Tag Archives: architecture

Spires, Crowns & Cupolas

Architecture, Collections, Manhattan, , , ,

Landmark skyscrapers are often topped by elaborate cornices, spires, crowns and cupolas.

It’s always fascinated me that architects put so much design up where most people won’t – or can’t – see it. Why not impress at street level?

There are at least three reasons, it turns out.

First, as buildings got taller it became less practical – and less affordable – to decorate an entire building’s facade. Decorative elements, whether simple brick patterns or terra cotta or carved marble, cost money to design, manufacture and install. So this “problem” of tall buildings was solved by equating the building with a classical column: base, shaft and crown. The shaft is undecorated, the base and crown contain the flourishes.

Second, architects and owners want their creations to stand out at a distance – to be a recognizable part of the skyline. A plain roof, no matter how lofty, is rather anonymous. The Donald would not approve.

Third, tall buildings need water tanks, elevator and ventilation machinery on the roof; all are ugly enough to warrant hiding behind a decorative screen.

In some cases, the crowns might also be designed to alleviate aerodynamic stresses. Wind speed increases with height, so turbulence can be a factor.

A few spires have practical functions – even if the idea is ultimately found impractical. The Empire State Building’s mast was designed for mooring dirigibles, before it was proved unworkable (and dirigibles became extinct). Now the mast is used to mount television broadcast antennas.

And in more than one case, a spire or cupola has been added simply to increase the building’s height, for “tallest” bragging rights. The Chrysler Building’s spire was designed that way.

Here are a few of my favorite spires, crowns and cupolas. Enjoy!

Restoration In Progress

Architecture, Manhattan, , , ,

If you’ve ever wondered how an old building could look so new, here’s how!

A restoration team from Jablonski Building Conservation, Inc. is restoring the facade of 105 W 22nd Street / 695-709 Sixth Avenue. Xsusha Flandro, Senior Conservator, was kind enough to explain the process:

“The tiles are glazed ceramic tiles manufactured by the Hartford Faience Company (incorporated from the Atwood Faience Company in 1894). The current building was erected in phases between 1889 and 1911. The tiles are ca. 1913 when Chicago business man J.L. Kesner (hence the “K” on the tile columns) leased the building and submitted plans for alteration to the first floor store fronts. Oddly enough Kesner was never in the building as he backed out of the lease, but since the construction plans were already submitted the Ehrich Brothers (owners of the building) went through with the building plans and completed the tile columns. The building is a contributing member to the Ladies Mile Historic District.

“A lot of prep work goes into the restoration of tiles. The first thing we did were cleaning tests. We completed small cleaning test samples and then based on results proceeded with the most gentle and effective of the cleaners tested to clean all the tiles. We also tested paint strippers (all pH neutral – not acidic and not alkaline – because harsh strippers can damage the glazes) in the same manner as the cleaners because some columns had graffiti and general over paint. After cleaning and paint removal we moved into removing abandoned anchors (where signage and such had been attached over the years). Then we moved into patching. We utilized a repair system manufactured by Edison Coatings out of Connecticut. Edison Coatings provided us with custom colored patch repair material for each color of glaze, after the patching was complete the patches are sanded and shaped to the correct profile, and then in-painted (only painted where the patch is) using a polyurethane paint system (also by Edison Coatings) custom colored to the glazes on the tiles. This is where the artistry comes in and we blend the colors onsite to match the adjacent historic tile glazes. No coating is placed over the work after we are finished, as everything we use is specifically manufactured for outdoor use.

“In this project we are conserving nine tile columns. All missing tiles or tiles which we could not successfully conserve are being replaced with custom tiles, manufactured by Shenfeld Studios, to match the existing. It took us approximately three weeks to complete all the conservation work on site. The replacement tiles are still a few months out.”

Ms. Flandro noted that the work requires extensive training.

“To be an architectural conservator you have to have a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation – and usually in the conservation sector of historic preservation, which is where you gain a lot of your materials knowledge. Similar to how art conservators go through school and then specialize in one material, we go through school and specialize in building materials. In our company in order to progress past junior conservator we are required to apply to be a Professional Associate with the American Institute of Conservation (of which I hold PA status and the owner of Jablonski Building Conservation, Mary Jablonski, is a Fellow.) AIC – Professional Associate requires at very least 3 years’ experience and your previous projects/works are peer reviewed and letters of recommendation are required.”

(The company’s website is jbconservation.com.)

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Album: April, 2013

Collections, Manhattan, New Jersey, , , , , , ,

Highlights from photos shot in April, 2013 – but not yet added to a neighborhood or specific building gallery. Neighborhoods include Lower Manhattan, Greenwich Village, Midtown, Upper West Side – and Hoboken – Jersey City, New Jersey.

