBC's studios for Today and Nightly News share the building.

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2023

    April

    Rockefeller Center plans a luxury hotel on ten vacant office floors above the Today studios

    In April 2023 Rockefeller Center announced a deal with Aspen Hospitality, owned by the Crown family that co-owns the complex with Tishman Speyer, to open a second Little Nell hotel. The 130-room hotel was to fill ten vacant office floors above NBC's Today show studios, with an opening targeted for 2026. The conversion needed review by the Department of City Planning, the City Planning Commission and the City Council.

    Source: 6sqft

  9. 2024

    August

    Christie's renews its 400,000-square-foot lease at 20 Rockefeller Plaza for 25 more years

    In August 2024 the auction house Christie's extended its lease on 400,000 square feet at 20 Rockefeller Plaza, an address of this building, for another 25 years. Christie's has had its New York headquarters in Rockefeller Center since 1997, and works such as Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi and Warhol's Shot Sage Blue Marilyn have sold there. Broker Mary Ann Tighe of CBRE described the deal as a half-century stay at the center, running from 1999 to 2049.

    Source: commercialobserver.com

Further reading

Nearby

All 178 buildings with stories in Midtown