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Grand lobbies are forewords to New York history in stone

Sail a to the See World Premier Cruise introduces the & Orlando/Walt World" 7-day It's like taking a vacation built in. You'll sail on from Port Canaveral days... and get our package FREE. And when we say 17 cruise speBudget cial rent a car on Eastern Official Airline of So what are you travel agent your "Cruise & Orlando/Walt sails every week from World Vacation Rates are availability. Cannot PREMIER CRUISE The Premier Cruise to the Bas-relief of F. W. Woolworth counting coins decorates the lobby of the Woolworth Building at 233 Broadway, New York. Grand lobbies are forewords to New York history in stone NEW YORK - The story of Manhattan's development is written in stone and I marble, steel and glass in the architecture of its skyscrapers. If these buildings are books, then their lobbies are forewords, the places to begin reading about New York. Exploring some of Manhattan's more fascinating interiors requires no great sense of adventure. The lobbies are accessible during business hours; some are open weekends and nights. Chances are you'll be passing them anyway on your way to other sights. Four of the city's grandest lobbies are in midtown, and three of those are on East 42d street near the United Nations. The fourth is on Fifth avenue. Lower Manhattan offers another spectacular space on Broadway near the South Street Seaport, Wall street and the World Trade Center. O That's right, the doormen are dressed like Beefeaters. That is a waterfall inside, and that is a white baby grand for your shopping pleasure. Darling, you could only be in one place, that Monument to Money, Trump Tower, at Fifth avenue and 56th street. Though the city planners 1 may call it a "mixed-use" building - retail space, offices and 250 condominiums starting at $500,000 for a one-bedroom apartment Trump Tower has one theme: affluence. It is the nextdoor neighbor of Tiffany's; its $10 million penthouse is said to be the world's most expensive apartment, and the retail area is as expensive as it is expansive. The shopping mall is a six-story atrium of Breccia Perniche marble, an unusual Italian stone of pink and orange hues. The luxury of the expertly crafted marble, the landscaping and brass trim make for a lavish but not overly designed - space. To take in the scene in style, stop at the DDL (for Dino De Laurentiis) Foodshow, in the lower level behind the waterfall. There you can choose from six caviars and sip champagne. Trump Tower, designed by Der Scutt, opened in 1983. It is Fifth avenue's second-tallest building, after the Empire State Building. The next three East Side extravaganzas are on 42d street. The Chrysler Building, by architect William Van Alen, is the city's - if not the world's - premier showcase of Art Deco design. Once the world's tallest building, at 1,048 feet (it was eclipsed by the Empire State), the Chrysler Building includes stainless steel gargoyles fashioned after automobile hood ornaments and a frieze high on its facade of an abstract pattern intended to suggest cars but with real hubcaps. These distinct features continue in the elegant lobby of the 1930 structure, which is located at Lexington avenue. The Y -shape lobby of rich red African marble, ( granite and stainless steel recently was restored. Increased lighting reveals a huge ceiling mural of the building itself and a depiction n of the history of transportation. But most spectacular are the 28 elevators whose doors floral patterns in varied wood veneers - epitomize the grace and romance of the Deco period. Each interior has its own design, warm and comfortable. A variation on the Art Deco theme is seen in the lobby of the Daily News Building at 220 East 42d street. This landmark has a meteorological and astronomical exhibit that has attracted visitors since the building was completed in 1929. A 2-ton globe, 12 feet in diameter, rotates in the lighted well of the rotunda, vaulted dramatically in black glass. From the top of the dome, the "sun" shines on the "world" as reflections in the black glass suggest the vastness of space. Nearly 40 years later, architects Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo & Associates had an altogether different notion of what people wanted. And what they gave New Yorkers, by means of the Ford Foundation Building, was Eden in Manhattan. The building, at 320 East 43d street (with entrances on 42d street), is a 12-story glass box anchored by massive granite piers. It has a giant indoor garden a 160-foot-high, skylit, air controlled one-third acre terraced park. Surrounding a small pool of rainwater are at least 17 fullgrown trees including eucalyptus and magnolia; about 1,000 shrubs, and more than 20,000 ground plants. The Ford Foundation Building, completed in 1967, broke the monotonous chain of steel-and-glass boxes that New York's architects were locked into, and the city gained what is believed to be its first atrium building. Farther downtown and 54 years earlier, New York and the world got another first: a building that would reach 792 feet in height. The Woolworth Building, then the world's tallest building, is to Gothic style what the Chrysler Building is to Art Deco. The "Cathedral of Commerce" was designed by Cass Gilbert and finished in 1913. Located at 233 Broadway, the Woolworth Building has a lobby as elaborate as its spired, arched, gargoyled exterior. The three-story-high entrance arcade has walls of golden veined marble from Greece. Imposing marble stairways lead to lavish : second-floor balconies and frescoes of "Labor" and "Commerce." A glass mosaic in the vaulted ceiling, the lacy wroughtiron cornices of gold leaf and the dim lighting combine for a church-like atmosphere. Yet, there is a touch of irreverence here. Tucked away in the corners are bas-relief caricatures of the men involved in the development of the landmark building. Among them are Frank W. Woolworth, the chain store's founder, counting his nickels and dimes; architect Gilbert holding a scale model of the building, and Gunvald Aus, the steel engineer, measuring a girder. It took $13.5 million to construct the building, and it was all paid for in cash, out of Woolworth's personal fortune of nickels and dimes. -Michael S. Weisberg
Article from 10 Jun 1984The Baltimore Sun(Baltimore, MD)
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