When the Seagram Building was completed, Lewis Mumford compared the structure to a Rolls-Royce and wrote that "it has the aesthetic impact that only a unified work of art carried through without paltry compromises can have". Thomas W. Ennis of "The New York Times" wrote in 1957 that the building was "one of the most notable of Manhattan’s post-war buildings" and characterized the design as the "apex" of Mies's career. Similarly, the Seagram Building was characterized in "Progressive Architecture" magazine as "probably the most heralded new building in the U.S." for 1958. "Architectural Forum" magazine wrote in 1958, "Seagram challenges accepted skyscraper practice all the way down the line." At a meeting of the Italian Cultural Institute the next year, architect Gino Pollini said the Seagram Building was "a masterpiece of functional and esthetic architecture".