Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Iconic Disruption

 

Completed in 1963, the Pan Am Building (currently the MetLife Building) is a skyscraper at Park Avenue and 45th Street, north of Grand Central Terminal, in Midtown Manhattan of New York City. Though it was just a matter of time before a building would obscure the Central Park view, many Manhattan "lifers" were initially upset at its location, shutting off Park Avenue to create a canyon of sorts in glass, brick, and steel. 

Westinghouse Electric Corporation manufactured 65 elevators and 21 escalators for the Pan Am Building, which at the time was the largest order of elevators. One bank of 6 elevators was able to travel 1,600 feet per minute, the fastest elevators in the world at the time of their installation.

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