AT and T Building in New York 1984

by Gordon James

Title

AT and T Building in New York 1984

Artist

Gordon James

Medium

Photograph - Photography Digital

Description

AT & T Building in New York 1984

550 Madison Avenue (also 550 Madison; formerly known as the Sony Tower, Sony Plaza, and AT&T Building) is a postmodern skyscraper on Madison Avenue between 55th and 56th Streets in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee with associate architect Simmons Architects, the building is a 647-foot-tall (197-meter), 37-story office tower with a facade made of pink granite. It was completed in 1984 as the headquarters of AT&T Corp. and later became the American headquarters of Sony. A four-story granite annex to the west was demolished and replaced with a shorter annex in the early 2020s.

Originally designed for American communications giant AT&T, Philip Johnson and John Burgee's Postmodern skyscraper was the first of its kind. Also known as the Sony Tower.

Construction of the AT&T Building began in 1979 and was finished in 1984, the year this image was taken. With a structural frame made of steel, the 648-foot-tall (198 metre) tower was clad in glass and 13,000 tons of granite. To mimic traditional masonry construction


AT&T occupied the building for decades. Facing financial troubles, however, the company sold the building to Sony Corporation in 2002, and the skyscraper was renamed the Sony Tower. The entertainment company made controversial modifications to the atrium, converting portions of the public space into retail showrooms for Sony products.

The building changed owners once again in 2013 when Sony sold it to the Chetrit Group, a real-estate developer, for $1.1 billion. The developer intended converting the office tower into luxury condos and possibly a hotel. However, in May 2016 they sold the building to Olayan America, the U.S. investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s Olayan Group.

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December 7th, 2021

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