Rainbow Room gets landmark status

From left: the Rainbow Room and LPC Chairman Robert Tierney
From left: the Rainbow Room and LPC Chairman Robert Tierney

The Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center today became the city’s 115th interior landmark with a unanimous vote by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, according to an LPC press release issued today. The famed Art Deco-style supper club set atop 30 Rock offered dining and dancing and was home to some of the city’s most lavish events, before it closed in 2009. The Cipriani restaurant family, the operators of the space, left due to high rents.

“The Rainbow Room came to epitomize New York City glamour,” said Chairman Robert Tierney in the release. “It retains not only many of its original characteristics, but also several generations’ worth of memories.”

The Rainbow Room dates back to its Oct. 3, 1934 opening, measures 72 by 62 feet and has a domed ceiling, circular dance floors and city views through 24 floor-to-ceiling windows.

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As previously reported, Tishman Speyer, which owns the property, supported the interior landmarking measure.

In order a qualify for interior landmark status, a given space must be at least be 30 years old, accessible to the public, as well as architecturally or historically significant. The Rainbow Room was designed by Associated Architects — the architects of Rockefeller Center — and decorated by Elena Bachman Schmidt. — Zachary Kussin