Four Seasons restaurant – 1959 – Seagram Building, New York

The Seagram Building, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, was completed in 1958. At 515 feet tall and 38 stories, it stands as one of the finest examples of corporate modernism. The Four Seasons Restaurant, located in this building, was also designed by the same architects.

The restaurant, opened in 1959, features two sculptures by Richard Lippold. One suspended over the bar, respecting its elegant proportions while creating a more intimate space. The other smaller work hangs in the upper level of the same room. Both works, made of hundredths of slender, square bronze rods, suspended in a very intricate system of wires, like a cloud from which descends the dense cluster.

The Four Seasons is the only Manhattan restaurant designated as an architectural landmark. The Lippold sculptures and the Picasso tapestry, were also designated landmarks by New York City’s  Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1989.

This is the most revered restaurant in New York, catering to the taste of a global clientele.