Pan Am Building

The Pan Am building is a representative of the emerging brutalism within the aesthetics of the international style. The skyscraper is a purely commercial building, with extensive leasable spaces, simple shaping, and an absence of luxurious details in both the interior and exterior. Although it received significant criticism from aesthetes, its tenants grew fond of the building. Surely, one reason is that it is located in close proximity to New York's Grand Central Station.
A very strong discontent among many New Yorkers towards the skyscraper was capped off by a poll from a certain lifestyle magazine, in which Pan Am took first place on the list of buildings designated for immediate demolition.
However, the building also has many supporters. Architects praise it and find a bold structural parallel between Pan Am and the Milan Pirelli Tower (Gio Ponti, Pier Luigi Nervi; 1959-60). Unlike Miesian glass structures, the facade of Pan Am is solid and plastic, which is more considerate of the historic buildings in the neighborhood.
Pan American World Airways owned the building for many years. Their logo shone in the crowns of the north and south facades, while the symbol of the globe illuminated the east and west facades. In 1981, the skyscraper was purchased by The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. When Pan Am ceased to exist in 1991, MetLife replaced the logo on the facade with its own, and the building was renamed the MetLife Building.
In 2005, MetLife sold the building for a record price of $1.72 billion to Tishman Speyer Properties, which manages two significant pension funds in New York.
In its history, it also served as a heliport for Kennedy Airport, with the journey from JFK to the top of the Pan Am taking an astonishing seven minutes. This service operated from 1965 to 1968. It was discontinued due to unprofitability - the helicopter could only accommodate eight passengers. It was restored in February 1977. It was terminated after three months of operation when an incident resulted in the deaths of four people in the helicopter due to a severed rotor and one pedestrian on the sidewalk.
The most famous residents of the building are a pair of falcons, nicknamed Lois and Clark.