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| Irwin Chanin in 1927. Photo: Wikipedia. |
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| New York, NY. 25 Central Park West (The Century). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017. |
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| New York, NY. 115 Central Park West (The Majestic). Photo: Wikipedia/David Shankbone. |
by Samuel D. Gruber
Today is the birthday of Irwin Salmon Chanin, an architect and developer who helped promote the Art Deco skyscraper in New York City in the roaring jazzy 1920s. Born October 29, 1891 (died 24 February 1988), Chanin was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland and from Poltava, (now Ukraine). As an American architect and the head of a family construction company, he gained fame and fortune building New York City Art Deco commercial and residential towers and Broadway theaters. He helped greatly transform the look of Manhattan in the 1920s. David Dunlap wrote in the New York Times at the time of his death that the Chanin family "built some of New York's most eye-catching structures in the late 1920's and early 30's. The Chanins helped make popular a streamlined, geometric, modernistic style of architecture."
Chanin and company designed and built the he Chanin Building on 42nd Street, and The Century and The Majestic apartment towers on Central Park West and t among many other projects.
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| New York, NY. The Chanin Building. Exterior, 1928. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2012. |
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| New York, NY. The Chanin Building. Exterior, 1928. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2012. |
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| New York, NY. The Chanin Building. Exterior, 1928. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2012. |
Irwin Chanin graduated from Cooper Union in 1915 with a degree in civil engineering, and in 1919, with his brother Henry, founded the Chanin Construction Company. Beginning in 1925, they built six theaters on Broadway. Irwin was President of Chanin Theatres Corporation, and his brother Henry I. Chanin was Treasurer.
The Chanin Building, which Chanin designed in the Art Deco style with Sloan & Robertson and Jacques Delamarr, includes mural sculpture by Rene Paul Chambellan. The building was the tallest skyscraper in midtown when built, but was soon surpassed by the Chrysler building across the street. More important than its height was the rich skin of ornament that covered the lower parts of the building that were visible from the street.
Soon after, Chanin developed The Majestic and The Century, with Jacques Delamarre at the head of the design team. These were among the first residential buildings to use what had been predominantly an office building style of architecture. Both Art Deco style buildings have 30 stories and are noteworthy for their twin towers, and since their erection have been landmarks on Central Park West, clearly visible form Central Park. The construction of the Century includes cantilevered floor slabs which allow the elimination of corner supports - and thus open the corners up for windows.
Other significant buildings include the Richard Rodgers Theater, the Lincoln Hotel (now Row NYC Hotel), the Beacon Hotel and Theater, and the World Apparel Center.
Chanin was one of several interwar Jewish architects, including Albert Buchman and Ely Jacques Kahn as well as developers like Abe N. Adelson, who favored the Art Deco style. Together, they brought to Manhattan a special American brand of modernism before the arrival beginning in the late 1930s of European refugee modern architects, some of whom would further change New York's skyline, turning it of a time from one of brick and stone to one of glass.
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| New York, NY. The Chanin Building. Exterior, 1928. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2012. |
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| New York, NY. The Chanin Building. Exterior, 1928. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2012. |
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| New York, NY. The Chanin Building. Exterior, 1928. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2012 |
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| New York, NY. The Chanin Building. Exterior relief sculpture, 1928. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2012. |
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| New York, NY. The Chanin Building. Lobby sculpture by Rene Paul Chambellan, 1928. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2012. |
In 1981, Cooper Union renamed its school of architecture for Irwin Chanin.
See: David W. Dunlap (February 26, 1988). "Irwin Chanin, Builder of Theaters And Art Deco Towers, Dies at 96 (Obituary)". The New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
You noted Irwin Chanin graduated from Cooper Union in 1915 with a degree in civil engineering, and in 1919, co-founded the Chanin Construction Company. Beginning in 1925, they built six theatres on Broadway, with Irwin was President of Chanin Theatres Corporation. Since the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris didn't become the centre of world Deco display until 1925, where did Chanin absorb the Deco taste in the earlier years? Did he spend time in Europe during and after WW1 ended?
ReplyDeletei think I was not clear ... I think Chanin's adoption of the Art Deco style for his projects comes late in the 1920s, so after the Paris exhibit. His modernism is both a mix of architectural forms and structural innovations that are probably home-grown American developments coming from industrial building in concrete and steel from the early 20th century, something he would be very aware of in his engineering studies and then in his early construction work. I would have to look more carefully at the early theater designs (which I will try to do when time allows) to see what styles the Chanin's favored ...and whether the theaters included any modern technical additions (air circulation, lighting, mechanical lifts, etc etc), which they probably did. But for the decoration - especially on the Chanin building - this is certainly influenced by the Paris exhibition and it is noteworthy that some of the architects and sculptors he employed or collaborated with were Franophiles. My guess is that it was Chambellan (born in West Hoboken, New Jersey) who was the prime source for the Deco sculptural treatment. According to Wikipedia Chambellan studied at "New York University from 1912 to 1914, in Paris at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design from 1914 to 1917 and the Académie Julian[3] (1918-1919), as well as with sculptor Solon Borglum in New York City.[2] During the First World War, he was a sergeant in France with the U.S. Army." I wish I had the time or excuse to get into the architects and architecture of this period more. Good to hear from you again!
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