CBS Studio Building

40°45′33″N 73°58′27″W / 40.759164°N 73.974123°W / 40.759164; -73.974123

CBS Studio Building


General information
Type	Office
Location	49 East 52nd Street, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States 10022
Coordinates	40°45′32″N 73°58′27″W / 40.759°N 73.974123°W / 40.759; -73.974123
Completed	1908
Technical details
Floor count	7
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Warren & Wetmore

The CBS Studio Building is a seven-story office building at 49 East 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It has had various uses at different times, including serving as a Vanderbilt family guest house, the first graduate school of the Juilliard School, CBS Radio studios, and Columbia Records studio.

It is currently owned by the Fisher Brothers, who converted it to an office building in conjunction with construction of the 45-story Park Avenue Plaza to its east.

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Vanderbilts

It was built in 1908 as a guest house for the Vanderbilts who had a home a block away at Fifth Avenue and 52nd. It was designed by Warren and Wetmore.^[1]

Juilliard

In 1924 the Vanderbilts sold it to the Juilliard Musical Foundation where it became Juilliard's first graduate school.^[2]

CBS Radio

In 1939, CBS, which had its corporate headquarters around the corner at 485 Madison Avenue, bought the building at 49 East 52nd Street, to move its radio operations, except for the main network newsroom.

Architects Fellheimer & Wagner extensively renovated the building—including eliminating the earlier Vanderbilt ornate external features and eliminating windows for soundproofing—and carved up the building into seven studios, including one which could accommodate audiences of 300 as well as symphony orchestras that could broadcast. Arthur Godfrey broadcast from Studio 21 in the building and had his main office there.^[1]

Columbia Records

With the advent of television, large radio studios that could accommodate audiences were no longer needed. Radio operations moved to the CBS Broadcast Center at 524 West 57th Street.^[3] By 1966 the facility had become recording studios for Columbia Records.^[4] Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Leonard Cohen, Laura Nyro,^[5] Bob Dylan (in spring 1970 for part of his New Morning album),^[6] Paul Simon, Paul McCartney and Mahavishnu Orchestra (Birds Of Fire) recorded music there.^[1]

The facility contained Columbia's "Studio B" on the second floor and "Studio E" on the sixth floor.^[7] From 1974 until 1982, CBS Radio Mystery Theatre was recorded in Studio 27, renamed Studio G in honor of Arthur Godfrey.

Fisher Brothers

In 1979 the Fisher Brothers acquired the land under the building in conjunction with construction of the Park Avenue Plaza building to its east. However, CBS retained ownership of the building itself. In 1988 the building was leased to Sony, which had purchased CBS Records,^[8] and a Duane Reade store opened on the ground level and second floor. For several years CBS used studio space as offices.^[1] CBS eventually sold the building to Fisher Brothers in 1993,^[9] and in 1996 Fisher Brothers undid the 1930s Art Moderne style, replacing the windows and replicating the original Vanderbilt appearance.^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Gray, Christopher, "STREETSCAPES: CBS Studio on 52d; At One Time, the 'Last Word in Broadcasting Design'", The New York Times, August 7, 1988
^ The Juilliard School: A Brief History^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "CBS RADIO NETWORK'S NEW AUTOMATED BROADCAST CENTER OPENS; NEWSROOM, STUDIOS, OFFICES AT TWO LOCATIONS VACATED" (PDF) (Press release). New York: CBS Radio. 1964-07-27. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
^ "TALENT". Billboard. 1966-10-29. p. 26. Retrieved 2019-04-03. BARBRA STREISAND and CBS/Columbia Group president Goddard Lieberson bid farewell to Columbia's Recording Studios at 799 Seventh Avenue, New York. Miss Streisand's recording session on Oct. 14 marked the studio's last use. In the future, Columbia artists will use the new facilities located at 49 East 52d Street.
^ [1] Laura Nyro at the Columbia 49 East 52nd Street studio
^ Heylin, Clinton, Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions 1960-94. Penguin. UK; St Martin’s Press, US, 1995. ISBN 0-312-13439-8. Cf. p.84 on use of Studio B and Studio E in New York City in 1970 which were at the Columbia Studio Building.
^ Simons, David (2004). Studio Stories - How the Great New York Records Were Made. San Francisco: Backbeat Books.
^ ^a ^b Garbarine, Rachelle (1996-10-20). "A Mansion Will Wake Up To Find It's 1908 Again". New York Times. New York. Retrieved 2019-04-03. Fisher Brothers acquired the land under the Vanderbilt building, but not the building itself, in 1979 as part of the site assemblage for the Park Avenue Plaza office tower, using its air rights to build the 44-story tower that flanks the smaller building on two sides.
^ "POSTINGS: Home of the Arthur Godfrey Show; Old CBS Studios Sold". New York Times. New York. 1993-10-24. Retrieved 2019-04-03. The nine-floor, 58,000-square-foot building, at 49 East 52d Street, was bought for an undisclosed sum by Park Avenue Plaza Company, an affiliate of Fisher Brothers, a Manhattan real estate company.

