Featured My Art-Deco blog

No this isn't my new career. I was in DC yesterday doing some research at the Library of Congress and took some photos of the art deco stuff, and needed someplace to put them, so here it is.

https://adamsdeco.wordpress.com/2015/08/01/art-deco-scenes-inside-the-adams-building/

 

Real Deco is so cool...

 

Very nice pics, Spring. Also nice that they allow photography inside.

 

Beautiful deco features... thanks so much for sharing your photos!

 

Oh my! Lovely photos - and the nostalgia it causes for most of the "business" buildings of my youth in New York City is overwhelming! My first "real" employment was in a building down on Broad Street that was of that same genre (and age!!)

 

My mother worked for many years on the 18th floor of a building on 40th, between 6th and Broadway. It had the most beautiful brass elevator and a uniformed elevator operator. As a kid, I thought it was really cool.

Here are a few photos of her building, courtesy of Google maps. I forgot how lovely the facade was.

 

Hmm, I couldn't copy/paste into the edit box and the upload button wasn't available. (Edited to say I figured it out afterwards.) Anyway, here are the photos. The bottom image is clickable, and when enlarged it's easier to see the detail.

 

Hi,
My favorite building in NY was the Woolworth Building. The man paid cash for the building when it was done 13 million in a large suitcase. I just saw on TV that the top 30 stories are being turned into co-ops. I was very lucky once to visit the top floors. It was so unused that there were several inches of dust everywhere. The lobbies and elevators were so over the top as to be stunning. My gym was in the basement. Like I used to say before, it was so weird to see Mayor Koch there stark naked riding the stationary bikes. Women were allowed on Tuesdays only since there was only one changing room and bathroom. So it was closed to the guys that day. 100 wall street was the same as the Chrysler building without the Art Deco Spire. Two brothers building the same building but one who the hidden spire was lifted on top to outdo his brother.
greg

 

Coincidentally, I just mentioned the Art Deco building I first worked in a sort of memory/monograph about my first job (vs my current job) on my website.........and I must "know" the building you have pictured as I know the hotel next door. And THANK YOU - no matter how long it has been, no matter how City promoters will tout it, it is SIXTH AVENUE not Avenue of the Americas..............

 

Yup, there's a hotel to the right of the building. I don't think I've ever called it "Avenue of the Americas" or even thought of that as its name.

 

At least the street signs say "6th Av" as well as "Ave of the Americas."

 

Great photos,I love pure art deco.

 

A couple of buildings in old montreal like that....still amaze me.
tourists too...

 

It turns out my mother's building has a name, the "World's Tower Building," and an interesting story. This NY Times article tells the story and has a closeup shot of the creatures adorning the building...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/realestate/04scape.html

More factoids... Ralph Ginzburg, publisher of "Eros," "Avant Garde" and "Fact" magazines, had offices in the building, probably after his conviction and time in jail for mailing obscene material.

This is getting more and more interesting. According to an article I found in Google Books, the building was home to several movie production and/or distribution companies in the 1910s, including this one...




It's amazing all the interesting things connected in some way with one's life that you'd never have a clue about if it weren't for the wonderful world of web searches.

 

Thanks so much for sharing. Love the style. I also have some great memories of deco from when I worked in Manhattan many moons ago. One office I worked in was right across from Penn Station on 34th St and Fashion Ave. A block or so from Macy's Herald Square. I often went to
manufacturers showrooms and the buildings were just so darn cool.
They just don't make things like they use to.
;-(

 

Thanks for sharing. I found the pictures very interesting. The courthouse here has some features like this at least it did the last time I was there. Everything here is changing so quickly and the renovation never seems to stop. It has been sad to see some of the older buildings with lots of character being torn down for more modern condos. Part of the reason I avoid downtown these days cause I don't want to see the "progress". No cool details just boxes. Ugh.

 

Developers & city planners .........bin screwin us over for years.

Oh...not all of them........but enough.

 

new arrival. calling card case ?

 

Thanks Spring!

Very interesting stories of recollections of NYC. I have many early memories too because it was the birthplace of my mom and her family had a store - the members who came in through Ellis Island to become United States citizens legally.

 

Early 1920s cigarette case. The elastic strip always indicates cigs, and the size is just right for 10. They were shorter in those days.