First Federal Plaza
building in Rochester, New York, United States
First Federal Plaza is a high-rise building located at 26-28 East Main Street in Rochester, New York, on the west bank of the Genesee River. It is the fifth tallest building in Rochester, standing at 309 feet (94 meters) with 21 floors. It was completed in 1976.
The building is known for its circular top, which used to be a 7,000-square-foot (650 m2) revolving restaurant called Changing Scene. The ledges and center of the 21st floor were stationary, while a 10 feet (3.0 m)-wide section of the floor rotated, offering a changing view of the city landscape. The restaurant operated from 1977 to 1988, after which the rotating mechanism was dismantled and the area was converted to office space. The floor was later rented out by local Rochester attorney Christina Agola and Panasonic. In 2017, the band Joywave held a launch party for their album Content in the former restaurant space.
The building is also home to the studios for the Stephens Media Group radio stations in Rochester. (WFKL, WZNE, and WRMM-FM).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “First Federal Plaza” is building in Rochester, New York, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through First, Federal and Plaza, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “building in Rochester, New York, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5453003. Authority coordinates are 43.157, -77.612. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1976, 1977, 1988 and 2017.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “First Federal Plaza”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow First Federal Plaza primary sources, First Federal Plaza archive and First research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “First Federal Plaza”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “First Federal Plaza” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.