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Landmarks
2 Park Avenue, application to designate as Landmark
WHEREAS, 2 Park Avenue, located between 32nd and 33rd Streets was designed by the distinguished and noted architect Ely Jacques Kahn of Buchman and Kahn, and is considered one of his masterpieces as well as one of the earliest and most important Art Deco buildings in New York City, and was constructed between 1926-28; and
WHEREAS, Kahn developed a personal style of ornamentation, consisting of interweaving forms and large geometric masses which appear in the building in the colored terra-cotta decoration that accents the window spandrels and set backs, and was intended to reproduce the colors of ancient Greek buildings; and
WHEREAS, Kahn believed that strong color would replace sculptural decoration, and 2 Park Avenue is one of the early and significant examples of an Art Deco style polychrome building which, in part due to Kahn’s skillful use of it in this building, became a major theme of 1920’s and 30’s American architecture; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five recommends that 2 Park Avenue be designated a New York City landmark because of its significance in the history and development of American architecture.
The above resolution passed with a vote of 32 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention.