Endangered NYC - Lost & Threatened Treasures

[lofter1]

The Airlines Terminal Building was designed by John Peterkin, who also designed the landmarked Socony-Mobil Building two blocks to the east on East 42nd between Lexington & Third Avenues (LPC Designation Report, 2003: Socony-Mobil Building, 150 East 42nd Street [pdf]).



Peterkin also designed the now-demolished NY Coliseum Tower at 10 Columbus Circle.

[Merry]

It wasn't just the front that looked good.



http://filipinodeltiologist.blogspot...-postcard.html

[lofter1]

Thanks for that, Merry.

An unsung hero and master of New York architecture:

Rene Paul Chambellan

[RandySavage]

Chambellan was a brilliant artist as that website shows.

It's kind of ironic, though, that the creator of the site found his love for Art Deco and Chambellan through the cover of his favorite Ayn Rand book - Rand striking me as an "ornament is crime" Loosian (see The Fountainhead).

[scumonkey]

just as true now as it was back then....
Architecture: How To Kill A City
By: Ada Louise Huxtable
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/package...rts/madmen.pdf

[Merry]

A Decapitation on East 80th Street

August 31, 2009

If you go to the brownstone at 52 East 80th Street between Madison & Park...

...you'll see the decapitated limestone head of a Greco-Roman goddess in the front yard next to some trash barrels (gives you some perspective on its size).

Below is a picture of New York's revered Ziegfeld Theater, a movie theater better described as a palace:

What do the two have in common? This head is the only remnant of the old Ziegfeld that one can still see on a New York City street.

The Ziegfeld Theater, one of New York City's premier movie theaters, opened in 1927 and had a glorious life as a movie theater, TV studio, and Broadway theater until it was torn down in 1966. According to the Ziegfeld's Wikipedia entry, this head was originally located on the front of the theater, though I'm not exactly sure where.

How did it come to be here? Apparently, 52 East 80th was once owned by Jerry Hammer, a theatrical producer. In the 1960s, he was riding past the Ziegfeld in a car with shithead developer Zachary Fisher, who mentioned he was tearing it down. Hammer jokingly asked if he could have one of the limestone heads. Four months later, he heard noises outside of his Upper East Side home - it was a truck lowering the head by crane into his front yard. Hammer moved out of the place in 1998 but left the head behind.

Are those two heads on either side of the upper balcony? Can't tell...

In 1969, a second Ziegfeld opened up a few hundred feet from the original, and while the exterior is a mind-blowingly bland compared to the original, the interior is actually one of the nicest places you can see a movie in New York.

High praise to Hammer for asking for the head, and also for leaving it behind for New York to enjoy. Definitely swing by 52 East 80th Street if you're in the area to see the last remaining piece of the once great Ziegfeld.

PS - That's a pretty sick window array on the second floor of that brownstone.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-c...tml?view=print

[Nicholas West]

How did it come to be here? Apparently, 52 East 80th was once owned by Jerry Hammer, a theatrical producer. In the 1960s, he was riding past the Ziegfeld in a car with shithead developer Zachary Fisher, who mentioned he was tearing it down. Hammer jokingly asked if he could have one of the limestone heads. Four months later, he heard noises outside of his Upper East Side home - it was a truck lowering the head by crane into his front yard. Hammer moved out of the place in 1998 but left the head behind.

That is completely great. I must go look at it. Thanks so much for posting this.

I'll bet the new owner of the house bought the head along with it. I can't imagine someone just leaving a thing like that behind like trash. Wait...these are New Yorkers. Never mind.

[Nicholas West]

It would be very interesting to know what they razed to put up the Airlines Building.

^ The Hotel Belmont. Demolished in 1939 for the Airlines Building

While looking through my books I was pleasantly surprised to find this extremely interesting picture taken looking North West across Pershing Square, obviously in 1939. And in the lower left you can see people walking by the actual construction site of the future Airlines Terminal Building. A rare glimpse of the brief moment between the destruction of the Belmont and the construction of the ATB.

This picture appears in the WPA Guide To New York City. The photo is uncredited.

[RandySavage]

Nice catch...

Here's a postcard of the never built Pershing Sq park and Murray Hill Hotel.

[lofter1]

I love old NYC where seemingly every building of any size flew a flag up top.

That's a tradition that should be re-newed.

[MidtownGuy]

After 9/11 it practically was.
For me, thank goodness the flag mania wore off. Overkill, ya know?

It's interesting to see a park in that place on the post card.

[lofter1]

But those flags were on balconies, fronts of buildings, etc.

I'm talking up top, on a FLAG POLE, blowing in the air above the city.

And they needn't be the US flag. Big company flags or any colorful banner would be great.

Of course it doesn't work as well on a flat topped box

[lofter1]

It's interesting to see a park in that place on the post card.

Did that park on the southeast side of 42nd at Park Avenue ever really exist?

[Nicholas West]

Did that park on the southeast side of 42nd at Park Avenue ever really exist?

No.

[Merry]

A photo of the St Paul Building, taken from the Singer tower:



Taken from King's Views of New York City 1896-1915 & Brooklyn 1905:



http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-YORK-CITY...d=p3286.c0.m14