Wednesday, September 26, 2007

An artistic masterpiece in Queens?

I knew there had been a Macy’s in Jamaica before about 1950. And while it is true that the Elmhurst building (afterwards a Stern’s) was especially oriented to car traffic,[1] (being cylindrical with a helical ribbon of parking wrapped five times around) Macy’s Jamaica, an excellent but now forgotten building, had gained public notice almost a generation earlier for providing roof parking accessed by built-in spiraling ramps. Besides, it was an urbane and more than respectable work of art, not merely a clever solution to a problem, nor just a way-station, either, to the suburban tailgate party of the mall in the increasingly city-phobic ‘fifties.

Macy’s Jamaica (1947): An Unsung Modernist Masterwork In Queens

Photo from the Brooklyn Rail

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are lots of great interiors destroyed in Queens.

The LIC Savings Bank on Queens Plaza is now a shell ....

Anonymous said...

check out how the escalator and stairs rose up through a circular opening in the floor. Awesome!

Anonymous said...

The enthusiasm and exuberance......
and the optimism of post WW II America
is reflected in this interior.

Too bad it's gone.