FROM FRANCE TO THE BRONX ART DECO John D. Rockefeller, Jr. built Rockefeller Center. The Empire State Building was constructed in eighteen months, and the spire that defines The Chrysler Building was raised. Ornate stonework was replaced by sleek lines and gleaming ribbons of steel directing one’s eyesight upwards. Glass doors employing a variety of geometric shapes marked the entrances. Florescent lighting and polished brass offered a different kind of “optics.” Despite the fact that the most severe economic downturn was underway, these buildings had a Nowhere else but “modern feel.” These in The Bronx, buildings conveyed optimism. would residential These buildings are Art Deco. Nowhere else but in The development Bronx, would residential Art be so prolific. Deco development be so prolific. These new structures featured cream-colored brick and lots of glass. Bold accents using colors like red, blue, or even green and yellow defined a building’s profile. Windows were no longer inserted into a wall of stonecolored brick. Rather they defined a structure’s geometrics. Glass casement windows that opened like French doors could also “turn the corner.” Inside this provided additional ventilation and sunshine. Outside after dark a window’s ambient light could “bend” at an intersection between a street and avenue. On the Grand Concourse the entrance to an Art Deco building had to “dazzle” your eye and grab your attention. 1500 Grand Concourse, designed by architect Jacob Felson, once featured an imposing double-
door of brushed steel. Inserted into each door, was crescent shaped glass resembling a “half-moon.” When closed, together these doors formed a perfect circle…or “full moon.” Accentuating this entrance even further was a wall of green colored glass brick surrounding the steel door. At night backlighting illuminated, projecting a green glow that is then reflected by the doors themselves. The doors and glass brick are gone, but the building is still worth seeing. A few blocks south at 1150 Grand Concourse, architect, Horace Ginsbern created a mosaic featuring an underwater scene of tropical fish surrounds a double door of polished brass. Recessed lighting gives the multi -colored artwork a mystique that captivates one’s imagination while making the brass door appear so welcoming. This entrance defines 1150 as “The Fish Building” and shares a block of Art Deco buildings down from McClellan to 167th street. Looking carefully at the windows will reveal they uniformly face southwest, lining up perfectly with the setting sun. Emery Roth designed many of Manhattan’s most elaborate Art Deco buildings along Central Park West. In The Bronx Roth built only one, 888 Grand
Art Deco
PAGE 6
Executive Towers, 1020 Grand Concourse PHOTO CREDIT: Olga Luz Tirado
