The Bradbury Building: Skylit Ironwork and Cinematic Noir

Why is it significant?

Step through the modest brown sandstone archway at Third and Broadway into the soaring five-story sunlit Victorian atrium of the Bradbury Building.

Key Facts

Listen · 1:29

Step through the modest brown sandstone archway at Third and Broadway into the soaring five-story sunlit Victorian atrium of the Bradbury Building. Look straight up: natural daylight streams through the peaked glass skylight, illuminating a breathtaking filigree web of ornate black wrought iron, Mexican terracotta tiles, and polished French oak. Commissioned in eighteen ninety-three by gold-mining millionaire Lewis Bradbury, the building was designed by an obscure thirty-two-year-old draftsman named George Wyman. Wyman initially declined the commission, but claimed he consulted a Ouija board with his wife, which spelled out: Take Bradbury Building, it will make you famous. Inspired by Edward Bellamy's futuristic novel Looking Backward, Wyman designed the court as a temple of natural light. Movie lovers instantly recognize these wrought-iron birdcage elevators and geometric stairs: this was the climactic rain-swept rooftop setting for Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer in Ridley Scott's nineteen eighty-two sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner, as well as dozens of classic film noir detective thrillers. Step back outside onto Broadway and cross the street into the sizzling aromas of Grand Central Market.