The Industrial Worker Elevator Panel — Fred French Building, New York — 1927
A rarely seen Art Deco allegory of labor and modern infrastructure.
Isolated from the elevator doors, this relief panel reveals sculptural and symbolic details normally lost to distance, reflections, and architectural context.
Symbolizing labor, engineering, and urban growth.
Bent over cablework, the muscular worker represents the physical strength behind New York’s modernization — utilities, transport systems, and the infrastructure that sustained a rising metropolis.
Artwork by Vincent Glinsky — Metalwork by Oscar Bach.
Royalty-free JPG — 5000x5000px, 11.94MB.
© Ikonographia / Roberto Bigano
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READ MORE ON ART DECO ELEVATOR PANELS AT FRED FRENCH BUILDING
Art Deco Elevator Panels at Fred French Building (1927) — Glinsky & Bach
Gilded Art Deco Masterpieces at 551 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
A rare surviving ensemble of gilded bronze panels created in 1927 by Vincent Glinsky and Oscar Bach.
These elevator doors visualize the four pillars of Fred F. French’s real-estate empire—Industry, Commerce, Finance, and Building—through a sculptural language blending Art Deco geometry with echoes of ancient Mesopotamian reliefs.
Completed in 1927, the Fred F. French Building stands as one of Manhattan’s finest expressions of the early Art Deco style. While the tower is admired for its stepped crown and gilded ornament, its most exceptional artworks lie hidden in the lobby: eight bronze elevator panels conceived by sculptor Vincent Glinsky and master metalworker Oscar Bach.
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 elevator panel embodies one of the four sectors central to the French Companies:
Industry — strength, engineering, infrastructure
Commerce — exchange, trade, and refined goods
Finance — wealth, investment, administration
Building — architecture, planning, construction
