“The style of the
limestone-sheathed buildings in the taste of the ‘20s, which was overwhelmingly
concerned with the creation of a romantic effect of aspiring verticality
emphasizing extreme height, rather than with a logical aesthetic reflection of
steel-cage construction. To this
end, the structural steel columns are masked by heavy masonry piers, with
additional nonstructural piers repeated between the windows. However, because the buildings are
singularly free from the mannered ‘modernistic’ ornament of the times, which
generally remains subordinate to the architectural masses, these structures
continue to please – both as individual buildings, and as part of an
impressively designed and harmonious whole.”
- “Four Walking Tours of Modern Architecture in
New York City,” The Museum of Modern Art and the Municipal Art Society of New
York, Prepared by Ada Louise Huxtable; Distributed by Doubleday & Company,
Inc., Third Printing 1966.
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