Proposed: Shangri-La Hotel, New York - 610 Lexington Ave - by Norman Foster

[Fabrizio]

Agreed. It will probably be a fine building.... just a shame when there are so many other great sites around the city in which to build.

An aside: would you guys scroll up to the last 2 photos. Notice the Seagrams building behind the YMCA. What a fine modern wall...pure class. It's so finely detailed, has depth, is expensive looking. Now look at the black building to the left with it's cheap, wavy glass. Compare the two.

[MidtownGuy]

I thought I posted these last month and realized I didn't when I saw the pictures of the site. The building deserves closer attention than it received in those other pictures.

Fabrizio, my main man, once again you point out all the fine points that make this a gem. I love that rounded corner too. In these photos you can see the brickwork would be stunning with a clean-up. I really can picture the canopies and flags. What great contrast it would offer to the other buildings around it.

I love Foster's work and I'm confident that the tower will be elegant, and good for the neighborhood. I hope the base is not as banal as it appears in the rendering(which, admittedly, is mostly obscured), or they should have incorporated this beautiful old building into the design.

Foster! Please, Sir, give this intersection something stunning at street level to justify this loss!

[Vengineer]

I don't see the loss.

[londonlawyer]

FROM CURBED.COM (5-1-07):

I have been predicting Shangri-La's entry into NY for some time but am disappointed that it will be in this box.

After watching his plan for a tower at 980 Madison get smacked down, architect Norman Foster tries again to put his stamp on midtown Manhattan. What we see above are two Foster schemes for a hotel/condo tower to be built at 610 Lexington Avenue (at 52nd Street) by developer Aby Rosen. Per the Slatin Report, to build out the tower, Rosen plans to transfer unused development rights from the nearby Seagram Building and Lever House to his hotel site, and has also purchased air rights from another nearby building. Rosen has just struck a deal with Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts to brand this baby Shangri-La.

As for the site itself, it currently holds a 1915-era YWCA building, which will be demolished to make way for this fresh glowing paradise. The crowd at Wired New York has been tracking the imminent demise of the YWCA, which saw ominous scaffolding rise around it earlier this year. Last rites this-a-way.

[pianoman11686]

Oh, don't be so upset. This is a great new building - a piece of Foster modernism. Think how many other cities would love to get this. In New York, it'll barely even stand out.

Having passed by the YWCA numerous times, I feel little sorrow to see it go.

[londonlawyer]

Oh, don't be so upset. This is a great new building - a piece of Foster modernism. Think how many other cities would love to get this. In New York, it'll barely even stand out.

Having passed by the YWCA numerous times, I feel little sorrow to see it go.

I like the YWCA. It just needed sprucing up. This tower is a box albeit one by Foster. It's like adding a Ralph Lauren tag inside a crappy shirt from Target. The shirt is nothing special regardless of RL's tag inside. Something nice could have been built here.

[TREPYE]

^ Agreed. This tower will get lost in the midtown shuffle as it should.

[NYguy]

I don't see the loss.

There is none. In the vastness of Manhattan, there are many more buildings worthy of shedding a tear for.

[Fabrizio]

It's not about the individual building. It's in the mix.

It's about the area as whole ...and what an attractive (restored and recycled) pre-war building can add to an area of glass skyscrapers.

Be that as it may.... I'm sure the Foster building will be more than just another glass box. The difference will be in the details.... and I bet he'll deliver. This site it too important for him not too.

I hope there'll be retail at the sidewalk. His work on the Asprey shop and facade at the Trump Tower is great.

[stache]

Asprey moved to 70th. & Madison.

[Fabrizio]

His work on the Asprey shop and facade at the Trump Tower WAS great.

(In the meantime I've updated my address book. Asprey. That's just before As-----)

[stache]

Aspidistra?

[Harvick2933]

Well, for every box, since you can't really judge its architectural beauty with its shape, it'll be the facade detail and quality that'll make or break it. And I echo some of the previous posts in saying that I hope Foster will design this tower so that its facade details will make it stand out to others as something more than another box.

IMO, the YWCA is one of the more ordinarily looking buildings from the pre-Art Deco eras, but I do think that the facade details on the lobby floors do warrant consideration for conservation. If they can at least preserve the building's first four floors (to the building's first cornice), that would be nice.

[kliq6]

this is not a lose, like the Drake will be

[NYguy]

this is not a lose, like the Drake will be

To some people, everything replaced is a loss. God forbid something should be demolished and replaced with something newer...