EDITOR’S NOTE: The Photo Link is below, But FIRST…READ THIS for context. MANY THANKS…AGAIN…to our great friend Dennis Degan for these beautiful images. The words below are his and he writes them with the kind of care he uses with this camera.
I have only worked at ABC for 5 years, the first 3 & 1/2 years at the old complex of buildings at 66th Street in New York. The old site has been razed and is being prepared for the construction of a tall residential building at that location. I’ve heard some reports that there will be two residential towers at the site, the taller of which might be as tall as 90 stories.
The old complex consisted of a group of adjacent buildings that were constructed at different times along 66th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Ave. There is an apartment building that takes up the block along Central Park West between 66th and 67th Streets. Another apartment building on 67th Street cuts into the ABC buildings, effectively meaning that the ABC buildings ‘wrap around’ the apartment building, leaving only the 67th Street side for the entrance and facade of those apartments.
The two original TV studios of ABC (TV1 and TV2) were carved out of an existing horse arena in 1952, originally constructed in 1902 called the Durland Riding Academy. This building is the only one of the group of ABC buildings that will remain as it is landmark protected. All the other buildings to the west of TV1/TV2 have been torn down. The first of these was the ABC News Production Center at 47 W 66th Street, which I believe was last remodeled in 1979. Within 47 were the bulk of ABC News Operations and included the 3rd Floor main studio for ABC News, TV3.
Further to the west on 66th Street was ABC’s Executive Tower at 77 W 66th Street, completed in 1982. Previously, ABC had its executive offices in rented space within an office tower on Sixth Ave at 54th Street. Once the new tower was completed in 1982, ABC’s executives moved into the new building. The new tower was designed to fit in aesthetically with the surrounding buildings but was considerably taller at 22 floors.
The last two buildings to the west between 66th and 67th Streets along Columbus Ave were where WABC-TV operated. Originally, only the north corner at 67th Street was occupied by WABC-TV, which was completed in 1979. The south corner was taken over in I think 1998 when WABC moved their news studio into the corner of the building at 66th Street & Columbus Ave with window views to the street.
The link below takes you to the entire collection of my ABC photos. Included are images of the old buildings as well as of the new Disney Headquarters Building known as 7 Hudson Square. You should note that there is considerable overlap between the two facilities’ sites in the photo collection. You can select all the new building’s photos by searching within Flickr for ‘ABC 7HS’. Unfortunately, I do not have a specific search term that will show you only the old facility’s photos. But for the most part, photos of the old complex are in the first 7 pages of the entire album. The album currently consists of 18 pages; over 1000 photos.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/albums/72177720295567727/
