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229 7 Avenue
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The Traffic Building
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(1927, Abraham Fisher) This six-story commercial building is notable for its striking façade and unusual name, a reference to the “Traffic Cafeteria” that occupied the lower two stories in the late 1920s. “Traffic” referred to the trucking industry in its nascent years. Cafeteria-style restaurants catering to budget-conscious urbanites became popular in the 1920s. Designed by little-known architect Fisher, the building is a wonder of patterned brickwork and rich, Celtic-inspired terra cotta ornament. Rather than bearing weight, this façade is a “curtain wall” held up floor-by-floor by the building’s concealed steel frame. Fisher’s treatment of the Traffic Building’s façade as a tapestry and use of diagonally-laid brick acknowledge this up-to-date reality. At the same time, traditional elements make it seem anachronistic. It is one of those buildings which, when noticed, rivet and reward.
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225 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 23rd Street Seventh Avenue at N.E. corner of 23rd Street. August 25, 1927. P. L. Sperr.
225 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 23rd Street (West) (1)Seventh Avenue,East Side and North from West 23rd Street. Auguat 25th,I927 (2) Seventh Avenue,from North West corner of West 23rd Street. Febrdary I8th,I939 Photograph by. P.L.Sperr, No Reproductions.
169 West 23rd Street
\[171, 169 and 167 West 23rd Street.]
169 West 23rd Street
\[169 and 167 West 23rd Street.]
169 West 23rd Street
\[171, 169 and 167 West 23rd Street.]
167 West 23rd Street
\[West 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.] From left, 169, 167, and 165 West 23rd Street, north side (decorative roofs now demolished). On right, the Traffic Building, 163 West 23rd Street.
169 West 23rd Street
\[West 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.] From left, 169, 167, and 165 West 23rd Street, north side (decorative roofs now demolished). On right, the Traffic Building, 163 West 23rd Street.
169 West 23rd Street
Manhattan: 23rd Street (West) - 7th Avenue 169 and 167 West 23rd Street, adjoining and east of the N.E. corner of Seventh Avenue (left) June, 1938 George D. Chinn
229 Seventh Avenue
Seventh Avenue #229-25 - 23rd Street looking east
229 Seventh Avenue
Seventh Avenue #229-25 - 23rd Street looking east
169 West 23rd Street
L-R: 171, 169, 167, 165, 163, West 23rd Street, north side, east of 7th Avenue
The Traffic Building
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