The Weather Star
Perched on the roof is the Weather Star, a 150-foot (46 m) tower of lights topped with a star which was built by Artkraft Strauss. The star was green if the following day's weather forecast was fair, orange for cloudy, flashing orange for rain and flashing white for snow. The direction the lights on the tower moved depended on whether the temperatures were expected to rise or fall; absence of movement meant no change. The Weather Star is still operable, but it's no longer used for meteorological forecasting purposes. At the base of the tower is a four-sided electronic digital board that has always displayed the current time and temperature.
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York built the structure in 1950 for its corporate headquarters. The architect Shreve, Lamb and Harmon also designed the Empire State Building. It left the building after being acquired by AXA. Mutual Insurance had been renamed MONY Life Insurance Company in 1998. The building was completely renovated in 2007.
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Famous quotes containing the words weather and/or star:
“The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”
—Bible: New Testament Jesus, in Matthew, 16:1-3.
“The eastern light our spires touch at morning,
The light that slants upon our western doors at evening,
The twilight over stagnant pools at batflight,
Moon light and star light, owl and moth light,
Glow-worm glowlight on a grassblade.
O Light Invisible, we worship Thee!”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)