{"product_id":"daily-news-building","title":"Daily News Building Architectural Model","description":"\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThis architectural object is inspired by the \u003cstrong\u003eDaily News Building\u003c\/strong\u003e at \u003cstrong\u003e220 East 42nd Street\u003c\/strong\u003e, Midtown Manhattan — a \u003cstrong\u003e36-storey Art Deco skyscraper\u003c\/strong\u003e designed by \u003cstrong\u003eRaymond Hood\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eJohn Mead Howells\u003c\/strong\u003e, completed in \u003cstrong\u003e1930\u003c\/strong\u003e as the headquarters of the \u003cem\u003eNew York Daily News\u003c\/em\u003e. Hood built the tower with deliberate economy — brick instead of limestone, no ornamental crown, no Gothic tracery — and concentrated his entire ornamental budget on a single moment: the entrance on 42nd Street.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThat entrance is what this object captures. Above a five-bay granite base, sculptor \u003cstrong\u003eRené Chambellan\u003c\/strong\u003e carved a \u003cstrong\u003ethree-storey limestone bas-relief\u003c\/strong\u003e depicting the workers of New York City beneath a skyline of skyscrapers, captioned with a Lincoln phrase: \u003cem\u003e\"He Made So Many of Them.\"\u003c\/em\u003e It is one of the great pieces of Art Deco architectural sculpture in New York — a composition that compresses an entire city into a single carved panel, and the one place in a deliberately plain building where Hood allowed himself, and Chambellan, to say everything at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe building is a \u003cstrong\u003eNational Historic Landmark\u003c\/strong\u003e. It is also, to generations who may never have heard of Raymond Hood, the headquarters of the \u003cstrong\u003eDaily Planet\u003c\/strong\u003e — the building used as Clark Kent's workplace in Richard Donner's \u003cem\u003eSuperman\u003c\/em\u003e (1978) and its sequels.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e\u003ca class=\"underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current\/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current\" href=\"\/pages\/daily-news-building-architecture\"\u003eRead the full Daily News Building architecture guide\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6 class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold\"\u003eHood's $150,000 explosion of architectural effect, distilled into form\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eRaymond Hood described the entrance budget — $150,000, set against a total construction cost of $10.7 million — as \"a small explosion of architectural effect.\" He spent it with the precision of someone who understood exactly what he was doing. Every penny of ornament in the entire building is here, on this façade, in this relief.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThis architectural model focuses on the elements that define the entrance composition:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"[li_\u0026amp;]:mb-0 [li_\u0026amp;]:mt-1 [li_\u0026amp;]:gap-1 [\u0026amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [\u0026amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003ethe three-storey granite base — five bays wide, the full weight of the building's public face concentrated at street level\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003eChambellan's bas-relief above: the individual figures of New York workers, the density of the crowd, the skyscrapers rising behind them, Lincoln's words running across the top — a composition whose energy and depth reward close reading at any scale\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003ethe relationship between the solid granite surround and the carved relief surface\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eReduced to object form, this entrance composition allows the architectural argument of the Daily News Building — that a modern building could be economical and plain and still produce something that stops you in the street — to be understood in a single glance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6 class=\"text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold\"\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold\"\u003eWhy the Daily News Building entrance works as an architectural model\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch6 class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe entrance translates with particular richness into object form because its design is governed by:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"[li_\u0026amp;]:mb-0 [li_\u0026amp;]:mt-1 [li_\u0026amp;]:gap-1 [\u0026amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [\u0026amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003ecompositional density — Chambellan's bas-relief is a piece of sculpture whose arrangement of figures, depth of carving, and narrative energy all survive reduction to plaster form; there is enough in it to reward looking at\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003ethe contrast between the plain granite surround and the carved relief surface — a tension between restraint and elaboration that is as clear at model scale as it is on 42nd Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003estrong vertical proportion — the three-storey height of the entrance gives the object a commanding presence on a shelf or desk\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003ethe Lincoln caption as a textual element — words carved in stone that give the object a layer of meaning beyond pure form\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eAt model scale, the Daily News Building entrance reads as what it was designed to be: the one moment of concentrated expression in a building that saved everything else for this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eRather than functioning as a literal miniature, this object captures the \u003cstrong\u003earchitectural character\u003c\/strong\u003e of the Daily News Building entrance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6 class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold\"\u003eCraft, materials, and finish\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eEach Daily News Building object is crafted with particular attention to the sculptural depth of Chambellan's bas-relief — the individual figures, the layers of the composition, and the way the carved surface catches a raking light. The finish is pale and smooth, close to the polished granite and limestone of the original, allowing light from one side to bring the depth of the carving into relief and suggest the way the entrance reads against the New York sky.