30 Rockefeller Plaza 22nd tallest in New York City and the 47th tallest in the United States. It stands 400 feet (122 m) shorter than the Empire State Building. 30 Rockefeller Center underwent a $170 million floor-by-floor interior renovation in 2014. The construction of Rockefeller Center occurred between 1932 and 1940 on land that John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased from Columbia University. The Rockefeller Center site was originally supposed to be occupied by a new opera house for the Metropolitan Opera. By 1928, Benjamin Wistar Morris and designer Joseph Urban were hired to come up with blueprints for the house. However, the new
Avery Rockefeller Avery Rockefeller Avery Rockefeller (September 11, 1903 – May 22, 1986) was an American investment banker and conservationist who was a member of the Rockefeller family. Rockefeller was born on September 11, 1903 to Percy Avery Rockefeller and Isabel Goodrich Stillman. His paternal grandparents were William Avery Rockefeller Jr. and Almira Geraldine Goodsell. His maternal grandfather was James Jewett Stillman (1850–1918), the chairman of the board of directors of the National City Bank. His father's brother, William Goodsell Rockefeller (1870–1922), married his mother's sister, Elsie Stillman (1872–1935). He attended Yale University, graduating in 1926. In 1928, Rockefeller joined the storied