The First Six Decades

On the morning of October 23, 1959, the moving vans began streaming into the loading docks in the sub-basement of the new Time & Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas. By the time the last of their loads had landed eight days later, 4,200 cartons plus furniture and rugs had been unpacked. Only then did floors 5 and 6 stand ready for the tower’s first tenants: 850 employees of American Cyanamid. Late the following month, the American Petroleum Institute took its turn, moving into offices on the 7th floor. Not until the new year did the staff of a Time Inc. arm, Sports Illustrated, follow suit. At 6 p.m. on January 6, these employees became the first Time Inc.-ers to begin the migration to new, air-conditioned quarters, 22 years after a far smaller company had set up shop on seven floors at 9 Rockefeller Plaza. On Sixth Avenue, SI took over floors 19 and 20, near the bottom of an unbroken series of Time Inc. offices stretching from 18—which housed Fortune—to 34, where top brass labored beneath 13-foot ceilings (the tallest in the tower by 4½ feet, save for the top two floors, which are 16 feet).

FEBRUARY 8, 1960 is move-in day for Donahue & Coe secretary Marie Brownell; she types her way across the Avenue of the Americas on the way to the ad agency’s new offices at the Time & Life Building (below).

THE ELEGANT TIME & LIFE Reception Center is a main attraction for visitors to the building and, when the center’s drapes were open, for passersby on Avenue of the Americas. The center runs the length of the avenue adjacent to the fountain. The reception desk to the left of the stairs sits under a mezzanine which features a library with bound editions of Time-Life publications (right).

BY PUTTING THE main entrances on 50th Street rather than on the avenue, the Time & Life Building’s plaza became a renowned gathering place. Busy, lively, and barrier-free, it invited strolling, meeting, and lounging.

CHIC TOUCHES IN the elevator landings included wall-mounted floating planters alternating with round sand-filled ashtrays (left).

THE 33RD-FLOOR CONFERENCE room had retractable pocket doors for reconfiguring the space (above).

Lower down, in addition to the magazines, each with its own editorial and business staff, were such largely Life-driven curiosities as New York’s largest photo lab, as well as the world’s largest library of images, several million of them tucked into dozens of filing cabinets on the 28th floor. While Time Inc.’s tastes in interior design emphasized efficiency over aesthetics, the company did spring for some special touches, including reception areas that reflected each publication’s unique personality. On floors 27 through 29, which featured the Life editorial offices, that standout detailing came courtesy of designer Charles Eames, who was also responsible for the publisher’s main reception area in the lobby, with its towering windows looking out across the plaza and its fountains.

THE TIME-LIFE LOBBY reception area (top) included a custom desk with unique spindle rail design and matching wood display cases and vertical space dividers. Ray personally oversaw installation of all the Eames Office pieces. The Ray-designed Walnut Stools (above) were hand-turned from single pieces of walnut on special lathes. The slightly concave tops made them work for short-term seating or as side tables.