10/13/2026
The Art Deco period was known for its exuberant style, clean lines and geometric forms. It was a time of glamour, fun and excitement as new technologies were being used and skyscrapers were shooting into the sky in New York City. While the focus was often on the fashion and transportation of the period, the style had inspired many structures in the Bronx.
An example is a bank building from the 1930s, at Claremont Parkway and Third Avenue. Within the exterior structure of the building are stunning reliefs that truly encapsulate the era. One depicts a train in the Art Deco style, with lines reaching infinity, implying the speed that was important to the period. This particular relief is reminiscent of the Nord Express by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, who was known for his use of colors, line work and shapes. Other reliefs around the building depict skyscrapers, blimps, ships and structures that represented the Machine Age.
This is not the only building in the area that contains hidden details of the period. Another well-known structure is the Public Bank, which became the Public National Bank of New York in 1917. Now closed, the bank was originally designed to feature a light gray granite, with terracotta cladding. One of the building’s most stunning features is the entrance, which consisted of a surmounted ornament made of polychromatic Viennese-inspired terracotta ornament, taking the shape of a wreath of fruit placed above an eagle. The colors of these ornamentations remain today, and they contrast with the building’s straight lines — a reminder of how vibrant and magnificent the Art Deco period truly was.
To see more and to immerse yourself in what the period truly was, join us for our Bronx walking tour, led by John Howard, founder of the Bronx Art Deco Apartment House Archive (BADAHA.org), to see important works by Israel Crausman, a master of the Streamline Moderne style, whose apartment houses shaped much of the Bronx skyline. We'll also see works of Charles Kreymborg and Herbert Lilien, among the most prolific of Bronx Art Deco apartment house architects, plus several buildings in the Early Deco, or "transitional" style before the genre fully found its voice.
Click the link in our bio to register!
Sunday, Oct. 25, 2:00 to 4:00 PM
Image 1: Public National Bank, Avenue C, Ephemeral New York.
Image 2: Entrance to Public National Bank, Ephemeral New York.
Image 3: Relief depicting a train, Forgotten-Ny.com.
Image 4: A. M. Cassandre. Nord Express. 1927. MoMA
Image 5: Bank on Claremont Parkway and Third Avenue Bronx, Reddit.
Image 6: Relief depicting “Machine Age, ” Forgotten-Ny.com.
Image 7: Relief depicting a Blimp, Forgtten-Ny.com.