In this album:
  • Standard Oil Building (26 Broadway)
  • Isamu Noguchi’s Cube – At 140 Broadway / Liberty Street
  • One World Trade Tower
  • City Hall
  • Washington Square Arch
  • One Fifth Avenue framed by Washington Square Arch
  • Courant Institute (NYU) – 251 Mercer Street
  • 2 Cornelia Street – aka 333 Sixth Avenue
  • Bigelow Building – 412 Sixth Avenue
  • The Villager – 450 Sixth Avenue
  • 434 Sixth Avenue
  • 37 Washington Square West
  • 186 W 4th Street
  • 120 E 12th Street – Facade of St. Ann’s Church in front of NYU dorm
  • 126 E 12th Street
  • Fifth Avenue Building clock
  • 488 Eighth Avenue – former Bickford’s (the last two Bickford’s in NYC closed in 1982)
  • Bank entrance at New Yorker Hotel
  • Lerner Building – 478 Seventh Avenue
  • 480 Seventh Avenue
  • The Westin New York
  • LOFT marquee – Times Square Tower
  • The Lyric Theatre
  • The New York Times Building
  • Knickerbocker Hotel (1906) – aka 6 Times Square
  • HBO Building – 1100 Sixth Avenue
  • Fred F. French Building
  • The Manhasset – 300 W 109th / 301 W 108th Streets at Broadway
  • Ariel East – 2628 Broadway (between W 99th and W 100th Streets)
  • Ariel West – 2633 Broadway (between W 99th and W 100th Streets)
  • Paterno – 440 Riverside Drive – aka 3 Claremont Avenue
  • 410 Riverside Drive
  • Cathedral of St. John The Divine
  • 512 W 112th Street
  • Hendrik Hudson – 380 Riverside Drive
  • St. Anthony Hall – 434 Riverside Drive
  • 452 Riverside Drive
  • Oxford Hall – 454 Riverside Drive
  • The Riverside Church
  • Grant’s Tomb
New Jersey photos also in this album:
  • Erie Lackawana Hudson piers – Hoboken, NJ
  • New York Sunrise – view from Hoboken
  • Willow Avenue / Willow Terrace South – Hoboken
  • Clinton Street / Willow Terrace South – Hoboken
  • All Saints Episcopal Day School – Hoboken
  • Stevens Institute – Hoboken
  • Scotland Yard pub – Hoboken
  • Second Street – Jersey City, NJ
  • Newport – Newport/Jersey City

Port of New York Grain Terminal

Brooklyn, , , , , , ,

The Port of New York Grain Terminal, the “Magnificent Mistake” in Red Hook, Brooklyn, has been shut since 1965 and is slowly crumbling into the Gowanus Canal. The ruins are now privately owned, apparently used only as a photo/movie backdrop.

The silos were built by the State of New York in 1922 in an attempt to revive Erie Canal traffic: Midwest grain could travel by barge through the Great Lakes, Erie Canal and Hudson River to this terminal, for onward shipment and/or local consumption. Unfortunately, New York’s labor costs drove the traffic to other ports.

Meanwhile, the site has become a challenge course for graffiti artists and photographers: The building is guarded on the north and west by a 12-foot concrete wall and chain link fence; on the east and south by the Gowanus Canal. I got my closeups by accident: The guard apparently went to get his lunch, leaving the gate wide open, when I wandered by. I spent a half hour shooting the grounds unchallenged. When I left, the guard had returned – and was furious. I suspect that the only reason I didn’t get in trouble is that he’d have more explaining to do than I would.

Port of New York Grain Terminal Vital Statistics
  • Location: Columbia Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
  • Year completed: 1922
  • Architect: ?
  • Style: Brutalist
Port of New York Grain Terminal Recommended Reading

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Mulberry House

Manhattan, , , , , , , ,

Mulberry House demonstrates how architects can play zoning restrictions to circumvent the intent of community planning boards. Here, zoning restrictions were written to preserve the character of the neighborhood. (Mulberry House is directly across the street from the landmark Puck Building.) But as the architects described in ArchDaily:

“Making a literal interpretation of code written for classical ornamentation allowed us to project our enclosure over the property line at 10% intervals for every 100 square feet. Maximizing the amount of projected area, while minimizing the overall depth of the enclosure became key criteria for our design. When coupled with material properties and fabrication constraints, these criteria began to define an approach that was a contemporary reinterpretation of brick detailing. By customizing a standard precast brick panel system, we were able to achieve maximum effect at minimum cost. The building then becomes veiled by an textured wrapper around the street walls in contrast with the simplicity of the inner core.”

