In a city that is always busy, one can easily see the hallmarks of the past upon looking at New York’s architecture. Home to a range of races, it is no surprise that New York’s diversity extends to its buildings and architecture as well. If you are a New Yorker or someone who wants to know more about the architectural styles that define New York City, read on!
1. Beaux-Arts
This one is the most closely associated architectural style with New York City compared to all the others. It was born at Paris’ École des Beaux-Arts, or National School of Fine Arts, Paris. This style was built on the foundation of classical architecture and combined Rococo influences and French Baroque onto the ancient Greek framework. Beaux Arts was the most distinguished style from the late 19th to the early 20th century, when many of New York’s iconic buildings were being constructed.
What made this architectural style different and impressive from others was the use of innovations like steel-reinforced concrete and large sheets of glass. You can see the structure of the Brooklyn Museum, where this style is especially obvious.
Following are a few notable examples of Beaux-Arts:
The New York Public Library on 42nd street
The Woolworth Building
Brooklyn Museum
Grand Central Station
Metropolitan Museum of Art
James A. Farley Building
Columbia University
Ansonia Hotel
To read more about Beaux-Arts, check out the article on Best Beaux-Arts Buildings in New York City.
1. Art Deco
This architectural style was also born in Paris, and it took the world by storm in the early 20th century – and New York was no exception. It excellently combines a brash, exuberant movement with geometric motifs, integration of industrial craft, and the dramatic historical allusions. This movement’s name is derived from Paris’s 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs, and it survives today in a few New York landmarks.
Buildings made according to this style often incorporated sleek, eye-catching materials such as colorful stones, plastic, chrome plating, glass blocks, and stainless steel.
Following are a few notable examples of Art Deco:
Empire State Building
Rockefeller Center
Verizon Building (previously known as the Barclay–Vesey Building)
30 Rockefeller Plaza
American Radiator Building
General Electric Building
The Iconic Spire of the Chrysler Building
To read more about Art Deco, check out the article on New York’s most iconic Art Deco buildings.
3. Italianate
This style was born in early 19th century England and came to the U.S in the late 1840s. It was inspired by Italian Renaissance architecture and is commonly found in mansions and ornate halls in Europe. However, Italianate style was instead incorporated into low-cost rowhouses/terraced houses in Brooklyn and Manhattan – but thanks to the latest, refined construction techniques that allowed ornamentation in cast-iron and stone, which was previously reserved for the most luxurious homes only.
You can view these prominent features in the building facades seen in:
SoHo’s Cast Iron district
Brownstones of Brooklyn
4. Postmodern
The postmodern architectural style is somehow hard to track down, but it is often described as an answer to the austerity and arrogance of modern buildings if the first half of the 20th century. The style is distinguished by its expressive shapes and features, watered-down historical allusions, bright colors, and often cartoonish elements.
Following are a few notable examples of postmodern architectural style:
Sony Building
Lipstick Building
Scholastic Building
Battery Park City
5. Deconstructivism
Dating back to the 20th and 21st century, this architectural style looks similar to a child’s Lego castle after he starts tearing it down. Basically, this approach takes the form of structures that push the idea of what large-scale buildings can look like to the max limit. So when digital technology allowed to virtualize the ideas in our minds, architects like Frank Gehry didn’t miss the opportunity and created buildings that looked like they were being ripped open and mangled.
However, the term “Deconstructivism” was introduced later in the 1988 Deconstructivist Exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMa).
Following are a few notable examples of deconstructivism:
The Cooper Union
8 Spruce Street
InterActive Corporation Building
Following are some more architectural styles that one can see in New York:
6. Colonial/Neo-Colonial
Following are a few notable examples of this architectural style:
1130 Fifth Avenue
St. Paul’s Chapel
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
7. Neoclassical/Greek Revival
Following are a few notable examples of this architectural style:
Federal Hall
Brooklyn Borough Hall
14 Wall Street
8. Renaissance Revival
Following are a few notable examples of this architectural style:
Ellis Island
City Hall
Flatiron Building
9. Gothic Revival
Following are a few notable examples of this architectural style:
Trinity Church
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Belvedere Castle
10. Art Nouveau
Following are a few notable examples of this architectural style:
Little Singer Building
Decker Building
New Era Building
11. Cast-Iron Architecture
Following are a few notable examples of this architectural style:
E. V. Haughwout Building
12. International Style
Following are a few notable examples of this architectural style:
Headquarters of the United Nations
Seagram Building
MetLife Building
13. Brutalism
Following are a few notable examples of this architectural style:
Met Breuer
14. New Formalism
Following are a few notable examples of this architectural style: