6. It was the seat of British Intelligence’s American operations during World War II
Preceding World War II, Rockefeller Center’s International Building North was fated to become occupied by German companies with plans to rename the building the Deutsches Haus. However, as German aggression increased under the rule of Adolf Hitler, John D. Rockefeller Jr. would not allow that ownership to occur. As such, British Intelligence set up their base of operations in that building throughout World War II.
Beginning with Hitler’s occupation of Poland, the British intelligence center handled top-secret information in New York City years before the United States entered the war. The building’s room 3603 was additionally used as the headquarters of Allied Intelligence and functioned as the office of Allen Welsh Dulles, who would become the civilian director of the yet-to-be-formed Central Intelligence Agency.