Whether you like SHoP Architects’ design or not, you have to admire the texture of the brickwork and its construction. Look up along the building’s southern edge on Mulberry Street, to see the brick-on-concrete panels.* And if you like to see how things are made, Mulberry House’s construction is richly documented on line – browse the Recommended Reading links below for very detailed views and explanations.

Alas, the original developer bailed out on this condo project when the real estate market tanked; the new developer has reconfigured Mulberry House as a rental building. The eight full-floor apartments start at $10,500/month; the one triplex penthouse is reportedly $25,000/month.

* In most modern construction, a steel and/or concrete frame supports the building; brick is only a decorative/protective skin that is attached to the frame.

Mulberry House Vital Statistics
  • Location: 290 Mulberry Street between E Houston and Prince Streets
  • Year completed: 2013
  • Architect: SHoP Architects
  • Floors: 13
  • Style: Postmodern
Mulberry House Recommended Reading

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Geometrics

Collections, Manhattan, , ,

Geometrics is a gallery of New York architecture photos that I like for their strong lines and colors. Photos that are eye candy, more than documentary.

Click the Fullscreen link above the photos, and then the Play icon at the bottom, for a full screen slideshow. Press Esc to return to normal.

From time to time I’ll be adding to or changing this gallery, so if you’re a fan of geometry in architecture, please come back to visit.

In case you’re curious, the list below are the names and locations of buildings used in this gallery. Most are buildings that have their own individual galleries – click the links to explore.

Geometrics Buildings

Cass Gilbert

Architecture, , ,
Cass Gilbert

Cass Gilbert (1859-1934) designed seven New York City landmarks between 1900 and 1934, among dozens of his notable works of architecture across the U.S.

← 1907 photo in Minnesota Encyclopedia (source: Wikipedia)

While best known to New Yorkers for the Woolworth Building, Gilbert also designed the Capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and West Virginia, and the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

Born in Ohio, Gilbert rose to prominence in Minnesota when he was selected to design the new State Capitol in St. Paul. His Brazer Building in Boston led to a commission to his first New York commission, the Broadway Chambers Building. During that building’s construction, Gilbert moved to New York.

(Don’t confuse Cass Gilbert with his son – Cass Gilbert, Jr. – or with C.P.H. Gilbert. Cass Gilbert, Jr. supervised completion of the Thurgood Marshall US Courthouse that his father designed before he died. C.P.H. [Charles Pierrepont Henry] Gilbert is best known for mansions and townhouses.) Trivia: Cass and C.P.H. do have a connection, via Frank W. Woolworth: Woolworth hired Cass to design the Woolworth Building, but hired C.P.H. to design his personal mansion.

Cass Gilbert Representative Buildings
Cass Gilbert Suggested Reading

C.P.H. Gilbert

Architecture, , , ,

230px-C_P_H_Gilbert C.P.H. Gilbert (1861-1952), is best known for his lavish mansion and townhouse architecture for New York’s wealthiest citizens. Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert, a native New Yorker, studied engineering and architecture in the U.S. and abroad, including at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Gilbert initially designed buildings in Colorado and Arizona, but returned to New York in 1885.

(portrait photo source: Wikipedia)

C.P.H. Gilbert designed more than 100 mansions in Brooklyn and Manhattan, several of which are designated New York City landmarks. A few of his Fifth Avenue mansions have been converted to institutional use – notably the Ukrainian Institute (former Harry F. Sinclair House) and the Jewish Museum (former Felix M. Warburg House).

Don’t confuse C.P.H. Gilbert with Cass Gilbert. Cass Gilbert is best known for monumental commercial and civic architecture. Trivia: Cass and C.P.H. do have a connection, via Frank W. Woolworth: Woolworth hired Cass to design the Woolworth Building, but hired C.P.H. to design his personal mansion.

C.P.H. Gilbert Representative Buildings
  • Three adjoining mansions at the foot of Riverside Drive: 311 West 72nd Street, 1 Riverside Drive and 3 Riverside Drive for Philip Kleeberg (mid-1890s)
  • Ukrainian Institute (former Harry F. Sinclair House) (1899)
  • Cushman Building, Broadway and Maiden Lane (1899)
  • Edmund C. Converse residence, 3 East 78th Street (1900)
  • Polish Consulate General, Madison Avenue and 37th Street (former Joseph Raphael De Lamar House) (1905)
  • Jewish Museum, 92nd Street and Fifth Avenue (former Felix M. Warburg House) (1908)
  • Convent of the Sacred Heart, 91st Street and Fifth Avenue, with architect J. Armstrong Stenhouse (former Otto H. Kahn House) (1918)
C.P.H. Gilbert Suggested Reading