Is magenta one of the rainbow colors? (Wikimedia Commons)

Ginger Rogers and Howard Hughes, two years after the Rainbow Room opened. (Getty)

The Rainbow Room, like Tavern on the Green or Chumley's, was one of those New York institutions no one ever visited, until it was gone, at which point the lamentations became unceasing. The fate of the restaurant atop Rockafeller Center remains a mystery, since it was abruptly closed by the Ciprianis three years ago amidst a rent dispute with another of New York's august families, the Speyers, who control Rock Center.

Whoever takes over the famous (and famously garish) catering hall in the sky, one thing that is unlikely to change is the decor. Today, the Landmarks Preservation Commission decided to consider the two-story space on the 65th floor of 30 Rock for designation as an interior landmark, one 114 in the city. (Others include the Four Seasons, the New York Public Library and, just downstairs, Radio City Music Hall.)

"This is an important calendaring—they’re all important, of course, truly," Commissioner Robert Tierney said at meeting of the commission at the Municipal Building. "This is notable and important for obvious reasons and we look very much forward to the hearing on this."

That hearing is scheduled for September 11, and should the Rainbow Room be designated, any alterations to the space would require the commission's approval. This would not forbid changes, but it would make them more difficult, and it almost guarantees that the space will remain one for food and drink.

At one time, Tishman Speyer had considered turning the space into offices (so lucrative was the city's office market), and the Ciprianis actually proposed landmarking the space themselves as a route to try and preserve their rents—it would be harder to use the space for anything else. Ultimately, the city rejected the proposal and they abandoned the restaurant anyway, but Tishman Speyer did turn the kitchen, on the 64th floor, over to Lazard, which already leased the floors below and was looking to expand.

The 65th floor would likely require renovations to accommodate a new kitchen as a result, which may explain the eagerness of the commission to protect the space. A similar action took place at the old Manufacturers of Hanover bank branch at 510 Fifth Avenue, which was landmarked then redeveloped, after some hue and cry, into a Joe Fresh clothing outlet.

Tishman Speyer has yet to say what will happen to the space or where it stands on its landmarking, though there are vague plans to do something with the space. "Tishman Speyer continues its planning process for the Rainbow Room, which is an icon loved by New Yorkers and visitors from around the world," a spokesperson said in an email.

What is interesting about this particular landmarking is that it not only celebrates the original 1934 design by Walter Harrison (also the architect of Rock Center) but also a post-modern renovation to it in 1987, commissioned by David Rockefeller to the tune of $25 million and designed by celebrated New York architect Hugh Hardy.

According to the commission's statement of significance presented at today's meeting, the space remains a rare example of an early modernist interior in the city, in a style identified as Stremlined Modern: "Though much of the 65th floor was completely remodeled, similar to various earlier renovations, the Rainbow Room was treated with considerable care, and Hardy called his work a 'true restoration.' A rare and distinguished example of Streamlined Modern design, it retains many of its original features and characteristics, making the Rainbow Room one New York City’s highest and most elegant nightclub interiors."

Diana Chapin, a commissioner from Queens, called it “a place of iconic memories" following the commission's unanimous vote to calendar the Rainbow Room.

The citadel, like so many other parts of Fort Greene, has been transformed. A seven-story building—the Brooklyn Academy of Music's new performing arts hall, the Richard B. Fisher building—now rises from its arches ("Landmarks won't let you put a building on top of another building. Only Norman Foster got away with it on 57th Street," Mr. Hardy remarked. "But we were able to convince Landmarks that it was complementary.")

Scheduled to hold its first performance on September 5, BAM Fisher is ambitious when it comes to both its own future and that of the surrounding neighborhood, seeing its opening as a key turning point in the development of the Brooklyn arts district.  Indeed, BAM is one of many new cultural institutions coming to the area soon, among them the Theater for a New Audience and Barclay's Arena (although Barclay's cultural contributions are more dubious, it will mean venues ranging from 200 to 19,000 seats).

"The idea of the BAM cultural district is so powerful. It's already happening. It's got to happen. It's truly amazing," Mr. Hardy exclaimed Thursday afternoon when the building was unveiled.

As BAM representative after BAM representative emphasized, BAM Fisher wasn't built as just a building, but as a way to engage with, and be more accessible to the community. Several of them brought up the fact that the sidewalk outside BAM Fisher was graded to rise to the door in a gesture of accessibility and symbolic welcome, eliminating the need for any steps, a fact that most residents will probably find less impressive than the $20 tickets to all Next Wave festival performances at the venue this year.

