Hearst Corporation Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Hearst Tower "Topping Out" With State-of-the-Art Camera Drone Tour

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jan 14, 2015) -  Hearst Corporation, one of the nation's largest diversified media and information companies, today released an exclusive video commemorating the upcoming 10^th anniversary of the topping out of Hearst Tower, the first building commissioned post September 11 and among New York City's most celebrated and iconic buildings. Topping out refers to the placement of the last beam during the construction phase.

Hosted by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster, the camera drone video tour provides a unique, never-before-seen perspective on the architecture, people and inner-workings of Hearst's 57^th Street world headquarters. Gayle King, editor at large of O, The Oprah Magazine and CBS This Morning co-anchor, also appears in the video, which can be seen at: http://youtu.be/cuHzQF5ackM

"We're incredibly proud of this spectacular, sustainable landmark that Lord Foster created for Hearst, and are excited for the world to see it in such a thrilling new way," said Steven R. Swartz, president & CEO of Hearst Corporation. "Ten years later, the Hearst Tower remains a symbol not only of this great city, but everything that Hearst, its people and its businesses stand for."

The state-of-the-art aerial camera drone was outfitted with film-quality pro video cameras that first swept up the cascading and serene Icefall, a three-story glass and water sculpture that surrounds the escalators, and into the rest of the Tower. Then, the cameras captured interior and exterior views of the Tower's architecture, as well as scenes from the editorial floors of O, The Oprah Magazine, Popular Mechanics and Good Housekeeping's Research Institute.

The video tour marks the launch of Hearst Tower's official presence on Foursquare. Starting today, Hearst will be leaving tips at its locations around the globe through its Foursquare account. Additionally, follow #HearstTower10 on Twitter and Instagram.

The 46-story Hearst Tower topped out on Feb. 11, 2005 and opened in 2006, rising nearly 600 feet above its landmark six-story base, the International Magazine Building, originally commissioned by William Randolph Hearst in 1926 and completed by architect Joseph Urban in 1928. In 2012, it earned a Platinum LEED Rating for Existing Buildings, becoming the first building to receive both Gold and Platinum certifications.

Since its completion, the Tower has played host to a remarkable line-up of events and notable names including the Clinton Global Initiative and Hearst's Master Class program -- a popular branded speaker series that has brought luminaries such as Melinda Gates and Barbra Streisand to interact with Hearst employees.

Hearst Tower was designed by the celebrated architect Lord Norman Foster, founder and chairman of Foster + Partners, whose impressive line-up of international projects includes the Apple Campus in Cupertino, Calif., New German Parliament in the Reichstag in Berlin, Chek Lap Kok International Airport and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong, Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich. In addition to being named the 21^st Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate in 1999, Lord Foster was awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Architecture (1994), the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture (1983) and the Gold Medal of the French Academy of Architecture (1991).

The video was produced by McConnell/Hauser, with the camera drone supplied by Perspective Aerials.

About Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) is one of the nation's largest diversified media and information companies. Its major interests include ownership of 15 daily and 34 weekly newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union; hundreds of magazines around the world, including Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, ELLE and O, The Oprah Magazine; 31 television stations, which reach a combined 18 percent of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, HISTORY and ESPN; significant holdings in automotive, electronics and medical/pharmaceutical business information companies; a 50 percent stake in global ratings agency Fitch Group; Internet and marketing services businesses; television production; newspaper features distribution; and real estate. Follow us on Twitter @HearstCorp and subscribe to Hearstlink.