Grand Concourse – New York City, New York
The Park Plaza is one of the first Art Deco apartment houses to have been built in the Bronx. Its designer, Martin Fine, knew of and synthesized major elements of the new modernistic skyscraper design developed in Manhattan by Raymond Hood and William Van Alen.
Terra cotta panels on the Grand Concourse from the Park Plaza. To the left is an image of an architect presenting his design before The Parthenon. Another shows a frozen fountain with peacocks to either side.
One of the famous concentration of Art Deco apartment houses is along the Grand Concourse. We visited to get a sense of what made this neighborhood unique.
The rounded corners are more Art Nouveau than Art Deco.
Architectural detail is most concentrated in the entrances. Three very different entrances with curvilinear and rectilinear entrances set the tone for the buildings that they are in.
Multicolored terrazzo in an entrance lobby shows the bold geometric designs.
Elevator doors continue the geometric detailing with bold polychromy.
Murals further embellish the architectural spaces – here with stylized figures and a musical theme.
Another entrance with curvilinear detail, a tile mosaic, and coffer-like detail with green prismatic glass inset creating a newel like effect.
The Sheridan at 163rd St and Sheridan has horizontal orange brick detailing, a zigzag cornice, and corner casement windows with an orange brick border similar to the detailing elsewhere on the building. Taking away from this composition are replacement windows. Overall this makes surprisingly good use of the Art Deco visual language.
More buildings with corner windows, and banding.
In this building with corner windows, there are also spandrels of alternating colors. A square brick detailing is inset into the framing elements.
A run of Art DEco apartment blocks of varied materials and detailing. This gives the Grand Concourse its distinctive Art Deco feel.
This handsome building emphasizes verticality, with piers and spandrels having alternating colors.
A one-story terra cotta clad building.
One last stop while visiting the Bronx was the Bronx Community College and the glorious building by Stanford White. Inscribe don a panel inside was a Biblical phrase “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”