Art Deco architecture of New York City

The style broke with many traditional architectural conventions and was characterized by verticality, ornamentation, and building materials such as plastics, metals, and terra cotta.

The architecture of the period was influenced by worldwide decorative arts trends, the rise of mechanization, and New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution, which favored the setback feature in many buildings.

[7] A major influence on the resulting skyscrapers was Eliel Saarinen's second-place design entry for Chicago's Tribune Tower, considered a new style distinct from earlier Gothic or Classical architecture.

New York's architects were at the forefront of using new materials, including synthetics like Bakelite and Formica plastics, as well as Nirosta, a corrosion-resistant steel alloy that made exterior metal on skyscrapers more feasible.

[4]: 5 [2]: 68  Where stainless steel was too expensive to use, aluminum's declining price and lighter weight made it a common choice for interior and exterior usage.

[2]: 37  The most dynamic elements were reserved for entrances and at the tops of buildings, with multiple materials combined to form dazzling colors or rich textures.

Because the true shape of the building was often hard to grasp for a street-level observer, many skyscrapers featured miniature versions of themselves as part of their ground-level decoration.

[4]: 6  The New York Telephone Company Building was decorated with motifs derived from Aztec designs, and the lobby featured a vaulting ceiling with frescoes detailing the history of communication.

[1]: 111  Other notable Art Deco skyscrapers in downtown include the Irving Trust Company Building (1929–1931), designed with a "curtain" exterior and Hildreth Meiere-produced mosaics in the interior;[1]: 99–102  120 Wall Street (1929–1930), with a wedding-cake form and a red granite and limestone base;[21]: 71  and the City Bank-Farmers Trust Building (1930–1931), featuring abstract heads along the facade looking down at street level, and bronzed doors featuring transportation methods.

[4]: 21–22 [20] In comparison to downtown, which already had skyscrapers dating to the previous century and fewer available plots, Midtown Manhattan was only just beginning to develop its skyline as Art Deco became popular.

[4]: 82  The triumph was short-lived; a month later former governor and businessman Al Smith updated the plans for the Empire State Building,[23] adding more stories and a 200-foot spire of its own.

[4]: 7  Art Deco proved a popular style for an expanding range of modern commercial edifices that proliferated during the period—department stores, news offices, and transportation.

"[4]: 32  Despite being a more modest building, the structure is appointed with polished stone eagles, interior marble, and at one time featured a 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) mural of the East River.

[30] The buildings that went up in this period tended to be more reserved, with grayer, more austere versions of Art Deco; Bletter suggests that this change was due to the influence of mechanization, and the lush, colorful look of the earlier style now appearing "frivolous".

[4]: 121  Along Fifth Avenue, the rise of the Empire State and other Art Deco buildings corresponded with the street's transformation from a "millionaire's mile" of wealthy residences to middle-class commercial business.

[1]: 37  Its exterior features stainless steel window frames paired with marble and limestone, intended to connect the building to Classical architecture.

[31]: 210  At 59th Street, Bloomingdale's expanded to encompass an entire city block in 1930, with the new addition featuring a black and gold facade festooned with decorative metal grilles.

Architects Schultz & Weaver designed twin limestone and brick towers, and included a suite for the president and a private rail line from Grand Central.

Its ten floors features silver window spandrels with geometric designs and zigzags, and was awarded a medal by the American Institute of Architects for demonstrating a pioneering form of the new modern architectural style.

[36] Together with The El Dorado, designed by Margon & Holder in association with Emery Roth, these twin-towered apartments transformed Central Park West's skyline.

[4]: 139, 150  Roth generally avoided modernistic designs in his output (The San Remo and The Beresford in the same area were Italianate in style) but he contributed further Art Deco apartments in this part of town, including the Ardsley at 320 Central Park West.

Towards the end of the 1930s more streamline moderne designs such as The Normandy (Roth again) and 10 West 74th Street (H. Herbert Lilien) had more subdued brick and horizontal speed lines.

