Headquarters of the United Nations However, the UN did reject an unusual "model playground" proposal for that site, instead choosing to construct a play area similar to others found around New York City. The first 450 UN employees started working at the Secretariat Building on August 22, 1950. The United Nations officially moved into the Secretariat Building on January 8, 1951, by which time 3,300 employees occupied the building. At the time, much of the Secretariat Building was still unfinished, and the bulk of the UN's operations still remained at Lake Success. A centralized phone-communications system, was built to facilitate communications within the complex. The
Headquarters of the United Nations Apartments across First Avenue from the Zeckendorf site. The city, in turn, spent $5 million on clearing the land. While the United Nations had dreamed of constructing an independent city for its new world capital, multiple obstacles soon forced the organization to downsize their plans. They ultimately decided to build on Rockefeller's East River plot, since the land was free and the land's owners were well known. The diminutive site on the East River necessitated a Rockefeller Center-type vertical complex, thus, it was a given that the Secretariat would be housed in a tall office tower. During daily meetings from