Upward Glance screensaver: more photos (2)

Here are two more photos from the Upward Glance screensaver. For more details and how to purchase the CD, see the post of 5/20/08.

Let's see, the screensaver CD has 350 images, so I can upload 4 per week for almost 2 years ... by which time I'll have another CD of photos to offer.

Upward Glance: A New Yorker's Look at New York

For years I've used architectural photos as screensavers: the buildings and details of buildings that I've captured are a remarkable combination of creativity and technical skill, from the details on wrought-iron fences to the towers of Midtown.

I'm offering 350 of these images on CD for $15, including shipping and handling within the U.S. Check this blog over the next month or two for more samples. For other samples, see http://www.forgottendelights.com/UpwardGlanceScreensaver.htm

Order the CD via http://www.paypal.com/, account of forgottendeli@earthlink.net.

NOTE: The locations of the photos are not given on the CD as presently offered for sale, because to check and type up such as list would require many hours of additional work. If you yearn for such identifications and would cheerfully pay $5 extra for a list, email forgottendeli@earthlink.net. If or when the demand is great enough, I'll do the list and notify you that it’s available.

Holiday Cheer: Celebrating the Spirit of Achievement

Nina Saemondsson (Seimondsson, Saemundsson), Spirit of Achievement, ca. 1930-31. Park Avenue canopy of the Waldorf-Astoria, 301 Park Ave. (between 49th & 50th Sts.), New York.

In Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand writes that the hotel where Francisco d'Anconia stayed on his visits to New York was "designed as a European palace. The Wayne-Falkland was the most distinguished hotel left on any continent. Its style of indolent luxury, of velvet drapes, sculptured panels and candlelight, seemed a deliberate contrast to its function: no one could afford its hospitality except men who came to New York on business, to settle transactions involving the world." (Part I, ch. 5)

I've always pictured the Waldorf-Astoria when I read about the Wayne-Falkland, and that seems particularly fitting now that I've discovered the name of the sculpture that adorns the canopy over the Waldorf's Park Avenue entrance. Spirit of Achievement is a stylized woman whose arched back and upward-stretched wings make her seem about to take flight. You've probably failed to notice the ten-foot figure because its silvery metal blends into the metalwork of the canopy and the Waldorf's façade. Like the Waldorf itself, the figure is in the Art Deco style - the same elegant, streamlined style that marks the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings.

The original Waldorf-Astoria, built in the 1890s, transformed the urban hotel from a home for transients into a social meeting place. After operating costs rose sharply and the 34th Street location became more commercial, the hotel closed in 1929 and was demolished early in 1930, making way for the Empire State Building. The new Waldorf, occupying an entire city block a mile or so to the north, was begun and completed within the next three years. At the time its 47-story towers made it the tallest hotel in the world.

The Spirit of Achievement is a fitting reminder that in America, the country that comes as close to Ayn Rand's capitalist society as any nation ever has, we have transformed the December holiday season into a celebration of happiness and prosperity. Stroll through the grand lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria, admire its palatial decor and its lavish holiday decorations, and count your ... achievements.

Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) IAS 8780237. Gayle & Cohen, Art Commission and Municipal Art Society Guide to Manhattan's Outdoor Sculpture (1988), p. 327 (a three-line entry). New York Times articles on the building and opening of the Waldorf-Astoria make no mention of this sculpture. New Yorker articles on the Waldorf-Astoria include passing references to it, which I haven't yet been able to check since they aren't available on line. The Wikipedia entry on the Waldorf-Astoria includes useful links, of which the most fascinating one describes the Waldorf's high-tech aspects, for example: "It has looked into the future and has prepared against the day when there will be television. Although much of the publicity concerning television has been hasty and over-optimistic, all rooms have been wired for television so that when the day of its actuality arrives those who stay at the hotel will be able to see a show or a ball game by looking on a screen in their rooms." Since the 1950s, the Waldorf-Astoria has been the venue for the Spirit of Achievement Awards Luncheon, sponsored by the Women's Division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University to honor achievements of individual women in fields such as philanthropy, the arts, business, government, and journalism.

Gilded Gargoyles on American Radiator Building

Above the second floor of the American Standard or American Radiator Building at 40 West 40th St. (south side of Bryant Park), designed by Raymond Hood and completed in 1924, eight gilded gargoyles glitter against the building's black brick facade. According to one website, the gargoyles symbolize the "transformation of matter into energy." Looking at them, I keep wondering just what kind of energy we are talking about. Roaring Twenties, indeed.

This one has the word "Fever" beneath. Perhaps all the others had a title as well, but in most cases they seem to have been painted over too often to be legible.

The building just to the west, completed in 1937, imitates the American Standard Building's facade but has eight more gargoyles in a noticeably different style.

Writing something, possibly drafting a design?

Something mechanical, with a hammer.

Pouring metal into a mold? Look at those abs: very similar to the ones on Lawrie's Atlas at Rockefeller Center, which (not coincidentally) was dedicated in 1937, the year this building was completed. No one says who created these gargoyles. Lawrie had been sculpting long enough that the figures might well have been the work of an eager imitator. The burly-man esthetic was related to Social Realism in the U.S.S.R., a country wholeheartedly admired by a startling number of American intellectuals and artists in the 1930s. (On why I dislike Lawrie's Atlas and which nearby Atlas I prefer, see Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan #29.)

A blow torch?

A furnace of some sort.

A plumber??? He's the only one who hasn't got a cloak flying behind him.

Don't miss the view from across Bryant Park of the top of the American Standard Building: it's gorgeous, especially when the sun's out. The building is now a boutique hotel, the Bryant Park, with a bar that gives you an excuse to sit around admiring the lobby.