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe window frames and door are made of etched brass, reflecting the bronze detailing of the original entrance and lobby.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe result is an object that sits naturally within:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"[li_\u0026amp;]:mb-0 [li_\u0026amp;]:mt-1 [li_\u0026amp;]:gap-1 [\u0026amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [\u0026amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003earchitectural and design studios\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003ecurated interiors and bookshelves\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003ethe home of anyone who has walked past 220 East 42nd Street and looked up\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eIt appeals to architects, lovers of Art Deco and American modernism, New York enthusiasts — and the rather large audience who know this building as the Daily Planet and have always wanted to know more about it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6 class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold\"\u003eA building with two identities\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe Daily News Building has always had two audiences: those who know it as Raymond Hood's pivotal step from historicism to modernism, the building that pointed the way to Rockefeller Center; and those who know it as the Daily Planet — the fictional newspaper headquarters of Metropolis, the building where Clark Kent files his copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eBoth identities are real and both are earned. The building's vertical stripes and flat top were genuinely radical in 1930, a declaration that the American skyscraper could be modern in the European sense, shorn of Gothic ornament and answering only to its own structural logic. And when Richard Donner needed a building that looked like the headquarters of a great metropolitan newspaper — powerful, purposeful, unmistakably of the city — he chose this one. The choice was not arbitrary. The Daily News Building looks exactly like what it is.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eAs an object, both histories are present. This is a model of a building that changed American architecture and that has spent the decades since being recognised, by entirely different audiences, for entirely different reasons.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6 class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold\"\u003eProduct details\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"[li_\u0026amp;]:mb-0 [li_\u0026amp;]:mt-1 [li_\u0026amp;]:gap-1 [\u0026amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [\u0026amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSubject:\u003c\/strong\u003e Daily News Building (News Building), 220 East 42nd Street, Turtle Bay, Midtown Manhattan, New York City 10017 (42nd Street entrance façade and bas-relief)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eArchitects:\u003c\/strong\u003e Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells; architectural sculptor René Chambellan\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eArchitectural style:\u003c\/strong\u003e Art Deco \/ early Modernism\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCompleted:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1930\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDesignations:\u003c\/strong\u003e National Historic Landmark (1989); New York City Landmark (exterior 1981, lobby 1998)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMaterials:\u003c\/strong\u003e Plaster, etched brass window frames and door\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch2 class=\"text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold\"\u003eLearn more about the Daily News Building\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e \u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eFor the full story — Raymond Hood's career from the Chicago Tribune Tower to Rockefeller Center, the logic of the striped façade, Chambellan's bas-relief and its Lincoln caption, the globe that positions this building as the centre of the world, and the Superman connection — see our in-depth architecture guide:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e\u003ca title=\"Daily News Building Architecture Guide\" class=\"underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current\/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current\" href=\"\/pages\/daily-news-building-architecture\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDaily News Building Architecture: Raymond Hood and the First Modernist Skyscraper\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chisel \u0026 Mouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53894437863773,"sku":"NBU0001","price":195.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0897\/3179\/3245\/files\/news-building-front-large-v3.jpg?v=1727872206","url":"https:\/\/chiselandmouse.com\/products\/daily-news-building","provider":"Chisel \u0026 Mouse","version":"1.0","type":"link"}