American Radiator Building

The American Standard Building (also American Radiator Building ) is a skyscraper in New York City borough of Manhattan.

Architecture

The building has 23 floors and was built by the architect Raymond Hood and John Howells in 1924 for the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Company. Hood himself moved after the completion of his architectural office on the 14th floor. The American Radiator Building is a further development of Hood's Tribune Tower, the draft in 1922 was awarded the first prize in the acclaimed Chicago Architecture petition.

The construction of the radiator Buildings marked the beginning of a wave of high-rise buildings in the Art Deco style, which should be typical of the 1920s. With the possibilities of Art Deco mainly the tops of skyscrapers in entirely new forms were designed and one of the first variations of this building. Originally it belonged to a company that manufactured heaters and was called American Radiator, Radiator ' means heater and accordingly the whole shape of this building was symbolically represented as holzverkohlter shank with golden- red-hot sparks at the top. The image of a cozy flickering firelight should be transferred into the scheme of a skyscraper here.

The black bricks of the outer skin have been used here for the first time. This was the contrast between the windows, the day will always look dark from the outside, and the usual light stone skin significantly reduced and reached the impression of a color- homogeneous body, notice where the golden speckles at the top of terracotta especially, best in evening lighting. The New York architecture of that time very liked to work with symbolic references. The crown-like statements were designed to achieve a striking distance effect in the New York City skyline. Particularly striking are the gilded terracotta details, which are illuminated at night.

Current usage

The striking building that used to house offices, located in the Garment District, Midtown Manhattan, the address is: 38 West 40th Street. It was sold in 1989, restored, rebuilt and re-opened as a luxurious design hotel ( Bryant Park Hotel). The main entrance is directly across the street from Bryant Park. The building is a national cultural monument and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.