From Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression by Morris Dickstein:
If the furnishings and interiors of the Paris expo affected American designers, the pavilions themselves, though soon to be torn down, had just as great an influence on American’s commercial architects. Ely Jacques Kahn, a pioneer Deco architect, was deeply impressed by what he encountered in Paris and soon began applying it to commissions in New York, including in 1927 his best-known building, at 2 Park Avenue, marked by richly colored terra-cotta panels on its exterior and by a lavishly decorated lobby that included a mosaic ceiling, marble walls, bronze and glass revolving doors, ornate lighting, and bronze elevator doors decorated with bas relief designs.
Illustration: Book cover featuring 2 Park Avenue.
For a short bio of Kahn, see Wikipedia.
Also, trivia point: “In what has become an iconic photograph, Kahn masqueraded as his own Squibb Building with other architects dressed as buildings for the Beaux Arts Ball of 1931.”
