What New York complex includes the Art Deco Radio City Music Hall?

Rockefeller Center is the New York complex that includes the Art Deco Radio City Music Hall.

Radio City Music Hall stands at 1260 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, within the Rockefeller Center complex. The theater opened on December 27, 1932, as part of the center’s “Radio City” section and soon became one of New York’s best-known entertainment venues.

Architect Edward Durell Stone designed the building, while interior designer Donald Deskey created its distinctive Art Deco interiors. Geometric forms, bold colors, polished metals, glass, leather and dramatic lighting replaced the heavily ornamented interiors common in earlier movie palaces. The theater was built to accommodate nearly 6,000 spectators.

The name can cause confusion: “Radio City” originally referred to a section of Rockefeller Center and later became strongly associated with the music hall itself. Radio City Music Hall is not in Times Square, Madison Square Garden or Lincoln Center, although all are major Manhattan cultural and entertainment landmarks.