Nifty Outdoor Mosaics in N.Y.C.

Mosaics date back to the second half of third millennium B.C., but even though New York City is not quite four-hundred years old, there are plenty of these assemblages all around--like this one at 35 East 125th Street. 

1150 Grand Concourse, Bronx: The 1936 structure at this address is known unofficially as the Fish Building because of the aquarium-motif mosaic at the front entrance, artist unknown.

Here's a close-up of the mosaic's mondo amoeba.

310 West 43rd Street: At the entrance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center is a sweeping mosaic that pays tribute to various workers--including those in the medical field. 

Here's a close-up of a hospital worker reading an X-ray. The mosaic is by Russian-born artist Anton Refregier and dates from 1970.

St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue.

2547 Broadway: Two Boots Pizzeria by artist Juan Carlos Pinto.

Frederick Douglass Boulevard and West 133rd Street: P.S. 92 Mary McLeod Bethune.

240 Central Park South: A late-Deco apartment building of 1941 by Mayer & Whittlesley with vibrant mosaics on the second and third floors. 

75 Broad Street: Over the entrance to the International Telephone and Telegraph Building of 1928  by  Buchman & Kahn is this mosaic dome that depicts an angel (with abs) uniting the hemispheres with electricity.

Plaza of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens:  This mosaic--installed in 1998--commemorates the Borden Pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. While the real purpose of the pavilion was to showcase the modern, sanitary methods of  “The Dairy World of Tomorrow,” the star attractions were an amiable Jersey named Elsie and her calf Beulah in their "luxury" stall.

Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island: In 1998 and '99 a team of 40 artisans from Suzhou created the New York Chinese Scholar's Garden, including this walkway seal of cranes, symbols of longevity.

979 Third Avenue: Entrance to the Decoration and Design Building.

28 East 63th Street: Above the entrance to the Lowell Hotel.

Frederick Douglass Boulevard and West 125th Street: This splendid wall mosaic of 2005 is titled Spirit of Harlem and is by artist Louis del Sarte. The tiles were manufactured by Franz Mayer of Munich.

Outside Grant's Tomb, Riverside Drive and West 123rd Street: A mosaic tile bench that evokes a taxi, this work was created in 1972 by artist Pedro Silva and architect Phillip Danzig, and was made with the help of hundreds of local adults and children.

Truth told, this is not a mosaic but it sure looks like one. It's a mural by artist R. Nicholas Kuszyk at Bedford Avenue and North 3rd Street in Williamsburg. 

To look at another post about decorative arts in New York City, visit: Alluring Architectural Appliqués in the Bronx