Rockefeller Center	1 Rockefeller Plz 10 Rockefeller Plz 30 Rockefeller Plz 50 Rockefeller Plz 75 Rockefeller Plz 1211 6th Av 1221 6th Av 1251 6th Av 1271 6th Av British Empire Building International Building La Maison Francaise
Times Square	1 Astor Plz 1 Times Sq 3 Times Sq 4 Times Sq 11 Times Sq 20 Times Sq 229 W 43rd St 255 W 43rd St 1500 Broadway 1501 Broadway 1540 Broadway 1552 Broadway 1585 Broadway TSX Broadway

East of
5th Av

Former

Theaters

Broadway theaters	Ambassador American Airlines August Wilson Belasco Bernard B. Jacobs Booth Broadhurst Broadway Circle in the Square Ethel Barrymore Eugene O'Neill Gerald Schoenfeld Gershwin Hayes Hudson Imperial James Earl Jones John Golden Lena Horne Longacre Lunt-Fontanne Lyceum Lyric Majestic Marquis Minskoff Music Box Neil Simon Palace Richard Rodgers St. James Samuel J. Friedman Shubert Stephen Sondheim Studio 54 Walter Kerr Winter Garden
Other venues	55th Street Playhouse Carnegie Hall Ed Sullivan Theater The ImaginAsian New Victory Theater New York City Center Paris Theater Radio City Music Hall Sony Hall The Theater Center The Town Hall York Theatre
Closed/demolished	44th Street 48th Street Apollo Center Capitol Earl Carroll Edison Embassy Fulton George M. Cohan's Loew's State Lyric New Century Olympia Roxy Strand Times Square Victoria Ziegfeld (1927) Ziegfeld (1969)

Hotels

Current

Former

Other points of interest

Restaurants/ nightlife	21 Club Alto Anthos Aureole Burger Heaven Le Bernardin Cafe Chambord The Campbell La Caravelle Caviar Russe Del Pezzo Restaurant Ellen's Stardust Diner Feinstein's/54 Below Gabriel Kreuther Gallagher's Steakhouse Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant La Grenouille Iridium Jazz Club Le Jardinier King Cole Bar Latin Quarter Lespinasse Marea The Pool and the Grill Oceana The Original Soupman P. J. Clarke's Patsy's Le Pavillon Prime Burger The Quilted Giraffe Rainbow Room Restaurant Aquavit Rumpelmayer’s (NYC) Russian Tea Room Sardi's Shun Lee Palace Stage Deli The Campbell
Museums/ cultural centers	Austrian Cultural Forum New York Girl Scout Museum and Archives John M. Mossman Lock Museum Korean Cultural Center New York Madame Tussauds New York Museum of Arts and Design Museum of Broadway Museum of Modern Art New York Transit Museum Paley Center for Media Rose Museum Spyscape
Stores	Argosy Book Store Gotham Book Mart
Clubhouses	American Fine Arts Society The Brook Century Association Columbia University Club of New York Cornell Club of New York Harvard Club of New York City New York Athletic Club New York City Bar Association New York Friars Club New York Yacht Club Penn Club of New York City Princeton Club of New York Racquet and Tennis Club University Club of New York Women's National Republican Club Yale Club of New York City
Green spaces	Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden Central Park Grand Army Plaza Greenacre Park Paley Park
Educational institutions	53rd Street Library Circle in the Square Theatre School CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies High School of Performing Arts Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School for International Careers Saint Thomas Choir School SUNY College of Optometry
Art galleries	Galerie St. Etienne Rehs Galleries

Transportation

Subway stations	Fifth Avenue/53rd Street Fifth Avenue–59th Street Seventh Avenue 42nd Street–Bryant Park/Fifth Avenue 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center 49th Street 50th Street 50th Street 57th Street–Seventh Avenue 57th Street 59th Street–Columbus Circle Grand Central–42nd Street Lexington Avenue/51st Street Lexington Avenue/59th Street Times Square–42nd Street
Railroad stations	Grand Central Madison station Grand Central Terminal
Streets and intersections	Third Avenue Fifth Avenue Sixth Avenue Six and a Half Avenue Seventh Avenue Eighth Avenue 42nd 47th 50th 51st 52nd 53rd 54th 55th 57th 59th Broadway Columbus Circle Duffy Square Grand Army Plaza George Abbott Way Lexington Avenue Madison Avenue Park Avenue Park Avenue Viaduct Pershing Square Shubert Alley Times Square Vanderbilt Avenue

Related topics
Billionaires' Row Little Brazil Midtown South Minnesota Strip

See also: Manhattan Community Board 5

This page was last edited on 26 October 2023, at 18:41

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