Art Deco Radiator Grilles at Chanin Building (1929) — by Rene Paul Chambellan

“The City of Opportunity” — A Modern Symbolic Cycle in Bronze.
Completed in 1929 at the height of New York’s Jazz Age construction boom, the Chanin Building stands as one of the most intellectually ambitious expressions of American Art Deco. Its façade is admired, its lobby celebrated — but its most extraordinary artworks are found in the vestibule: eight monum

Designed by sculptor Rene Paul Chambellan and executed in collaboration with decorator Jacques Delamarre, these grilles form a complete visual philosophy. The program, titled “The City of Opportunity”, translates the psychological journey of a person’s life into geometric abstraction — a belief deeply rooted in the early 20th century fascination with symbolism, psychology, and the expressive power of line.

Commissioned to embody the vision of developer Fred Fillmore French, these doors translate the essential forces driving New York’s rise—labor, trade, wealth, and architecture—into a sophisticated visual program. Their hybrid style reflects Classical allegory, modern stylization, and distinct echoes of Assyrian and Mesopotamian palace reliefs, which were widely studied and admired in 1920s New York.

Each grille represents a phase of mental or physical development, creating an alphabet of human experience expressed through rising curves, radiating rays, concentric spirals, and dynamic diagonals.

The cycle is divided into two intertwined sequences:

• The Mental Series — the symbolic development of human consciousness.
  This series follows the psychological journey of a mind awakening to itself — from primitive impulses to fully directed purpose.
  This series includes: Agitation, Vision, Courage and Achievement.

• The Physical Series — The expression of force, labor, and worldly action.
  Parallel to the mental series, the physical sequence translates energy, strength, and human endeavor into the visual language of Art Deco dynamism.
  This series includes: Activity, Effort, Endurance & Success.