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Article: A lost art.(terra cotta skyscraper, Candler Building)
- Article from:
- Building Design & Construction
- Article date:
- February 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Historic terra-cotta skyscraper yields to precast and glass-fiber-reinforced concrete
Once the tallest structure in New York City's midtown area, the 1912 Candler Building is 24 stories of highly ornamented windows, balustrades and cornices, adorned with white terra-cotta tiles. The freestanding tower also boasts what, at the time, was a cutting-edge, smoke-free egress design that allowed the tower to forego the traditional, if unsightly, open metal fire escape.
Despite its innovation, rich ornamentation and unique history (see "The Candler Building: A short history"), by the early 1990s the Candler Building stood vacant and deteriorating, literally ...