I was taken aback just a bit when getting off the A train at Canal Street recently. It happens to be one of those stops that exits into a building lobby or a concourse between buildings (as the B/D/F/M stops near Rockefeller center do). I found myself in the vast lobby belonging to what is presently called the Verizon Building at 32 6th Avenue at Walker, a large Art Deco tower.
The building began construction in 1918, long before 6th Avenue was extended south to accompany the IND Subway. It began as a New York telephone office facing on Walker Street, and was expanded vastly between 1930-1932 by the same architects that had assisted on its construction with lead architect Cyrus Eidlitz, Voorhies and Gmelin; the expansion gave it the Art Deco appointments seen today.
When at the top of the steps I was greeted by a large mosaic mural showing the world’s continents and oceans, with the slogan. “Telephone wires and radio unite to make neighbors of nations.”
The front desk is guarded amply, and I was afraid of being bumrushed if I started pointing the camera, so I’m relying on this shot of the rest of the lobby by Metropolis magazine. Eyes can be feasted on the still-existing Deco ornamentation as well as the ceiling murals, with the ceiling is decorated with allegorical figures of four continents, linked by golden telephone lines. Each mural was the work of Hildreth Meière, who also supplied murals to St. Bartholomew Church and Radio City Music Hall in midtown.
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10/25/18
5 comments
60 Hudson St. a few blocks SW I believe was built by the same architect has a beautiful lobby also. In the 80’s and 90’s it was decorated for beautiful for Christmas. I don’t know if they still do it.
I used to work at 60 Hudson St. in the mid-60’s when it housed Western Union. It did indeed have a beautiful Art Deco lobby. I haven’t been back in 50 years, but the building itself was in the news a few years ago when a giant crane blew over outside on Worth St.
I’m always amazed at how much pride was put into the works of the past. It’s much more than ‘cost be damned’, it’s lets do the best we can.
More info and photos can be found here…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32_Avenue_of_the_Americas
In 2006, I installed a Voip phone system in a suite on one of the upper floors. The irony of that was palpable.