All community transforming goals aside, the building provides BAM with something it has long desired—a small, 250-seat black box theater that can host the emerging artists and experimental, intimate performances that the 875-seat Harvey Hall and the 2,100-seat Howard Gilman Opera House cannot. (BAM's last small performance space, never ideal, became its cafe several years ago).

Besides the theater, the 40,000-square foot building also holds rehearsal space, classrooms for vastly-expanded arts education programs, offices and a swanky roof deck—a $50 million project that was funded with $30 million of city money, $3 million of state grants and private contributions.

"Most of the performing arts centers you see around the country are 20th century buildings. Edifice, edifice, edifice, plaza," Ms. Brooks Hopkins told the crowd of reporters gathered for the tour on Thursday.

"We believe it will be the prototype for the 21st century performing arts center," she gushed.

BAM was so excited about the whole thing that they even had mini chocolate cheesecakes from Juniors emblazoned with a likeness of the building. Impressive!

So what does a 21st Century performing arts center look like?

First of all, the rehearsal room is not in the basement, noted Mr. Hardy. "When artists see this, they say," here he paused to adjust his bushy white eyebrows into a quizzical expression, "'This is the rehearsal space?'"

Second of all, it has a roof terrace with a retractable roller-cover (a New York rarity save for a few select locations like the Gramercy Hotel) that offers expansive views of the borough (we even saw a blimp drifting across the sky). Its plants? Native and non-invasive.

"This is all local stuff," Mr. Harvey said. "This is not imported exotica."

It also has classrooms—a first for the arts organization—to run its many educational programs, now held in some 1,400 schools around the city, or in rented spaces. The classrooms, an expanded educational offerings, especially over school vacations, are meant to make BAM more accommodating to Brooklyn families.

But most impressive of all is the theater itself, painted not black but a midnight blue and built for maximum flexibility. Except for a single row of built-in fold-up seats (covered in blue and gold upholstery), almost everything else can be moved. Bleachers retract into the wall and platforms of seats can be moved into or out of the space and arranged in any configurations. Even the air conditioning vents can be moved to accommodate light configurations.

Above the stage, a metal tension grid replaces a catwalk—a slightly springy surface spanning the entire room that allows stage crews to place lights and audio equipment anywhere in the room ("I should have worn pants!" cried one woman on the tour as she looked down at the stage far below her feet).

The area is wired with all variety of digital and audio equipment. In fact, there is so much electrical conduit in the building that they actually had to do tests to determine that there was enough concrete to make it safe, explained one of the BAM bigwigs.

"Which it is," he assured the group, perhaps seeing the somewhat perplexed expressions.

kvelsey@observer.com

This must be Larry Silverstein's lucky day.

He's getting his very first tenant at 7 World Trade Center, and it's a smart little group: The New York Academy of Sciences.

H3 Hardy Collaboration will be designing the 40th floor for the NYAS. Architect Hugh Hardy has designed the Rainbow Room up in Rockefeller Center--plus, you may remember, Windows on the World.

The press release calls this "a major milestone in LoMa's revitalization."

LoMa?

More PR after the jump.

- Max Abelson

ALERT ALERT ALERT

The view into the 40th floor of 7 World Trade Center will be as impressive as the view out when the New York Academy of Science (NYAS) moves in in late September, the first new tenant of Silverstein Properties' much-publicized building.

H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture designed the Academy's 40th Floor offices. Principal Hugh Hardy is accustomed to designing attention-getting high places: Windows on the World, lost in the 9/11 attacks, and the renovated Rainbow Room atop 30 Rockefeller Center. The Academy's commitment to Lower Manhattan, shown by its upcoming move, represents a major milestone in LoMa's revitalization. H3's design is the latest step in the ongoing revitalization and reinvention of this prominent New York institution.

What You'll See
The new 28,000-square-foot home for the Academy, now located in a former upper East Side mansion, will better reflect its progressive mission and allow it to enhance its prominent position, locally and globally, as a builder of scientific communities and disseminator of scientific information. The new offices provide state-of-the-art office and conferencing facilities for groups as small as 30 and as big as 300. Design flourishes include custom-designed red carpet woven with a representation of the DNA double helix and photographic panels that contain enlarged images of the natural environment as seen through an electron microscope.

Background
H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, the third firm begun by renowned architect Hugh Hardy, provides architecture, planning, and interior design services in a collaborative studio environment. The firm designs commercial interiors, public spaces, performing arts centers, libraries, educational institutions, residential buildings, museums, retail facilities, and restaurants. H3 was founded in 2004.

The New York Academy of Sciences, a global organization committed to building communities and advancing science, is one of America's oldest scientific institutions. Founded in 1817, the Academy has some 25,000 members from 140 countries, including Nobel Laureates and leaders of some of the world's top academic and research institutions and companies.