25 Facts About CBS Building

CBS Building, known as Black Rock, is the headquarters of the CBS broadcasting network at 51 West 52nd Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.

CBS Building is on Sixth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets, although its main entrances are on the side streets.

CBS Building is at 51 West 52nd Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.

The CBS Building stands directly above a New York City Subway tunnel connecting the Sixth Avenue and 53rd Street subway lines.

CBS Building, developed for broadcasting company CBS, was designed to occupy only 60 percent of its site.

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CBS Building was designed by Eero Saarinen, with the George A Fuller Company as the general contractor for the project.

Carson, Lundin, and Shaw planned the interior layout of the CBS Building, designing the mechanical systems and interior partitions.

In contrast to the nearly contemporary Seagram Building, which had a decorative plaza with fountains and plants, the CBS Building's plaza was designed solely as a backdrop for the tower.

The appearance of the facade led to its nickname "Black Rock", though CBS itself cites the building's proximity to Rockefeller Center as another influence for the nickname.

CBS Building contains a mechanical core, which includes the elevators and stairs; it measures 55 by 85 feet .

CBS Building executives used large dining tables to hold small meetings and do paperwork, though they had smaller units with items such as TVs, radios, and personal documents.

Furniture and decorations were made as inconspicuous as possible; CBS Building employees were not allowed to display personal decorations or even family photographs.

CBS Building initially considered sites on Fifth Avenue, the East River, and the New Jersey Meadowlands.

Ultimately, CBS Building hired Saarinen to design a new corporate headquarters for CBS Building on the plot.

In February 1962, CBS announced that it would move forward with its 38-story building after Saarinen's death.

The fence along Sixth Avenue was made of plexiglass, allowing passersby to observe the construction; a CBS Building spokesperson likened it to 980 "portholes" in a standard plywood fence.

The CBS Building was placed for sale a little more than a year later.

The sale offer was withdrawn in mid-1999 because CBS Building received bids of around $300 million, which it considered to be too low.

Shortly after Viacom and CBS merged again into ViacomCBS in December 2019, the newly combined company's CEO Bob Bakish said the company was looking to sell the building.

CBS Building sought more than $1 billion for the CBS Building, but the sale was withdrawn in March 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.

ViacomCBS Building planned to occupy some space under a short-term lease.

CBS Building received a large amount of praise upon completion, though much of it came with qualifications.

Bethami Probst wrote in Progressive Architecture magazine that the CBS Building was a "dignified, pertinent rebuke to its more strident high-rise neighbors", though she did not consider it as good as the Seagram Building.

CBS Building's design was different from the architectural norms of the time, leading to some criticism.

CBS Building's wrote in 1984 that the CBS Building's design "created deliberate, dark ambiguities at a time when architecture was supposed to be rational and open".

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