Art deco buildings in New York: Six of the best

The 1929 Chrysler building was briefly the world's tallest. Credit: iStock

CHRYSLER BUILDING

Walter Chrysler began as a railway worker and founded an automobile empire. His 1929 Chrysler building embodies the American dream: briefly the world's tallest building, and its exterior decorated with giant hubcaps and gargoyles modelled on Chrysler hood ornaments. The seven-storey spire, encased in sunbursts of steel, still has beautiful power. Step into the lobby to admire gleaming onyx and metalwork and magnificent art deco lift doors. The building's ground-floor shops and underground arcade are currently being overhauled, as is the art deco restaurant and cocktail venue Cloud Club on level 61; its terraces eyeball the building's eagle sculptures. See chryslerbuilding.com

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

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The Empire State Building eclipsed the Chrysler Building in height in 1931. The exterior is plain, although in an art deco influence its stepped-back summit was inspired by ziggurats. The arrangement of windows and vertical exterior lines is also a sign of the times. You're free to enter the lobby, whose metalled walls celebrate typical art deco themes of advancement in science. A giant sunburst erupts behind the concierge desk and gold leaf glows on the ceiling. You can visit the famous outdoor observation deck on floor 86; the indoor one on floor 102 is less exciting. See esbnyc.com

ROCKEFELLER CENTRE

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This complex of 14 buildings, completed in 1933 and centred on a winter ice rink, is the ultimate in art deco, showing many of its design influences: Assyrian and Greek sculpture, horses and eagles, industrial progress, cocktail colours such as green and purple. Nudes parade in medallions across Radio City Music Hall, and bronze friezes of manly workers stride across the British Building. Nearby, a huge statue shows Atlas holding up the world. The complex's street levels have just emerged from a revamp that has opened up space, improved sightlines and added new restaurants; a park now graces Radio City's roof. See rockefellercenter.com

30 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA

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This skyscraper is part of the Rockefeller Centre, but deserves its own entry. For a start, its observation deck 30 Rock – slated for upgrades this year – is a tourist staple. But what you should really do is visit the building's lobby, which glows like an exquisite Japanese lacquer box and yet depicts giant industrial workers wielding hammers. Art deco is adept at combining monumentality with delicate design; 1930s advances in mechanisation and electricity are celebrated in a vast mural entitled American Progress, an optimism in the industrial age now long gone. See rockefellercenter.com

WALDORF ASTORIA HOTEL

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This famous hotel has interior public areas that showcase superb examples of elegant, conservative art deco, from wrought-iron railings, floor mosaics and bas-relief friezes of scenes from mythology to the silvery lift doors' Greek-like metal figures in flowing robes. When the hotel shut down for renovations in 2017, New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission took swift action to protect its art deco features in spaces such as the lobby, Grand Ballroom and Peacock Alley. Aptly, art deco celebrates luxury and modernity: you'll be able to see the results of the $US1 billion makeover when the hotel reopens this year. See waldorftowers.nyc

BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY

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The construction of this building was so delayed that the art deco movement had waned by the time it opened in 1941. It's worth the subway ride (nearest stop: Brooklyn Museum) to boggle at the massive limestone entranceway, which resembles an Egyptian temple and is embellished with the heroic, muscled gold figures that characterise art deco. Above, sculpted reliefs show famous characters from American literature. In the last two years, interior revitalisation by architect Toshiko Mori has brought added grace in oak and bronze to the interior while still echoing the original style. Wonderful. See bklynlibrary.org

The writer travelled at his own expense.