CBS Building

CBS Building
The CBS Building, a skyscraper with a glass-and-black-granite facade, as seen from ground level on a sunny day
Map
General information
TypeOffice
Architectural styleModernist
Location51 West 52nd Street, Manhattan, New York
Coordinates40°45′40″N 73°58′44″W / 40.76111°N 73.97889°W / 40.76111; -73.97889
Current tenantsCBS
Construction started1961
Completed1965
OwnerHarbor Group International
Height491 feet (150 m)
Technical details
Floor count38
Design and construction
Architect(s)Eero Saarinen
Structural engineerPaul Weidlinger
Main contractorGeorge A. Fuller Company
Website
51west52.com
DesignatedOctober 21, 1997
Reference no.1971[1]

The CBS Building, also known as Black Rock and 51W52, is a 38-story, 491-foot-tall (150 m) tower at 51 West 52nd Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is the headquarters of the CBS broadcasting network. The building was constructed from 1961 to 1964 and was the only skyscraper designed by Eero Saarinen, who referred to the building as the "simplest skyscraper statement in New York".[2] The interior spaces and furnishings were designed by Saarinen, then Florence Knoll Bassett after the former's death. The building was also the headquarters of CBS Records (later Sony Music Entertainment) before the early 1990s.

The building is located on the eastern side of Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) between 52nd and 53rd streets, with its main entrances on the side streets. The "Black Rock" nickname is derived from the design of its facade, which consists of angled dark-gray granite piers alternating with dark-tinted glass. The facade was designed to make the building appear as a continuous slab. The building has a gross floor area of approximately 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2). The building's superstructure is made of reinforced concrete, and steel beams are only used below ground; the concrete frame uses polyurethane insulation.

The design was finalized in 1961, and, despite Saarinen's death shortly afterward, construction started in 1962. The first employees moved into the building in late 1964 and it was completed the following year. The building initially served as the headquarters of CBS, which occupied all the above-ground space until the early 1990s, when it started leasing some stories to other tenants. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the CBS Building as a city landmark in 1997. CBS attempted to sell the building twice between 1998 and 2001, and ViacomCBS again attempted to sell it in early 2020. Harbor Group International agreed to buy the structure in August 2021 and renovated it in 2023.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYCL p. 1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Merkel 2005, p. 184.