Category Archives: Architecture

Christmas at Radio City

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The 2014 Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center.

The 2014 Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center.

Normally, I would avoid Rockefeller Center the Saturday before Christmas at all costs, but this past Saturday I found my self only a block away and it was early enough in the morning to take some photos and avoid the large mobs. Rockefeller Center, whose nickname was “Radio City” back in the 1930’s was and is dominated by the enormous slab of the RCA Building (known as the GE Building since 1988, or 30 Rock, or the Top of the Rock).  Noted architect, Raymond Hood (1881-1934), who was the model for the fictional Peter Keating in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, designed the 70 story, 842 foot building. The RCA Building is the home of NBC studios, the best observation deck in New York City (in my opinion) and the famed Rainbow Room restaurant.

The lobby is one of the best Deco spaces in New York City. Decorated with huge murals by Catalan artist Jose-Maria Sert (1874 – 1945), “American Progress” is the mural on the main wall of the lobby, which replaced Diego Rivera’s (1886 – 1957) controversial “Man at the Crossroads”. Rivera’s mural was destroyed at the order of Nelson Rockefeller before it’s completion in 1933. “Time” is the ceiling section of the mural.

 Above the Rockefeller Plaza entrance are huge frosted glass windows and bass reliefs. The main relief designed by Lee Lawrie (1877 – 1963) was carved out of limestone and cast in glass. Known as “Wisdom”, the official title is “Genius, which interprets to the Human Race the Laws and Cycles of the Cosmic Forces of the Universe Making Cycles of Light and Sound”. I can understand why it was shortened to “Wisdom”.

 

I’ve always enjoyed spending time at Rockefeller Center, even if I don’t like crowds. It is one of the best Art Deco city spaces anywhere in the world.

Chris & Anthony (The Freakin’ Tiquen’ Guys)

The Hotel Edison – Art Deco refuge in Times Square

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Plaque outside the 47th Street entrance.

Bronze Plaque outside the 47th Street entrance. The image of Edison is a replica of the one used on a medallion created by Julio Kilenyi.

So much of Times Square’s history has either been torn down or is buried under a generic world of themed restaurants and stores that it is a pleasant relief that Hotel Edison remains. It’s lobby, is a place to sit and catch your breath in a wonderful Art Deco setting. In the early 1990’s the lobby was given an Art Deco face lift, while not a restoration of it’s 1931 appearance there are enough surviving original details that can make you feel that you have stepped back into the 1930’s. The six murals that line the lobby are sensitive 1990’s creations that evoke the of WPA murals of the late 1930’s.

The Hotel Edison, designed by Herbert J. Krapp, formally opened on January 17, 1931. Thomas Edison, turned on the lights in the 26 story hotel, by pressing a telegraph key in his home in Llewellyn Park, Orange, New Jersey. One of the features of the Edison, that was mentioned in all the advertisements, was that each of the 1,000 rooms featured a radio, a novelty at the time. Over the years, the Edison was used in at least two period films, the south entrance way can be seen in The Godfather and Bullets Over Broadway.  Below are some photos of the interior Art Deco details of the lobby.

 

Up until the late 1980’s the Edison was a prominent building in the Times Square skyline, now it is completely hidden by all the tall buildings that have been constructed along Broadway. Here are some photos of the exterior details of the hotel.

So the next time you visit Manhattan, and you find yourself in the Times Square area, and you want some relief from the present day, step in the Edison and back into the 1930’s.

 Chris & Anthony