New York Ornament: The Upper West Side

We’ll look at ornamentation and decoration–in stone, terra cotta, wrought iron, and cast iron–on several Upper West Side buildings from the Victorian through the Art Deco periods, with a special emphasis on the contributions of anonymous craftsmen whose embellishment of such buildings as the Apthorp Apartments constitutes one of New York’s greatest treasures. Along the way you will learn the names of ornamental devices, and how to look at and “read” the ornament, derived primarily from the Classical tradition, on New York buildings.