Reply With QuoteFabrizio, your description of the photo nearly made me cry when I got to the sheet of glass part. My God, this is really a wicked disgrace!
PLease do use them.
Fabrizio, your description of the photo nearly made me cry when I got to the sheet of glass part. My God, this is really a wicked disgrace!
Well now that I've got the chance: THANK YOU for your usual fine photos, critical eye, intelligent comments, cultured taste (not to mention your overall hunkiness).
Woo Hoo! that sure makes up for being called a little snot by another forumer!!
This is what #42 looks like at Christmas:
MidtownGuy I already talked to that member about that post and if you'll notice he edited it. Case closed.Originally Posted by MidtownGuy
Woo Hoo! that sure makes up for being called a little snot by another forumer!!
As far as the Drake site, I really am surprised that developers haven't looked at the great success of the Hearst Tower with its preservation efforts. I was sure it would have caught on and am disapointed that it hasn't to this point, perhaps developers are still thinking of it as more of a novelty idea than anything else. The nature of the beast that is New York City is sometimes very disheartening.
Stern, no worries, I was kind of amused.
I hope these guys do start to realize the benefits of developing sites creatively like at Hearst, for the long term benefit of the city.
<sigh!> This city is full of scumbag developers and spineless oblivious politicians...uneffingbelivable! They just dont realize that the historical character of NYC one of the things that makes New York the great city people wanna be in. Actually, they do realize but it is this disgusting "win at all cost" mentality that has devoured much of this city's past historical texture.This is my neighborhood and I am very upset to hear that we will lose this beautiful row of structures in addition to the Drake. It was like salt rubbed into the wound. Can they not build the tower behind and above these buildings, set back from these facades? They add so much charm and scale to the area.
During the holiday season, the windows are all dressed with wreaths and lights and they create a magical streetscape.
And here's the Drake today, waiting for it's date with oblivion...
New York architecture is entering into its dark ages. They are not building the tallest by a long run today and they are replacing beautiful buildings with sh!*.
New York is losing its battle for architectual progress with people like Macklowe. The more ugly things people like Macklowe put up, the uglier NYC will become.
I noted this when the plans for the POS that Macklowe is constructing at 510 Madison were released, and, in response, some people criticized me and noted that I had something against Macklowe. I do. I can't stand the guy. As demonstrated time and time again, he does not care about NY. He cares about filling his greedy pockets. Obviously, he's not alone. Chang is another jerk, as is the creep who razed the 56th Street townhouses, the creep that will raze L&T's annex, etc.
Jackasses like Tierney who are busting developers' nads about mediocre buildings set to rise on the empty parking lot across from Bryant Park and about 400 Fifth Ave., etc. should focus their impotent efforts on halting travesties like the ones that Macklowe, Chang, etc. are perpertuating.
My heart aches.
Has anyone seen the major media outlets covering these developments at all? I wonder if the Times or other media did a story on what we all talking about with townhouses like these and projects like the Drake being taken down and likely being replaced with garbage if it would stir up any reaction.
I would love to see this forum organize to have an impact on the shape that the city is taking. I think alot of people here are informed and have the city's best interest in mind and I'd be happy to help any effort that anyone might suggest. If people like us don't take action I doubt anyone else will.
"I wonder if the Times or other media did a story on what we all talking about..."
I've also asked the same thing here.
At one time, the Times DID report on such things with a weekly Sunday architecture report written by Ada Louise Huxtable (later by Paul Goldberger).
Huxtable was a force to be reckoned with and the Sunday Times gave her great exposure. She had an impact. From her Wikipedia bio:
"John Costonis, writing of how public aesthetics is shaped, used her as a prime example of an influential media critic, remarking that "the continuing barrage fired from [her] Sunday column... had New York developers, politicians, and bureaucrats, ducking for years."
He reproduces a cartoon in which construction workers, at the base of a building site with a foundation and a few girders lament that "Ada Louise Huxtable already doesn't like it!"
"Carter Wiseman writes, "Huxtable's insistence on intellectual rigor and high design standards made her the conscience of the national architectural community."
Today? We are currently living in the most self-satisfied, air-headed times I can ever remember. Who could ever image an architecture critic as a cultural force?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Louise_Huxtable
I, too, will mourn the loss of these wonderful buildings, if that happens. But, I suggest, outrage at this very late date is no substitute for dogged and usually thankless preservation efforts years before the wrecking ball comes over the horizon. How many of you who complain so loudly this week lifted even a finger during the last decade to identify and protect worthy buildings in this neighborhood? Sure, it would be lovely if Landmarks were proactive and developers aesthetes, but that's not the world we live in.
Incidentally, though this kind of 11th-hour hue-and-cry is usually ineffective, occasionally it works, as in the case of a nearby collection of buildings quite similar to those discussed in this thread, which was mostly saved. Carter Horsley -- love that name! -- describes what happened there (but isn't happy that moving a tall new tower back from the sidewalk to preserve old storefronts has blocked his view of the ESB):
My apologies for going slightly off-topic, but i thought I'd give you a quick heads up. The block of townhouses on Lex & 73rd are part of the proposed "Upper East Side Expanded Historic District", which recently (2005) rec'd historic district status from both the state & national registers of historic places.
you can find the map that includes these townhouses here:
http://www.lexingtonexhibit.org/map_main.php
although being on the register does not give the townhouses full protection, it is an important step towards landmark status. If it is true that these homes are on the chopping block, then a letter writing campaign is absolutely in order
After all - the hard work of surveying these buildings has already been done by Friends of the Upper East Side - at this point, it is up to the landmarks committee to start holding hearings.
The one of the main unfortuante parts of this whole Macklowe fiasco is that there is no MIDTOWN historic organization, and therefore no midtown historic district (although that might be a chicken / egg situation)
You guys should see the nice buildings on 73rd and Lex that Macklowe plans to raze. He's a jerk.
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