The General Electric Building in New York is Art Deco at its most inventive and unique form.
Completed in 1931, it was designed by Cross & Cross, led by John Walter Cross, originally as the headquarters of RCA Victor.
Its 50-storey tower combines Art Deco with Gothic Revival influences, rising from a rounded, rose-coloured granite base into a brick-clad shaft before culminating in one of the most distinctive crowns in skyscraper design.
The intricate Gothic tracery, terracotta ornament and lightning-bolt motifs details were deliberate: the crown and its figures symbolise radio waves, wireless communication and the electrical power that defined the machine age era.
What makes this building remarkable is how it gives an emerging communications industry a distinctive architectural identity.
Rather than treating a skyscraper as just another office block, Cross & Cross made its purpose visible in its design.