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Rockefeller Center repaired a reputation
A villain's reputation
By the time John D. Rockefeller was 50, Standard Oil was the largest company in the world, so large that Teddy Roosevelt became a monopoly buster over it. People thought of Rockefeller as a Scrooge McDuck type of guy.
The son's mission
His son was sent to do good in the world and bring the family name back. John Jr. went to a mine that the company part-owned and found workers living in squalor. He wanted to fix what he saw there, but the family's reputation was truly harmed.
The Depression project
Then the Great Depression hit New York City, and a lot of blue-collar workers lost their jobs. John Jr. came up with an architectural project in Midtown: a huge tower surrounded by smaller towers that would employ about 10,000 people and revitalize the city. That became Rockefeller Center, with a statue in its courtyard of a man lifting up the world, and many people believe it is part of why John Jr. has a great reputation.
How did Standard Oil's power end?
The federal government sued Standard Oil in 1906 under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. In 1911 the US Supreme Court ruled that the company was an illegal monopoly and ordered it split into 34 separate companies. Several of the pieces grew into well-known oil companies of later decades. Rockefeller's personal fortune kept growing, because he owned shares in all of the successor companies.
Why did Rockefeller Center start as an opera house?
The land belonged to Columbia University, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased it in 1928 as the site of a new home for the Metropolitan Opera. The stock market crash of 1929 caused the Opera to withdraw. Rockefeller was left holding a long lease on expensive ground and decided to develop it himself as a commercial complex. Construction began in 1930, in the middle of the Depression.
Who made the statue of a man lifting the world?
The sculpture is Atlas, created by Lee Lawrie with Rene Chambellan and installed in 1937. It stands in front of the International Building on Fifth Avenue, facing Saint Patrick's Cathedral across the street. Atlas comes from Greek myth, where he was condemned to hold up the sky. The figure is made of bronze, and it carries a large open sphere of rings representing the heavens.
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