Begun in 1954, and completed four years later, public opinion is still undecided over whether the Seagram Building on Park Avenue in New York is an elegant exercise in pure form or merely a hideous soulless monolith.

Designed by the acclaimed German-born architect Mies van der Rohe who has been a resident of Chicago since 1937, the building rises a monolithic 157 metres (516ft) above Park Avenue. Virtually façade-less, the building is a sheer wall of glass and marble ornamented only by bronze mullions. The elegant Four Seasons restaurant is housed in a low pavilion on the rear.

Architects praised innovative features such as the pillars which effectively raise the whole structure a storey above the ground, the striking floor-to-ceiling tinted glass windows and the public plaza which fronts the building. It has been said that these elements combine to give the building an air of lightness and bold modernity, adding greatly to the Manhattan skyline.