[4]: 146, 158  In northern Manhattan, Washington Heights filled with more modest Art Deco apartments, featuring amenities such as sunken living rooms, casement windows, and elevators.

[4]: 216–7  In Brighton Beach, the old hotels and racetracks of the area gave way to Art Deco apartments, including 711 Brightwater Court (1934), appointed with riotously-colored terra cotta in jungle and geometric patterns.

[38] These buildings featured Deco hallmarks of geometric patterns and colored brick, with indirectly lit public interiors floored with tile, framed with metal, and capped by mosaic ceilings.

Private interiors featured sunken living rooms, wrap-around windows in the corners, and ample closet space; inside and out these apartments were designed to appeal to the fashion-conscious, "new money" middle class.

[41] Other Art Deco sanitation buildings include the Tallman Island Water Pollution Control Plant in Queens and the Manhattan Grit Chamber in East Harlem.

"[2]: 41–42, 71–73  International Style buildings, with their emphasis on airy glass and the horizontal,[18]: 180  were now modern and exciting, while Art Deco became seen as outmoded and linked to the tough times of the Depression.

[4]: 7–8  The International Style and modernism replaced Art Deco as it fell out of favor during and after World War II;[5]: 77 [52] many smaller commercial buildings remodeled to fit the newest tastes.

[14]: 2  Horace Ginsbern's Noonan Plaza Apartments on the Grand Concourse suffered from heavy vandalism, with skylights ripped from frames to sell for scrap metal.

Examples of Art Deco architecture from across the city. The buildings feature showy metal finishes, polychromatic terra cotta designs, and zigzagging brickwork.
Clockwise from top left: Spire of the Chrysler Building , Manhattan; upper levels of the Park Plaza Apartments , the Bronx; entrance of Madison Gardens apartments, Brooklyn; and the Marine Air Terminal exterior, Queens
Illustration on a postcard of a tall, white building, with two narrow towers rising straight up from a wider base.
The Equitable Building 's size spurred the passage of zoning laws that affected Art Deco architecture in the city.
A monochromatic sketch in charcoal of a large massed building. It has no windows or ornamentation, but climbs dramatically with piers that set back as the building rises.
Hugh Ferriss ' illustration, demonstrating an approach to New York City's setbacks requirements that would come to define the city's Art Deco buildings.
Closeup of a portion of a building, with a multicolored relief decorated with a sunburst, mythological animals, and beehives, on a green background. Below the relief are long piers of windows and brick walls.
Detail of the French Building 's upper floors, showing beehives, bees, griffins, and a sunburst [ 15 ] : 79
Detail to a building clad in decorative, zig-zagging metal designs, with a single limestone pier rising up in the center of the image, featuring a scale model of the setback skyscraper.
Entrance to 70 Pine Street , featuring geometric aluminum spandrels and a limestone model of the building
Empire State Building Entrance decoration
Nighttime shot of a tall skyscraper towering over smaller buildings. Most of the skyscraper is dark, with only a few floors being illuminated.
The Empire State Building towers above the city's skyline in 1937. The unoccupied and unlit floors are visible. [ 5 ] : 62
Overhead shot of a long, concrete train causeway. On either side are dirt roads and empty lots stretching to the horizon.
View of the new elevated Flushing subway line down Queens Boulevard in 1920: the arrival of the subway spurred a housing construction boom in the area.
Shot of a large reservoir, with the tops of buildings peeking out over the trees in the distance.
Skyline of Central Park West, showing a number of Art Deco buildings, including the twin-towered El Dorado
Detail of the entrance of a six-floor apartment building built from light-colored brick, with curved edges and windows at the corners and a grey concrete entryway.
An Art Deco apartment building on the Grand Concourse, built 1937
A large metal door is flanked with golden creatures and persons.
The entranceway to the Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library
The view of a low-rising, setback gray building with a multi-story entrance decorated with geometric shapes.
The Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist , now the Hebrew Tabernacle of Washington Heights