I heard about an art exhibition I wanted to see, a mini-retrospective for FUTURA 2000, at The Bronx Museum. I’ve been to the Bronx before, but never to that museum, so I decided to make a trip up there to see it.
As I was walking along The Grand Concourse to get to the museum, I noticed this interesting building (above) at 1020 Grand Concourse, between 164th and 165th Street. It grabbed my attention with the larger-than-life gold statues that flanked the entrance, which included a sawtooth canopy with gold mosaics, and a collection of wavy terraces and an overall art deco feel that lets one imagine it was transplanted here from Miami.
The tile mosaics include fleur-de-lis symbols, which is a stylized depiction of a lily that was originally depicted on the traditional coat of arms of France that was used from the Middle Ages until the French Revolution in 1792. I’ve since learned that this building was designed by the architect Philip Birnbaum, who has over 300 buildings to his name, and from what I can gather, most of them are in New York City. It’s interesting to note that he is credited with the innovative idea of placing a rooftop swimming pool on some of his buildings, although there is not one on this building.
Here’s a better look at the gold statues outside the front of Executive Towers on the Grand Concourse in The Bronx. The man is positioned on the right of the front entrance, and the woman is opposite on the left side. I can’t find any info on who the artist is who made them, or who they are supposed to be … if anyone has any specific info on these, please share in the comments section below.
Last but not least, I found some real estate listings for co-ops in this building, and some of the apartments on the higher floors have views of nearby Yankee Stadium … how cool is that?