NEW YORK SKYSCRAPERS:<strong>The</strong> Jazz Modern Neo-American Beautilitarian StyleARNOLD LEHMAN Chester Dale Fellow, Twentieth Century <strong>Art</strong><strong>The</strong> architectural vitality <strong>of</strong> a city is fragile. It lives on the energetic individualgestures <strong>of</strong> each structure. It matures on a cooperative spirit among them.However, the disruption <strong>of</strong> the urban fabric, the destruction <strong>of</strong> architecturalscale, the tediously vitreous development <strong>of</strong> business and residential areasallare devastating, enervating acts, settling an absurdist oneness over the city.A quick tour <strong>of</strong> Third, Park, or Sixth avenues clarifies Le Corbusier's distinction<strong>of</strong> a half-century ago between construction and architecture: "<strong>The</strong> purpose<strong>of</strong> construction is TO MAKE THINGS HOLD TOGETHER; <strong>of</strong> architecture TOMOVE US."This post-World-War-li uniformity is distinct from the proudly individualistictowers <strong>of</strong> the nineteen-twenties and thirties, those "cathedrals <strong>of</strong> commerce"and castles in the sky, whose success separately and as part <strong>of</strong> the cityscapecame from a demand for individuality- in design, decoration, color, mass.<strong>The</strong> American skyscraper school, developed in Chicago primarily within theframework <strong>of</strong> the eclectic Beaux-<strong>Art</strong>s tradition, was dominant in New York.<strong>The</strong> city's Zoning Resolution <strong>of</strong> 1916, producing the set-back arrangement,forced architects to choose between a tower on part <strong>of</strong> the site with <strong>no</strong>height restriction or a pyramidal structure whose mass would be set backseveral feet for each height increase over the maximum allowed for a verticalelevation using the full site. Most <strong>of</strong>ten, a compromise evolved. Also, architectswould <strong>no</strong> longer be able to treat their work simply as facades.<strong>The</strong> increasing use <strong>of</strong> an industrial vocabulary by Austrian, Dutch, andGerman designers was reinterpreted here less severely, with a continuedinterest in decoration. To this end, French sources, both from the ever potentBeaux-<strong>Art</strong> school and from the elegantly stylized forms from the 1925 decorativearts exposition in Paris, were immensely influential. Russian constructivism,Italian futurism, American streamlining, and tech<strong>no</strong>logical advances in materialsand methods became equally important as the third decade <strong>of</strong> thetwentieth century ended.<strong>The</strong> New York skyscraper brought antithetical styles together. <strong>The</strong> strippeddownutilitarianism <strong>of</strong> the Bauhaus merged with the intense interest indecoration <strong>of</strong> the French art deco. New materials were employed in highlyoriginal ornament. Cost was less a factor when a skyscraper could serve asthe primary advertisement for a corporation (although the Depression keptdown otherwise astro<strong>no</strong>mical building expenses).During the nineteen-twenties and thirties, <strong>no</strong>t every New York buildingwas progressive in design or spirit. Those lagging behind said something abouteclectic tastes. <strong>The</strong> leaders, however, reflected more interest in the honestreality <strong>of</strong> the future than in the subtle fantasies <strong>of</strong> the past. None werea<strong>no</strong>nymous or speechless.363<strong>The</strong> <strong>Metropolitan</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Art</strong>is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to<strong>The</strong> <strong>Metropolitan</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Art</strong> <strong>Bulletin</strong> ®www.jstor.org
4 14MChanin Building, 19<strong>29</strong>122 East 42 StreetIrwin S. Chanin, architect; Sloan & Robertson, general planBELOW, LEFT"New York-City <strong>of</strong> Opportunity" was the theme <strong>of</strong> the Chanin Building's decoration.<strong>The</strong> two series <strong>of</strong> bronze reliefs and grilles in the Lexington Avenue vestibuleswere intended to express the opportunity theme by portraying the evolution <strong>of</strong> mentaland physical life in a kind <strong>of</strong> Horatio Alger narrative. <strong>The</strong> style shows the influences<strong>of</strong> late cubism, Italian futurism, and a modern classical revival, but the dominantconception was the significance <strong>of</strong> geometric linearism and its ability to communicatemental and physical force. <strong>The</strong> abstract motifs <strong>of</strong> the grilles <strong>no</strong>t only complementedthe symbolism <strong>of</strong> the reliefs but also covered ventilating ducts in a particularly good illustration<strong>of</strong> "beautilization" <strong>of</strong> forms.<strong>The</strong> Effort panel, one <strong>of</strong> four in the physical life series, is set into Istrian nuage marbleand between pilasters <strong>of</strong> red Altico. <strong>The</strong> designer's explanation <strong>of</strong> his work: "<strong>The</strong>figures stand with feet and hands ready to repel all opposing forces or to thrust asideall stationary obstacles in the path to the goal. Muscular lines de<strong>no</strong>te tremendous physicalexertion." <strong>The</strong> grille continues this interaction <strong>of</strong> forces, its spiral convulsions thrustingforward, breaking through the rigid lines in its path, causing shock waves in an overalldisplay <strong>of</strong> incredible dynamism.BELOW, RIGHT<strong>The</strong>se magnificent gates, brilliantly combining machine, electronic, architectural, andabstract forms, are an expression <strong>of</strong> what was considered the modern aesthetic, <strong>of</strong>tencalled "modernistic" or "moderne." <strong>The</strong> cogwheels suggested the interlocking aspects<strong>of</strong> business, and the stacks <strong>of</strong> coins at the base, its rewards.Bronze relief and grille entitled Effort by Ren6Chambellan in collaboration with Jacques DelamarreNickel-plated entrance gates to executive <strong>of</strong>fices on the fiftysecondfloor by Jacques Delamarre....i.lt~~~~~~~~~~il]XlU3 J-;-.. - . .JInterior photographs:Albert Rothschild
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