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Traveling with Context

by Sandy Ikeda
Sat, 16 Aug 2008 at 1:07 AM

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A few months ago I happened across the Web site of a company called Context Travel, which advertised "scholar-led walks of the world's greatest cities." Since this sentence had all of the hyphens and apostrophes in the right places I thought maybe they were as scholarly as they said they were.

According to the Web site, they have tours of various lengths for small groups (promising no more than six persons) in Paris, Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice, London, and New York "for intellectually curious travelers." While it's geared for out-of-towners, I felt the need to better my scanty knowledge of architecture, and I decided a couple of weeks ago to take their three-hour, $65 "Architecture of New York" tour.

We met at the Tudor Hotel on the far-east end of 42nd Street, and as advertised, the only others on the tour besides me were a couple from the Midwest. And our young and capable guide, Emma Bowen, who is pursuing her master's degree in the history of decorative arts, was indeed knowledgeable. We made our way across Midtown almost to Ninth Avenue, passing by Tudor City, the Chanin Building, Grand Central Terminal, the New York Public Library, Times Square, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. It's interesting how as you walk from east to west along 42nd Street, the architecture advances, if that's the right word, from the 1920s to the 1970s.

Here are just a few of the things I learned on the tour (revealing my deep ignorance in the process):

• Buildings that are built primarily for renting out tend to have flashy lobbies and façades to impress prospective tenants, but relatively boring interiors and exteriors above the first few floors, while buildings that are expressions of a single individual or company, such as the Chanin Building or the Chrysler Building, tend to be much more impressive throughout.
• I'd never been in the triangular lobby of the Chrysler Building, where the elaborate inlay and art deco designs evokes the 1930s. I learned that the "gargoyles" on the exterior — the eagles and autos protruding from the upper floors — were not applied after construction, but are themselves structural. Emma explained that this was a reflection of the modernist emphasis on function over decoration.
• And speaking of art deco, although it's probably no surprise to many of you, I didn't know that in addition to futurism one of the prime influences on this style comes from ancient Mayan carvings. It's one of those things that's obvious once you see it.

Anyone who'd like to know more details about Olafur Eliasson's "Waterfalls" installation in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn can simply call 917-228-7333 and hear from the artist himself. It's presented in several parts, which you can skip through and listen to at your leisure.

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