The cast of a mock-up of Daniel Chester French’s sculpture of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial has been installed in the visitor’s reception area of One Grand Central Place (60 East 42nd Street), announced landlord Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.(NYSE:ESRT).
Lawrence A. Wien, founder of ESRT’s predecessor company, purchased the statue in 1956 from French’s daughter, Margaret French Cresson, and placed it in the building’s lobby. In 2009, when the name of the property was changed from The Lincoln Building to One Grand Central Place, the statue was loaned to Chesterwood, French’s summer home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and subsequently moved to the building’s law library.
Regarding its return, ESRT’s Chief Executive Officer Anthony Malkin notes: “No one uses law libraries anymore. We wanted to allow people to see an important piece of American art. We will likely sell it in the future. Until then, we thought it would be nice to share it with visitors to One Grand Central Place.”
About Empire State Realty Trust
Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT), a leading real estate investment trust (REIT), owns, manages, operates, acquires and repositions office and retail properties in Manhattan and the greater New York metropolitan area, including the Empire State Building, the world’s most famous office building. Headquartered in New York, New York, the Company’s office and retail portfolio covers 10.0 million rentable square feet, as of March 31, 2015, consisting of 9.3 million rentable square feet in 14 office properties, including nine in Manhattan, three in Fairfield County, Connecticut and two in Westchester County, New York; and approximately 727,000 rentable square feet in the retail portfolio.
*Please note all lease square footages noted are approximate.
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