Category Archives: Manhattan

Manhattan

New York by Gehry

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This Frank Gehry-designed building fascinates me from every angle. Originally named Beekman Tower (it’s on the block bounded by Spruce, Gold, Nassau and Beekman Streets), it was rechristened New York By Gehry to capitalize on the starchitect‘s name.

At this writing, New York By Gehry is the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere – though One57, a new building on 57th Street, will soon overtake it in height. But New York is full of tall buildings: It’s the unique shape and stainless steel skin that make 8 Spruce Street (the official address) stand out. The rippled facade changes its appearance according to the angle of the sun (and by night, the moon).

New York By Gehry multitasks: Beneath the 900 luxury rental apartments there’s a five-story brick-faced public school, retail space, plus parking and offices for Beekman Downtown Hospital. The hospital, next door, owned the land under New York By Gehry.

Note that the apartments are rentals – not cooperative or condominium units. Also unusual, the building is part-owned by the city: the Department of Education owns the school.

New York By Gehry got very good reviews, generally. But you can’t please everyone. Time Out New York calls it one of the city’s ten ugliest buildings:

“Frank Gehry’s rippling, residential behemoth reminds us of one of those hulking movie spacecraft that lands by planting itself into the earth and deploying robot arachnoid pods that harvest humans for nefarious extraterrestrial purposes. It sort of makes you think about the Wall Streeter who can afford to live here harvesting taxpayer-bailout money to cover for their screwups. Sorry, that was a terrible analogy. It doesn’t change the fact that both Wall Street and this building are hard to like.”

Frank Gehry’s other major contribution to New York City architecture is the IAC Building (2007) in Chelsea – West 18th Street at 11th Avenue.

New York By Gehry Vital Statistics
  • Location: 8 Spruce Street (blockthrough to Beekman Street), between Nassau and Gold Streets
  • Year completed: 2011
  • Architect: Frank Gehry
  • Floors: 76
  • Style: Postmodern
New York By Gehry Suggested Reading

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High Line Park

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New York “Parkitecture”: An abandoned elevated freight rail line on the Lower West Side has a new life as a one-of-a-kind elevated green space. The park winds from 34th Street near 12th Avenue to Gansevoort Street and Washington Street. (The northernmost extension opened in 2014.) You can enter at either end or at several stairways in between. Visit http://www.thehighline.org/ for more information.

Besides being an enjoyable destination unto itself, High Line is an excellent vantage point for spotting architectural landmarks of Chelsea, West Chelsea and Gansevoort Historic Districts.

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Faces of Manhattan

Architecture, Collections, Manhattan, , , ,

Architectural ornament takes many forms – from modest moldings to elaborate scenes and figures within a pediment or atop a cornice. One of the most delightful ornaments is the mascaron or mask, which might be realistically human or fantastic or grotesque. These faces are generally terra cotta, and may be repeating (the same face used two or more times) or unique. They add character to buildings around the borough….

Battery Park City

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Battery Park City was built on landfill – the ground removed for the original World Trade Center excavations.

The architecture, naturally, is all new – post-1980. But the interesting part of Battery Park City is how its apartment and commercial buildings have been combined with green space: there really is a park in the middle of Battery Park City.

The Esplanade is the park’s backbone, running from Battery Place up to Chambers Street along the Hudson River. It is a link in the growing “Greenway” bike/pedestrian path along most of New York’s waterfront.

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Astor Place and Vicinity

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The Cooper Union Foundation Building has New York City and National landmark status, as the first building in the U.S. to use steel beams. Across the street on Cooper Square is the equally striking Arthur Nerken School of Engineering. Next door is sail-shaped Cooper Square Hotel.

It seems that every block in the area has a landmark – or future landmark – building. Hey, even the local K-Mart is in a landmark building, the former Wanamaker Department Store Annex.

Here’s a brief tour to whet your appetite.

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East River Bridges

Bronx, Brooklyn, Collections, Manhattan, Queens, , , ,

New York has more than 75 bridges connecting the boroughs to each other and to New Jersey. It’s fascinating how so many different engineers came up with so many different solutions for the same problem: How to cross a river. Here are views of some of the principal East River bridges.

To come: Bronx-Whitestone, Throggs Neck and Rikers Island bridges.

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