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Architecture of the Night

A night view of highrise buildings on either side of a street, from a high vantage point. Buildings on the far side of the street are brightly lit in yellow with red details. The sky is black, as are buildings on the nearside of the street, their shapes silhouetted against the bright yellow light. 'Architecture of the Night' is printed in yellow at the bottom of the image. Below is the GE logo in red.

Architecture of the Night, brochure
General Electric Company, Schenectady, 1930
11" × 8¼"
© Centre Canadien d’Architecture, Montréal

Hood had helped to introduce a new age of color and light in American architecture, a development greatly welcomed by the electrical industry and lighting companies.

In 1930 he published a booklet called Architecture of the Night for General Electric: “The possibilities of night illumination have barely been touched,” he declared, as he predicted a new monumental art form. “There lies in the future a development even more fantastic than anything that has ever been accomplished on a stage.”