Comcast Center (Philadelphia)

Comcast Center is a skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The 58-story, 297-meter (974 ft) tower is the tallest building in Philadelphia and the nineteenth tallest building in the United States. Originally called One Pennsylvania Plaza when the building was first announced in 2001, the Comcast Center went through two redesigns before construction began in 2005. Comcast Center was designed by architect Robert A. M. Stern for Liberty Property Trust.

At the beginning of 2005, the final redesign and its new name the Comcast Center was unveiled. The building is named after its lead tenant, cable company Comcast, which makes the skyscraper its corporate headquarters. Leasing 1,094,212 square feet (101,656 m²), Comcast takes up 89 percent of the building. The building features retail and restaurant space and a connection to the nearby Suburban Station. In Comcast Center's lobby is the Comcast Experience, which is a 2,000 square feet (190 m²) high-definition LED screen that has become a tourist attraction. Designed to be environmentally friendly, the skyscraper is the tallest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building in Philadelphia.

30 Rockefeller Plaza

30 Rockefeller Plaza is an American Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, New York City, NY. The exterior signage was changed to reflect the building's new name, Comcast Building, on July 1, 2015, following the transfer of ownership to a corporate owner, Comcast. It was formerly called the RCA Building from 1933 to 1988, and later the GE Building from 1988 to 2015. Nicknames include The Slab and 30 Rock. The building is most famous for housing the NBC television network headquarters. At 850 feet (260 m) high, the 70-story building is the 14th tallest in New York City and the 39th tallest in the United States.

The building underwent a US$170 million floor-by-floor interior renovation in 2014. The renovation included new Comcast signage atop the building; new ground-level signage that reads Comcast Building; and, for the first time, the display of the iconic NBC Peacock logo on the building's exterior.

History

The building was completed in 1933 as part of the Rockefeller Center complex. The noted Art Deco architect Raymond Hood led a team of Rockefeller architects. It was named the RCA Building for its main tenant, the Radio Corporation of America, formed in 1919 by General Electric. It was the first building constructed with the elevators grouped in the central core. During construction, photographer Charles Clyde Ebbets took the famous photograph Lunch atop a Skyscraper on the 69th floor. National Broadcasting Company, had the red and blue networks housed in the new building, which was also nicknamed "Radio City". NBC was the first national radio network in the country and was started by R.C.A. in 1926.