The attraction, which will then lift them into the air
The Tishman Speyer Properties wants to develop a tourist attraction based on the iconic "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper" photograph in Rockefeller Center. A replica steel beam will carry visitors to the attraction, which will then lift them into the air and rotate them around for panoramic vistas.
Lunch atop a Skyscraper experience. © Tishman Speyer Properties
Rockefeller Center build a new ride
A well-known picture shows lunch being consumed by ironworkers perched precariously atop a steel girder above Manhattan. It's been proposed that developers at Rockefeller Center build a new ride that allows guests to relive the experience of that famous 1932 photograph, although in a safer manner. As part of the "Top of Rock" experience, the proposed attraction would place visitors on a replica steel beam, lift them into the air for selfies, and then rotate them around to provide a panoramic view of the city. This would be located on the 69th floor of the skyscraper.
Lunch atop a Skyscraper experience. © Tishman Speyer Properties
A new way that will bring people back to discover what Rockefeller Center symbolizes
Another option for the property is a large globe that changes color when guests arrive or an elevated viewing deck on the 70th floor, both from Tishman Speyer Properties, a real estate development business with decades of experience redeveloping the Art Deco structure. The recommendations were examined by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission on the 14th of September. When all of the improvements were made public by the commission, the document was made available to the public. According to 6sqft, Tishman Speyer managing director E.B. Kelly said at a community board meeting that the changes are meant to "tell the story of Rockefeller Center in a new way that will bring people back to discover what Rockefeller Center symbolizes: a beacon in the city, a place with incredible history, a place that is of the city, and that provides this beautiful and unique perspective on this city". Tishman Speyer's proposals must be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission before the building can begin.
Lunch atop a Skyscraper experience. © Tishman Speyer Properties
11 ironworkers helping to build the RCA building (now known as the G.E. building) climbed out onto a steel beam 850 feet above Rockefeller Plaza for a photo op in September 1932 and took the original picture, Lunch atop a Skyscraper.
Lunch atop a Skyscraper, published in the New York Herald-Tribune, Oct. 2 1932, Charles Clyde Ebbets, Tom Kelley, or William Leftwich
To today's eyes, it looks more like a representation of labor exploitation than an early form of real estate promotion than it did when it was first released (which makes its potential reinvention particularly ironic). It first appeared in the New York Herald Tribune on October 2nd as a commission by Rockefeller Center management to promote the development project.
Jean Dubreil