The Seagram Building is a 38-story skyscraper at 375 Park Avenue, located between 52nd and 53rd Streets in the neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It was the headquarters of the Seagram Company, a Canadian distiller, until 2001. It was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, Ely Jacques Kahn, and Robert Allan Jacobs in the International Style, and completed in 1958. Measuring 515 feet (157 m) tall, it has a glass curtain wall exterior with vertical mullions of bronze and horizontal spandrels made of Muntz metal. A pink granite plaza with two fountains faces Park Avenue; its construction helped influence a zoning ordinance that allowed developers to construct additional floor area in exchange for including plazas outside their buildings. Since 2000, Aby Rosen's RFR Holding has owned the Seagram Building. Elements of it were designated official city landmarks in 1989; the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagram_Building

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1822:

The deadliest fire in Norwegian history (depicted) occurred at a church in Grue, killing at least 113 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grue_Church_fire

1897:

The Church of England returned the original manuscript of William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, an account of the Pilgrims and the early years of the Plymouth Colony, to the state of Massachusetts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Plymouth_Plantation

1940:

Second World War: The Allies began a mass evacuation of British, French and Belgian troops cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_evacuation

2002:

Barges being towed destroyed part of a bridge near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, causing vehicles to fall into the Robert S. Kerr Reservoir on the Arkansas River. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-40_bridge_disaster

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

facticity: 1. (uncountable) The quality or state of being a fact. 2. (uncountable, specifically, philosophy) In existentialism, the state of being in the world without any knowable reason for such existence, or of being in a particular state of affairs which one has no control over. 3. (countable) A fact that is not changeable or that is assumed to be true without further evaluation. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/facticity

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Most Americans support commonsense laws — commonsense gun laws. I just got off my trip from Asia, meeting with Asian leaders, and I learned of this while I was on the aircraft. And what struck me on that 17-hour flight — what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world. Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone — to have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbies? It's time to turn this pain into action. For every parent, for every citizen in this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: It's time to act. It's time — for those who obstruct or delay or block the commonsense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget. We can do so much more. We have to do more.   --Joe Biden https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden