Mailboxes and their chutes were once as essential to the operation of any major hotel, office, civic, or residential building as the front door. In time they developed a decorative role, in a range of styles and materials, and as American art deco architecture flourished in the 1920s and 1930s they became focal points in landmark buildings and public spaces: the GE Building, Grand Central Terminal, the Woolworth Building, 29 Broadway, the St. Regis Hotel, York & Sawyer’s Salmon Tower, the Waldorf Astoria, and many more.
While many mailboxes have been removed, forgotten, disused, or painted over (and occasionally repurposed), others are still in use, are polished daily, and hold a place of pride in lobbies throughout the country.
A full-color photographic survey of beautiful early mailboxes, highlighting those of the grand art deco period, together with a brief history of the innovative mailbox-and-chute system patented in 1883 by James Cutler of Rochester, New York, Art Deco Mailboxes features dozens of the best examples of this beloved, dynamic design’s realization in the mailboxes of New York City as well as Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and beyond.
- ISBN10 0393733408
- ISBN13 9780393733402
- Publish Date 12 May 2015 (first published 29 December 2014)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint WW Norton & Co
- Format Paperback
- Pages 160
- Language English