Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Daily News Building


Raymond Hood was an MIT and Brown University educated architect who worked primarily in the style of Art Deco. In fact, his Daily News Building was the earliest, most notable work constructed in that style. Completed in 1929, the News Building went on to garner attention both good and bad. Clark Kent(aka Superman) worked at the fictional Daily Planet in a building modeled after the News. Perhaps less complimentary was the remark of Ayn Rand that it was "the ugliest building in the city!"

In 1930, one year later, a much more well known example of Art Deco architecture, the Chrysler Building, graced the skies.

The design of the Daily News Building influenced Hood as one of the lead architects for the famous Rockefeller Center (comprised of 19 buildings including the Radio City Music Hall) in New York City. Unfortunately, Hood died when he was a young 53 years old and did not live to see the completion of what is now one of New York's most visited landmarks.

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