Page 157 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

L OWER MID T OWN  155

the help of John D. Rockefeller e Church of
III, who underwrote costs the Incarnation
of some $4.3 million. The
striking black building with 209 Madison Ave. Map 9 A2.
its delicate sun grilles was Tel (212) 689-6350. q 42nd St-Grand
designed by Tokyo architects Central, 33rd St. Open 11:30am–
2pm Mon–Fri, 8am–1pm Sun.
Junzo Yoshimura and George 5 8am Tue, 12:15pm Wed,
Shimamoto in 1971. It includes 12:15pm Fri, 8:30am, 11am & 5pm
an auditorium, a language Sun. 7 8 by appointment.
center, a research library, a ∑ churchoftheincarnation.org
museum gallery, and traditional
Oriental gardens. This Episcopal church dates
Changing exhibits include from 1864, when Madison
a variety of Japanese arts, from Avenue was home to the elite.
swords to kimonos to scrolls. Its patterned sandstone and
The society offers programs brownstone exterior is typical
of Japanese performing arts, of the period. The interior
lectures, language classes, has an oak communion rail
and many business workshops by Daniel Chester French;
for American and Japanese a chancel mural by John
executives and managers. La Farge; and stained-glass
windows by La Farge, Tiffany,
w Fred F. Tiffany stained-glass window in the William Morris, and Edward
Burne-Jones.
French Building Church of the Incarnation
521 5th Ave. Map 12 F5. q 42nd r The Morgan
St-Grand Central. Open office hours. included the Chanin Building
(see p150). They handsomely Library & Museum
Built in 1927 to house the blended Near Eastern, ancient See pp160–61.
best-known real estate firm Egyptian, and Greek styles with
of the day, this edifice is a early Art Deco forms.
fabulously opulent creation. Multicolored faience orna-
It was designed by French’s ments decorate the upper t Sniffen Court
chief architect, H. Douglas Ives, facade, and the water tower 150–158 E 36th St. Map 9 A2.
in collaboration with Sloan & is hidden in a false top level q 33rd St.
Robertson, whose other work of the building. Its disguise is
an elaborate one, with Here is a delightful, intimate
reliefs showing a rising courtyard of 10 brick Roman-
sun flanked by griffins esque Revival carriage houses,
and bees and symbols built by John Sniffen in the
of virtues such as 1850s. They are perfectly and
integrity and industry. improbably preserved off
Winged Assyrian a busy block in modern New
beasts ride on a York. The house at the south
bronze frieze over the end was used as a studio
entrance. These exotic by the American sculptor
themes continue into Malvina Hoffman, whose
the vaulted lobby, plaques of Greek horsemen
with its elaborate decorate the exterior wall.
polychrome ceiling
decoration and 25
gilt-bronze doors.
This was the first
building project to
employ members of
the Native Canadian
Caughnawaga tribe as
construction workers.
They did not fear
heights and soon
became highly sought
after as scaffolders for
many of the city’s most
Lobby of the Fred F. French Building famous skyscrapers. Malvina Hoffman’s studio

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