There’s a lot to admire about 940 Park Avenue, a limestone and brick prewar beauty at the corner of East 81st Street described as having “refined, slender lines” in a 1925 announcement of the building in the Real Estate Record and Builders Guide.
That description sounds feminine, and perhaps not coincidentally, a series of brass female nudes grace the ironwork at the building entrance.
One figure extends her arms in a brass circle against a second-floor iron juliet balcony. Three other brass nudes appear above the front door, seemingly playing music.
Specifically what they represent (the three graces, possibly, like these similar figures on East 57th Street?) and why they were placed there by architects George and Edward Blum remains a mystery.
But these symmetrical, streamlined Art Deco emblems appear to celebrate humanity and creativity. How lovely for residents to view them every day as they enter the building!
Tags: 940 Park Avenue, 940 Park Avenue Art Deco, Art Deco New York City, Art Deco Sculpture New York City, George and Edward Blum Architects NYC, Park Avenue Art Deco Buildings
Ephemeral New York 
May 1, 2023 at 3:57 pm |
Yes, and how lovely are also those 3 mythological dancing nudes on the doorway of 320 East 57th Street.
May 2, 2023 at 12:47 pm |
They are exquisite!
May 2, 2023 at 2:15 pm
Thank you! I will need to look at then next time. Have you written anything about the homes the Roosevelts owned in NYC?
May 3, 2023 at 10:37 pm |
They are lovely. But it’s a good thing they’re not in Florida, eh?
Somehow they suggest a performance. Might that building have been home to people connected with the worlds of theatre or music?