550 Madison Avenue is a postmodern skyscraper on Madison Avenue between 55th Street and 56th Street in New York City. Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee with associate architect Simmons Architects, the building was completed in 1984. It is a 647-foot-tall (197-meter), 37-story office tower with a facade made of pink granite. It was originally the headquarters of AT&T Corp., which relocated from 195 Broadway, the company's previous headquarters. Following the breakup of the Bell System in 1982, AT&T spun off subsidiary corporations and never occupied the entire building as it had originally intended. The building later became the American headquarters of Sony. An annex to the west was demolished and replaced in the early 2020s. Opinion of the building has been mixed ever since its design was first announced in March 1978. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building's exterior as a landmark in 2018. (Full article...)
... that according to second-century AD Greek rhetorician Athenaeus, the Phoenicians played a flute-like instrument called the gingras in their mourning rituals?
... that 55 Broad Street, a skyscraper in the Financial District of Manhattan, was called "an unlovable building in an unlivable neighborhood"?
1784 – Élisabeth Thible became the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon, covering a distance of 4 km (2.5 mi) and reaching an estimated altitude of 1,500 m (4,900 ft).
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