Art Deco architecture flourished in Europe and the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Spurred by the 1925 Paris exhibition Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes which boasted over 16 million visitors, structures such as the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building began dotting the New York City skyline. The following are photos from MCNY's collection that struck me as particularly beautiful in their exemplification of Art Deco architecture.

Public School 98, 1933. Constructed between 1929 and 1931, Public School 98 was, as noted in the Landmarks Commission report, "the first thoroughly 'modernist' Art Deco public school building in New York City." Planned and designed by the Board of Education's Bureau of Design and Construction, headed by Walter C. Martin, the building was strikingly new in style, both in massing and in ornamentation. The entrance and corner tower, seen here, mimics the set-back look of contemporary Deco skyscrapers. It was also the first school structure planned specifically as a junior high school (as previously they had been located in modified elementary facilities). The school was named for Herman Ridder, a prominent journalist, German-language publisher and philanthropist, who had passed away in 1915.