Seagram Building

Homestalgia Archive

Community memory · 1958–today · Aug 7, 2026

Verified

Phyllis Lambert, then 27, read her father's plan for the Seagram headquarters, wrote him a furious letter, and was put in charge of choosing the architect. She chose Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who worked with Philip Johnson to produce, in 1958, a 38-story bronze and bronze-tinted glass tower set back 100 feet behind a granite plaza. The window blinds are fixed at three positions only, so the facade never looks disordered. Maintenance of the bronze has included cleaning as well as oiling.

Source: New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Seagram Building designation report (1989); ArchDaily, AD Classics: Seagram Building / Mies van der Rohe; Phyllis Lambert, Building Seagram, Yale University Press (2013)