Rockefeller Center

A site plan of the area bordered by Fifth Avenue. In the center, perpendicular to the avenue, are two connected cruciform skyscrapers. On the left and right areas are labelled for “Department Stores.” A small area is left in front for a plaza. The drawing is made of dark lines on yellowed paper and some areas are lightly colored in gray-blue and yellow.

A site plan of the area bordered by Fifth Avenue. A the rear of the site is a single, large cruciform tower. Between Fifth Avenue and the tower are a large plaza and four small areas labeled “Shops.” This central area is flanked by two large blocks labelled ‘Department Store.”

Walter H. Kilham Jr., 1904–1997 (Office of Raymond Hood)
Rockefeller Center, site plans, December 1929
Graphite and colored pencil on trace paper
13½" × 10½" each
Raymond M. Hood architectural drawings and papers, 1890–1944, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University

The architects considered more than twenty possible arrangements of the twelve-acre site. Hood’s office produced the two schemes here, which focused attention on one or two large central towers.

The iterative design and strict symmetry are holdovers from Hood’s years at the École.