I love this photo. It's not taken with a wide-angle lens - it's a curved building shot through a round arcade. (See below.) Northwest corner 57th St. and Lexington Ave.

Second Stories on 17th St., Irving Place to 1st Ave. (Open eyes, engage brain, part 3)

Here's the third and final part of the 17th St. series. Why didn't I start all the way over at the West Side? Once I had sorted through the photos from 6th to 1st Avenues, I was shocked to realize I had 3 days' worth of posts -more than enough to make my point that even after you've walked an area for a couple decades, there's still more to see if you focus your mind.




Washington Irving, by Frederick Beer. Irving (1783-1859), a native New Yorker, was one of the first Americans to win international acclaim for his writing. Among his efforts are the hilarious Knickerbocker's History of New York, 1809, "Rip Van Winkle," "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and a 5-volume biography of George Washington. "Great minds have purposes," he said; "little minds have wishes. Little minds are subdued by misfortunes; great minds rise above them." Click here for more Washington Irving quotes, and visit Project Gutenberg to read some of his works online.


Break pediment, insert air conditioner ... an odd arrangement. The broken pediment dates back to the late Roman Empire.

Someone had a wild time designing this particular cornice.

One of a pair of elegant oval windows flanking a columned portico; considerable effort went into the fence, as well.

Quite a large and elaborate facade.

This type of statue derives from the boy whose job was to hold the reins of your horse. Seeing three of them on a second-floor balcony made me laugh.

Just east of the boys who are Forever Young and Forever Useless, a lovely ironwork balcony.

The fence of Stuyvesant Square, whose main supports are in the shape of fasces (rods bound together), a Roman symbol of authority. Inside the Square is Whitney's Peter Stuyvesant, 1936, Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan #16.

Maybe he's been bad, but he certainly looks remorseful. Couldn't they let him out of that corner? He stands, unidentified, in front of the Hospital for Joint Diseases on the corner of 2nd Ave.

Three nicely proportioned arches, three carved caduceuses. I think it's part of Beth Israel Hospital.

Second Stories on 17th St., 5th Ave. to Irving Place (Open eyes, engage brain, part 2)

Yesterday's post was on 17th St. between 6th and 5th Avenues, looking at the second stories rather than ground floor. Today's post continues east from 5th Ave. to Irving Place.

Decorative palm leaves and a cartouche above a doorway.



A cartouche with a nicely lettered address, flanked by cornucopias.

This decorative stone carving reminds me a bit of Louis Sullivan's work: compare the doorway and ground-floor columns of the Bayard-Condict Building at Crosby and Bleecker, Sullivan's only NYC building.

More Beaux Arts decoration, including swags, egg-and-dart moldings, and even a couple fleur-de-lis.

One of the upper stories of the Barnes & Noble at Union Square North (a.k.a. 17th St.). It was originally the Century Building, constructed 1880-1881 (AIA Guide p. 202, W7).

Decorative element on the building at the northwest corner of Park and 17th St.: nice palmettes. Originally the Everett Building, 1908; the AIA Guide says it's "careful but bland" (p. 202, W8).

Arch from the huge ground-floor windows of the W New York Hotel, built in 1910-1911 for Germania Life Insurance. Could you doubt that a company housed in such a stalwart building would pay what it owed you? The AIA Guide (p. 203, W9) notes that after World War I the name "Germania" was a liability, so the board of directors chose a new name with the aim of using as many letters as possible from the old. On a recent walking tour, I heard that the Germania/Guardian had the NYC's first electric roof sign, which is why the W Hotel is allowed to have one today.

Tammany Hall, southeast corner of Park Ave. and 17th St. The building dates to 1929, when the fortunes of this New York political organization were about to decline sharply. The medallion on the pediment holds a red liberty cap.

Medallion from the north side of the Tammany Hall building. Tammany Hall was founded in 1788 as the Society of St. Tammany or the Columbian Order - hence the medallion of Columbus. The other medallion on the north facade is of "Tamanend," a legendary chief of the Delaware tribe. For more on Tammany's long and often corrupt existence, see the Encyclopedia of New York City pp. 1149-51.

Relief from the north side of the Tammany Hall building. Arrows and laurels? What's that mean?

Lovely decorative panels, nice arches at the top.

Second Stories on 17th St., 6th to 5th Avenues (Open eyes, engage brain, part 1)

For once I wandered down 17th St. looking at the upper stories rather than street level. It's amazing how much I'd never noticed in the hundreds of times I've walked these blocks. Below are some details from the block between 6th Ave. and 5th Ave. Of all of these, only the New York Foundling Home on the corner of 6th and 17th (one of whose ceramic plaques is above) is significant enought to be in the AIA Guide to New York City. Someone must have decided pastoral scenes would be soothing decoration: a row of similar plaques adorns the building's facade.


A lovely carved Beaux Arts doorway, probably ca. 1900-1910.



Charming combination of bay and arched windows.

Wide arched window with a flourish at center - nice proportions.

Grrrrrr. Another Beaux Arts ornament.

And even more Beaux Arts, this time swags. I tire of Beaux Arts in large amounts (building after building, or one building that's very heavily ornamented), but I do love looking at the details, which demonstrate a level of workmanship that seldom appears on modern buildings.

Much plainer than Beaux Arts, although probably not much later - masonry goes out of fashion in favor of brick early in the 20th c. Some thought obviously went into the proportions and the relationship of the upper to lower window. This is on the southwest corner of Fifth Ave. and 17th St.

Soon to come: more of 17th St., from Fifth Ave. to Park.