The General Electric Building was originally designed and built for the RCA-Victor Corporation in order to create a highly visible image for the company, which, by the late 1920’s was in the forefront of the radio and communications industry. Architects Cross & Cross designed the building in the Gothic mode of the Art Deco style that is both representative of the building’s original intended tenant, RCA, and symbolic of the power and modern development of radio. Waves, bolts of lightning, and faces of “electric spirits” that project out from the facades are incorporated into the exterior ornament.