Americas Society

The story

Before it housed art and inter-American debate, 680 Park Avenue served as the Soviet Mission to the United Nations. The building, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was originally the Percy Rivington Pyne House — part of one of the few remaining unified architectural ensembles on Park Avenue, alongside the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute and the Italian Consulate General. David Rockefeller established Americas Society in 1965, and in 1985 it absorbed the Center for Inter-American Relations. Today it organizes exhibitions, readings, performances, and speeches devoted to Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada.