Paul Manship sculpted this wonderful array of animals on the Paul J Rainey Memorial Gateway at the Bronx Zoo in 1934.
Bears, birds, antelopes, baboons and a lion, king of the jungle, sitting atop an amazing plant sculpture between the two gates.
Three turtles site on plinths at ground level. The middle one, a favourite with visitors, it's head rubbed smooth from the many hands seeking that touch of luck. It's two companions partially hidden in the foilage so not to attract as much attention.
Herman Ridder Junior High School in the Bronx was being renovated when I visited as part of the the 8th World Congress on Art Deco in 2005 so I had to be a bit creative to avoid the hoardings and scaffolding.
This photo shows the top of the multi-stepped tower including the Mayan style decorative friezes around the circular crown, the panels above the windows and the large urns on top of the square columns.
Notice also the subtle use of colour in the small marbled pink panels.
One of the main features of the tower are the stylised figures flanking the windows. I presume they represent students as they could be wearing school robes and seem to be holding open books.
The school was designed by Walter C Martin and dates from 1929-31.
I remember there were some deco features inside the school building but the tiles on walls at the stairways really stood out for me.
The Grand Concourse, in the Bronx, features some wonderful Art Deco apartment blocks.
The decoration on the facade of this building features classic deco motifs such as frozen fountains, radiating light rays, city buildings and zig zag patterns, all in multi-coloured tiles.
There are also turkey in colour and other birds in terracotta.
The foyers of these buildings feature coloured terazzo floors with abstract deco patterns and some have fantastic fireplaces.
MELBOURNE ART DECO
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