The first weekend of May is often the Jane's Walk weekend. Volunteers all around the city lead walks sharing their special area of knowledge.
On Friday, May 4, 2018 I overcame my lethargy and headed to the plaza in front of the United Nations where Eric Nash led a group down 42 Street.
The story of how the United Nations came to be located at its present site is long and complicated but this was a tour about architecture of skyscrapers. (all information presented in this entry is directly received from the tour leader- Eric Nash. I did not verify any of it and any mistakes are more likely due to my bad hearing than inaccuracies of Mr. Nash)
Eric Nash explained that the the United Nations, was the first slab office building constructed in New York City. Buildings are not supported by their walls, but by their internal structure. The Secretariat, the building that houses the the offices of the UN is covered with green glass. This building, our leader said, ushered in the age of glass and steel buildings.
We climbed the stairway next to the Isaiah Wall and we were in the full blooming, Tudor City Park. Tudor City is complex of eleven buildings built in the 1920s. Grand Central Terminal was built in 1913 and brought the business of the city to midtown. Somebody had to staff the many offices now located near 42 Street and we were told the small apartments in Tudor City were meant to house secretaries. They are small apartments with even smaller kitchens.
We continued westward. Between Second and Third Avenue is the Daily News Building (It also says WPIX) Designed by Raymond Hood, the building was used for the Superman Movies and there is a giant globe floating in a pit in the marbled lined lobby.. Above the entrance to the main lobby is a frieze that captures New York in the 1930's. Carved into stone is a variety of New Yorkers dressed in the clothes of the era and prepared to perform the jobs of the trades of the era. Behind them the skyscraper looms like a gothic cathedral with the sun shining behind it.
The Chanin Building was the next building. An example of the Art Deco style, the lobby of the building is filled with Art Deco details, dripping chandeliers, elaborated stylized metal mailboxes and geese that grace the doors of the elevators while their occupants ascend. No photos inside the building, so you have to take my word for it or check it out yourself
Across from the Chanin Building is the Chrysler Building. It was the tallest building in the world for eleven months. The outside of the building has all sorts of references to the automobile. Look hard and you can see hubcaps and grills, fenders and radiator covers. The gargoyles attached to the building are in the shape of hood ornaments. Another member of the tour pointed out that the ceiling of the lobby was the world's largest oil painting.
And then the two hours for the scheduled tour was were up. We had just reached Grand Central Terminal, but that is a story for a whole other day and nothing was mentioned about it.
More information here
We climbed the stairway next to the Isaiah Wall and we were in the full blooming, Tudor City Park. Tudor City is complex of eleven buildings built in the 1920s. Grand Central Terminal was built in 1913 and brought the business of the city to midtown. Somebody had to staff the many offices now located near 42 Street and we were told the small apartments in Tudor City were meant to house secretaries. They are small apartments with even smaller kitchens.
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| A leaded window in the lobby of one of the Tudor City Buildings. |
We continued westward. Between Second and Third Avenue is the Daily News Building (It also says WPIX) Designed by Raymond Hood, the building was used for the Superman Movies and there is a giant globe floating in a pit in the marbled lined lobby.. Above the entrance to the main lobby is a frieze that captures New York in the 1930's. Carved into stone is a variety of New Yorkers dressed in the clothes of the era and prepared to perform the jobs of the trades of the era. Behind them the skyscraper looms like a gothic cathedral with the sun shining behind it.
The next building could be called the Alcoa Building, or the Mobil Building, Located between Third Avenue and Lexington, I found websites with both names. It is covered in steel panels with patterns one website describes as "rusticated". Once the facade might have been aluminum because that;s what Alcoa made. Anyway it reminded me of the shoeboxes wrapped in tinfoil we stacked in the back of the classrooms in our model cities.
The Chanin Building was the next building. An example of the Art Deco style, the lobby of the building is filled with Art Deco details, dripping chandeliers, elaborated stylized metal mailboxes and geese that grace the doors of the elevators while their occupants ascend. No photos inside the building, so you have to take my word for it or check it out yourself
Across from the Chanin Building is the Chrysler Building. It was the tallest building in the world for eleven months. The outside of the building has all sorts of references to the automobile. Look hard and you can see hubcaps and grills, fenders and radiator covers. The gargoyles attached to the building are in the shape of hood ornaments. Another member of the tour pointed out that the ceiling of the lobby was the world's largest oil painting.
And then the two hours for the scheduled tour was were up. We had just reached Grand Central Terminal, but that is a story for a whole other day and nothing was mentioned about it.
More information here
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