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The MetLife Building is a 59-story skyscraper at 200 Park Avenue at East 45th Street above Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1960–63 as the Pan Am Building, the then-headquarters of Pan American World Airways, it was designed by Emery Roth & Sons, Pietro Belluschi and Walter Gropius in the International style. The world's largest commercial office space by square footage at its opening, it remains one of the fifty tallest buildings in the United States. ==History== In September 1960, Pan Am founder Juan Trippe signed a 25-year, $115,500,000 lease with the building's developer, Erwin Wolfson, allowing the airline to occupy , or about 15 floors, plus a new main ticket office at 45th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue.〔Clausen, p. (137 ).〕 When it opened on March 7, 1963, the Pan Am Building (as it was known at the time) was the largest commercial office space in the world by square footage.〔Horsley, Carter C. (The MetLife Building ), The Midtown Book. Accessed September 30, 2007. "When it was completed, the building became the world's largest office building in bulk, a title it would lose a few years later to 55 Water Street downtown."〕 It was initially an unpopular site due to its lack of proportion and huge scale—it dwarfed the New York Central Building to the north and the Grand Central Terminal to the south. The building was surpassed in size by the World Trade Center in 1970–71 as well as 55 Water Street in 1972. The last tall tower erected in New York City before laws were enacted preventing corporate logos and names on the tops of buildings,〔http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/04/nyregion/final-pan-am-departure.html〕 it bore "Pan Am" displays on its north and south faces and globe logos east and west.〔Schneider, Daniel B. ("F.Y.I." ), ''The New York Times'', January 5, 1997. Accessed September 30, 2007. "Q. I recall that it was 1963 when the huge Pan Am letters were put atop what is now the Met Life building and that it was 1992 when they were taken down.... A. Most of the letters and the accompanying logos did not survive removal; exceptions are in warehouses.... The letters, each about tall, and the logos—-wide globes—had to be cut into sections and pulled up onto the roof by technicians from Universal Unlimited, who built and installed their replacements, the Met Life signs."〕 Pan Am originally occupied 15 floors of the building. It remained Pan Am's headquarters even after Metropolitan Life Insurance Company bought the building in 1981. By 1991, Pan Am's presence had dwindled to four floors; during that year Pan Am moved its headquarters to Miami. Shortly afterwards, the airline ceased operations. On Thursday September 3, 1992, MetLife announced that it would remove Pan Am signage from the building. Robert G. Schwartz, the chairman, chief executive, and president of MetLife, said that the company decided to remove the Pan Am sign since Pan Am ceased operations. At the time MetLife was headquartered in the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower.〔Dunlap, David W. "(Final Pan Am Departure )". ''The New York Times''. September 4, 1992. Retrieved on August 25, 2009.〕 In 2005, MetLife sold the building for $1.72 billion, the record price at the time for an office building in the U.S. The buyer was a joint venture of Tishman Speyer Properties, the New York City Employees' Retirement System, and the New York City Teachers' Retirement System.〔Ramirez, Anthony. "(MetLife Sells 2nd Building, A Landmark On Park Ave. )" ''The New York Times''. April 2, 2005. Retrieved on August 25, 2009.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「MetLife Building」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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