Editing MetLife Building (section)

=== Retrospective commentary ===
The Pan Am Building was also highly criticized after its 1980s lobby renovation. Carter Wiseman compared the new decorations as being gaudy in a similar manner to performer [[Liberace]], except that "even Liberace would have blushed at the vulgarity".<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 144" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=Sep 1987 |title=Pan Am Building: Seven Reactions |magazine=Interior Design |volume=58 |pages=262}}</ref> [[Paul Goldberger]] of ''The New York Times'' said that even though the previous design was "stark and unwelcoming", the new decorations created "a space that is so forced in its joy, so false and so disingenuous, that they make one yearn for some good old-fashioned coldness".<ref name="nyt19861211" /> In 1987, ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine conducted a poll of "more than 100 prominent New Yorkers", asking which buildings they preferred to see demolished, and the Pan Am Building ranked at the top of that list.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Story |first1=Richard David |title=The Buildings New Yorkers Love to Hate |magazine=New York Magazine |date=June 15, 1987 |pages=30–35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ruMCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA31 |access-date=April 4, 2021 |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901124005/https://books.google.com/books?id=ruMCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA31 |url-status=live}}</ref> Architect [[Robert A. M. Stern]] said in 1988 that the building, a "wrong-headed dream badly realized", warranted preservation from the [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |author-link=David W. Dunlap |date=October 25, 1988 |title=Landmark Is Debated By Experts |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/25/nyregion/landmark-is-debated-by-experts.html |access-date=March 26, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130090729/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/25/nyregion/landmark-is-debated-by-experts.html |url-status=live}}</ref> although he rhetorically suggested tearing down the building when the Pan Am sign was replaced several years later.<ref name="nyt20011007" /><ref>{{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|ps=.|pp=144–145}}</ref>

By the beginning of the 21st century, some onetime critics expressed ambivalence toward the building's presence, while preservationists advocated the protection of mid-20th century buildings such as the MetLife Building.<ref name="nyt20011007" /> ''[[ArchDaily]]'' magazine described it in 2016 as "commendable for its robust form and excellent public spaces, as well as its excellent integration into the elevated arterial roads around it".<ref name="ArchDaily 2016" /> Furthermore, the building's reputation and presence made it the setting of several films and TV shows during its history.<ref>{{cite book |last=Alleman |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_0Z5SxTKLkC&pg=PA51 |title=New York: The Movie Lover's Guide: The Ultimate Insider Tour of Movie New York |publisher=Crown |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8041-3778-2 |page=53}}</ref>