Chanin Building (New York City, New York) | office building, skyscraper, Art Deco (architecture), 1929_construction

 office building, skyscraper, Art Deco (architecture), 1929_construction

649-foot, 56-story Art-Deco office building completed in 1929. Designed by Sloan & Robertson for Irwin S. Chanin, it was the 4th tallest building in the world when it was completed. Chanin himself had his own offices on the 50th and 51st floors of the tower and designed its interiors, though Sloan is credited for the comission because he was not a registered architect at the time. A movie theater and a subterranean bus terminal were included in the original project but no longer remain. Above the base, the tower's steel frame is clad in buff brick and terra-cotta. At the top, the skyscraper is capped by a dramatic crown that was once illuminated at night. Inside the lobby, the walls are decorated with reliefs by set-designer Jacques Delamarre and Renee Chambellan that represent "The City of Opportunity" and "The Active Life of the Individual," the latter perhaps a reference to Chanin's own rise to power and wealth.

In contrast to its neighbor, Grand Central Terminal, the Chanin Building's Art-Deco facade represents a turn away from the Beaux Arts style towards a more humanistic and modern imagery appropriate to the industrial age. The first 17 floors completely cover the plot except on the center of the Lexington Avenue facade which is recessed above the 4th floor. Major setbacks begin above the 17th floor, forming a pyramidal base for the tower which rises uninterrupted from the 30th to the 52nd floor. The upper four floors of the tower are further recessed and accented with buttresses.

The ground floor is faced in Belgian black marble and lined with brass-framed storefronts. The east facade on the avenue is 11 bays wide (the first and third bays from each end are narrower), while the south facade spans ten bays (narrower at the east end), and the north facade has seven bays (narrower at the ends). There are recessed entrances in the center bay on the avenue, and in the 3rd bays from the east on the north and south facades, with a smaller service entrance at the far west end on the south side. Above the ground floor runs a bronze frieze telling the story of evolution. It shows different kinds of plant and animal life, beginning with low marine forms, then more complex forms, and finally birds and fish. At the 2nd and 3rd floors, which were intended for financial institutions, are triple window groups framed in bronze and divided between the floors by bronze spandrel panels with characteristic Art-Deco ornament. Each window group is flanked by limestone piers with ornamented terra-cotta capitals. The windows above the entrances are given a distinctive treatment with ornamental spandrel panels of a different design. Incorporated into the window framing are curved bronze supports holding canopies above the entrances. The canopies themselves have been altered. The 4th floor is completely covered with an elaborate pattern of stylized plant forms executed in terra-cotta. The ornament on these floors was also designed by the noted architectural sculptor Rene Chambellan in collaboration with Jacques Delamarre.

On the Lexington Avenue side, a series of buttresses at the 5th and 6th floors accent the recessed portion of the facade. The form of these buttresses echoes the form of those at the crown of the tower. Buttress forms extending from the 30th to the 49th floor also accentuate the corners of the brick-faced tower. The termination of the buttress forms at the 49th floor indicates some of the special functions in the floors above. The 50th and the 51st floors-now converted to office space--originally housed a theater which was to serve the theatrical division of the Chanin Organization. The most prominent features of the crown are the protruding buttresses which provide a distinctive termination for the tower. Projecting ornament executed in abstract patterns at the 52nd floor adds further interest to the tower.

The ground floor is occupied by an Apple Bank for Savings branch, Currency Exchange International, Gregory's Coffee, Juice Generation, Duane-Reade by Walgreens pharmacy, H&R Block, Previti Pizza, Classic Nail, Olde Tyme Barbers, PokeWorks restaurant, and New York Blood Center.

daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/10/1929-art-deco-ch...
archive.org/details/architecturalfor1929unse/page/699/m...
untappedcities.com/2018/03/30/atop-the-former-observati...