{"nrhp_refnum":"84002768","name":"Film Center Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"630--9th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.75989472600003,"lon":-73.99116063499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-09-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A thirteen-story steel-frame office building at 630 Ninth Avenue in Manhattan, covering the Ninth Avenue frontage from West 44th to West 45th Streets. It was built in 1928-29 and designed by Ely Jacques Kahn.","why_significant":"The building is argued to have one of New York's finest surviving Art Deco interiors, designed by Ely Jacques Kahn, a leading local architect of the style. Its lobby shows his individual approach of treating walls and ceilings as woven plaster tapestries with polychrome color. It was built to support the motion picture industry and still serves that industry.","narrative":"Occupying the full Ninth Avenue block front between West 44th and West 45th Streets, this thirteen-story office building was constructed in 1928-29 as a support facility for the motion picture business. Its steel frame is clad in brown brick, with marble piers at street level and grooved and geometric ornament above. The main significance lies inside. Architect Ely Jacques Kahn designed the vestibule and lobby with plaster bands that resemble woven tapestry, patterned tile floors in pink, ochre and gray, striped stone walls, red marble cylinders, and a colorful mosaic in the elevator lobby. Kahn was among New York's most prominent Art Deco architects, and his interiors are considered among his most striking work. Built by Film Center, Inc., the building once housed more than seventy film distributors, and it continues to serve the film industry once centered near Times Square. Its lobby has survived largely intact despite the widespread loss of Art Deco interiors.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Ely Jacques Kahn","architectural_style":"Art Deco","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied commercial office building in excellent condition; the exterior has had no significant changes and the lobby survives largely intact, though some elevator cabs and lobby details have been altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.953442-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/84002768.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002768/fad1790806-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002768/fad1790806-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Film_Center_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Film_Center_Building.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319485","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_Center_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5448921"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/film-center-building-84002768/"}