3. General Motors Building – 1968
The General Motors Building at 767 Fifth Avenue was another major collaborative project for Emery Roth and Sons. This time, the firm worked with architect Edward Durell Stone. Stone was a prolific architect throughout the 1950s and 1960s who designed many buildings in New York City, most notably The Museum of Modern Art, Radio City Music Hall, and an 1878 brownstone renovation. The 50-story tall General Motors building takes up an entire city block and has its own zipcode!
Standing at the southeast corner of Central Park, right across from the Plaza Hotel, the General Motors Building occupies the former site of the 1927 Savoy Hotel. New York Times architecture critic Ada Louis Huxtable noted that it had “the best address in town.” That address has come with a hefty price tag. The GM Building has been sold in multiple record-breaking deals. In 2003 it sold for $1.4 billion, then $2.8 billion in 2008, and it’s current estimated value is over $3 billion.
