Day 1131

Elephantine architecture

February 3rd, 2015



Zoom in to see the mighty beasts "curl[ing] their trunks around the struts of the marquee, seemingly preventing it from falling on arriving guests." Actually, the elephants' trunks are no longer connected to the marquee, but you can see that they once were. Three of the elephants are currently holding up flagpoles, while the fourth has cast off all of its worldly burdens and is just lazing about.

Now a W Hotel, this Emery Roth-designed structure was originally the Montclair Hotel. The elephents aren't the building's only playful detail. Atop some of the lower-floor windows, hunched-over little men appear to be bearing the immense weight of the edifice on their seemingly undersized backs.


Leave a Reply