When this 808 foot skyscraper opened in 1963, the fifteen foot letters on top read Pan Am. The United States’ largest airline had signed a 25 year lease for their new headquarters. However, their slogan of the “World’s Most Experienced Airline” proved ironic. Pan American World Airlines ran into financial difficulties in the mid-1970s. The problems grew worse until their demise in 1991. Nine months later, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company replaced the Pan Am name with MetLife. In 2005, they sold the building for the record setting price of $1.72 billion.
