View up Sixth Avenue with the McGraw-Hill Building (1969) at 1221 Sixth Avenue in the foreground, the Exxon Building (1967–71) at 1251 Sixth Avenue in the center, and the Time & Life Building (1959) to the right. Ezra Stoller, 1974

The impact of the 1961 Zoning Resolution on the Manhattan grid can be seen most clearly on Sixth Avenue, along the stretch between 47th and 51st Streets, where the street wall recedes behind a series of open plazas. This arrangement took advantage of the height incentives the new resolution offered for including public space at the ground level.

In this photograph by Ezra Stoller looking north up Sixth Avenue, three adjacent plazas are visible, all built by Harrison, Abramovitz & Abrams as part of Rockefeller Center’s westward expansion (from left to right): the Celanese Building (1973), the McGraw-Hill Building (1969), and the Exxon Building (1967–71). CY