Tag Archives: Art Deco Architecture

Thursday Doors – 10/31/2019

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It should be expected that the most beautiful building in New York City, an Art Deco masterpiece, would also have beautiful doors. Since we were in NYC last week, I made sure I’d check that, and I wasn’t disappointed. A short visit to the lobby of the Chrysler Building confirmed that it has indeed some very interesting doors. Sometimes it’s more about what’s around the doors than the doors themselves. This post includes shots of all the doors from around the lobby and main entrances, as well as some shots of the ceilings, walls, and other areas of the lobby.

 

 

334/365 – Hamilton at the Pantages

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Today we saw Hamilton for the second time. I am obsessed with this musical and can’t have enough of it. 🙂 The story, the music, and the choreography are fantastic, the work of genius. If Hamilton comes to your city, GO SEE IT! It was interesting to see how three months into their LA run, the company has gotten so much better.  Apparently, coming from a run in a smaller theater in San Francisco, the performers were shocked by the sheer size of the Pantages Theater, in Hollywood. It is much more challenging to perform in such a large venue (2,703 seats), packed to capacity, with a very enthusiastic audience. Today’s performance was phenomenal and I was delighted to have gone again. The photos below are not of the show (no photography allowed), but rather of the beautiful Pantages theater, a stunning Art Deco building from the 1930s. My iPhone photos don’t do it justice (they won’t allow “professional” cameras into the premises), but you can still see the beauty of the palatial building. So, enjoy the show! 😉

 

The Prettiest of Them All

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Approaching the subject.
Getting closer.
Well, hello lover…!
Let me see if I can get a long shot of you.
OK, maybe from across the street?
Can’t get the Crown but please admire the masonry. This the tallest brick building in the world.
Appreciate the details.
More details…
Salute to the flag! And here are the radiator caps…
Behold the Eagles!
The Crown.

If you love architecture and Art Deco, you’ll LOVE the Chrysler Building, on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan, in New York City. The Chrysler was designed by architect William Van Alen and completed in1930. The Art Deco ornamentation at the crown of the Chrysler is considered a masterpiece of Art Deco architecture. It is based on features used on Chrysler automobiles. On the 31st floor, the corner ornamentations are replicas of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps. The corners of the 61st floor are graced with eagles, replicas of the 1929 Chrysler hood ornaments.

Another outstanding feature of the Chrysler building is its terraced crown, composed of seven radiating terraced arches. The entire crown is clad with stainless steel. The flush windows, the stainless steel crown, the spire, and the eagles were all fabricated from sheet metal shops on the 65th and 67th floor. Unlike other buildings, the Chrysler was virtually sculpted by hand. A true work of art. I think it is the most beautiful building in New York and perhaps the world, although I haven’t seen all the buildings in the world…

So, given my strong admiration for The Chrysler, when I was in New York this past summer I decided to photograph it up close, which proved to be VERY difficult. The massive structure is squeezed between other buildings and so tall that standing across the street from it won’t allow you to shoot its whole extension. You can get the building but not its beautiful crown. And when you get the crown, you cut half of the building. That’s why I decided to photograph it in parts. I also didn’t have my 300mm lens with me on that trip so I wasn’t able to get some of the details as I would have liked. C’est la vie! I still owe it to myself a decent set of pics of The Chrysler, which shall happen the next time I’m in the Big Apple.