The initial cost of acquiring the space, razing some of the existing buildings, and constructing new buildings was estimated at $250 million. Columbia leased the plot to Rockefeller for 87 years at a cost of $3 million per year, excluding some properties on Fifth Avenue and a strip on Sixth Avenue. Rockefeller hired Todd, Robertson and Todd as design consultants to determine its viability. Rockefeller Sr., his father, was not involved). eventually gave his support to the project ( John D. However, the new building was too expensive for the Met to fund by itself, and John D. By 1928, Benjamin Wistar Morris and designer Joseph Urban were hired to come up with blueprints for the house. In 1926, the Metropolitan Opera started looking for locations for a new opera house to replace the existing building at 39th Street and Broadway. Rockefeller Center originated as a plan to replace the old Metropolitan Opera House (pictured). The complex is also famous for its annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. The complex is noted for the large quantities of art present in almost all of its buildings, its expansive underground concourse, and its ice-skating rink. While 600 Fifth Avenue is at the southeast corner of the complex, it was built by private interests in the 1950s and was only acquired by the center in 1963. The remainder of the original complex originally hosted printed media as well as Eastern Air Lines. The International Complex along Fifth Avenue was built to house foreign-based tenants. Radio City, along Sixth Avenue and centered on 30 Rockefeller Plaza, includes Radio City Music Hall and was built for RCA's radio-related enterprises such as NBC. The original center has several sections. Described as one of the greatest projects of the Great Depression era, Rockefeller Center was declared a New York City landmark in 1985 and a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The core of the complex was completed by 1939. Construction of Rockefeller Center started in 1931, and the first buildings opened in 1933. Various plans were discussed before the current one was approved in 1932. Originally envisioned as the site for a new Metropolitan Opera building, the current Rockefeller Center came about after the Met could not afford to move to the proposed new building. Rockefeller Jr., who was the main person behind the complex's construction. In 1928, the site's then-owner, Columbia University, leased the land to John D. Later additions include 75 Rockefeller Plaza across 51st Street at the north end of Rockefeller Plaza, and four International Style buildings on the west side of Sixth Avenue. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, split by a large sunken square and a private street called Rockefeller Plaza.

Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres (89,000 m 2) between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. View from the northeast of 30 Rockefeller Plaza at the heart of the complex

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