Exxon Building

Manhattan, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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At 1251 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, the International Style Exxon Building rises 229 meters between 49th and 50th Streets. Designed by Wallace Harrison and completed in 1972, the structure exemplifies the spare geometry of its era as a simple cuboid stripped of ornamentation. Its facade features alternating vertical stripes of glass and limestone, with the glass sections formed by windows and opaque spandrels creating continuous areas that are cleaned by machines descending the face. A seven-floor base wraps the western portion, while a sunken plaza facing Sixth Avenue contains a two-tier pool and fountains, anchored by John Seward Johnson II's bronze sculpture *Out to Lunch*. Now owned by Mitsui Fudosan, the building exemplifies the restrained modernism that defined Manhattan's postwar commercial architecture.