Tag Archives: Manhattan

Random: May 2014

Collections, Manhattan, , , , ,

Highlights from photos shot in May, 2014 – but not yet added to a New York neighborhood or specific building gallery. Mostly architecture, some whimsical, all except the last five in Lower Manhattan; the last five (Prada entrance) are from the Upper East Side.

These were all taken May 17, 18 & 20, while I was shooting residential buildings.

I started out in Chinatown, walked to the East River, then down to the Battery. I used the Staten Island Ferry Terminal as a viewpoint for some of the photos, and gathered the rest while walking up Broadway; the last five (Prada entrance) I spotted while walking down Madison Avenue.

Enjoy!

In this album:
  1. 202 Centre Street
  2. Takin’ his Chevy to the levee…
  3. Mulberry Street fire escape
  4. Mott Street
  5. God Bless America, Land of Firearms
  6. Brooklyn Heights
  7. Sheriff’s car at Wall Street Heliport
  8. Governor’s Island Ferry Terminal
  9. Governor’s Island Ferry Terminal
  10. 20 West Street
  11. 33 & 3 – 33 Whitehall Street and 3 NY Plaza
  12. 33 & 3 – 33 Whitehall Street and 3 NY Plaza
  13. 33 & 3 – 33 Whitehall Street and 3 NY Plaza
  14. Custom Reflection
  15. Trinity Church
  16. 2 Rector Street
  17. 40 Wall Street (Trump Building)
  18. Old & New
  19. Old & New
  20. Detail: Europe (Alexander Hamilton US Custom House)
  21. Trinity Building cupola
  22. 29 Broadway
  23. 2 Rector Street
  24. Trinity Building cupola
  25. Trinity Church
  26. Trinity Building entrance
  27. Trinity Building entrance
  28. United States Realty Building entrance
  29. Park Row Building – north tower
  30. Surrogate’s Court
  31. Surrogate’s Court
  32. Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank Building
  33. A Six Park
  34. Batty
  35. Smoker
  36. Blue
  37. Purple
  38. Who Me?
  39. Pair of Hooters
  40. Brass Bird
  41. Brass Bird
  42. Grace Church detail
  43. Grace Church detail
  44. 808 Broadway
  45. Roosevelt Building
  46. Clock. Tower.
  47. Entry detail [1]: Prada store, 841 Madison Avenue at E 70th Street
  48. Entry detail [2]: Prada store, 841 Madison Avenue at E 70th Street
  49. Entry detail [3]: Prada store, 841 Madison Avenue at E 70th Street
  50. Entry detail [4]: Prada store, 841 Madison Avenue at E 70th Street
  51. Entry detail [5]: Prada store, 841 Madison Avenue at E 70th Street

Random: April 2014

Brooklyn, Collections, Manhattan, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Highlights from photos shot in April, 2014 – but not yet added to a New York neighborhood or specific building gallery.

In this album:
  • Metro theater, Broadway at W 99th Street – go there, see how the neighboring tower facade mimics the theater accent lines.
  • Saint Michael’s R. C. Church, Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I was drawn to the church’s unusual steeple, but on closer examination the doors were more interesting.
  • Belvedere Castle, Central Park. For a change, I decided to frame the shot.
  • The Alexandria apartments, 201 W 72nd Street at Broadway. The cascade of ladders reveals facade repairs in progress.
  • 171 E 77th Street – terra cotta grill detail.
  • French Embassy Cultural Services – the doors of adjoining buildings on Fifth Avenue (975 and 972) next to the Ukrainian Institute.
  • Guggenheim Museum detail.
  • The Capitol Apartments, 12 E 87th Street. The top half of the cornice was removed; the remaining brackets give the roofline a toothed appearance.
  • Park Avenue Synagogue. Beautiful detailing.
  • 67 and 65 E 93rd Street. Notice the “65” in the transom grille.
  • Essex House: the iconic sign on Central Park South is now reflected in One57, the apartment tower two blocks behind (south).
  • The Dorilton: I usually shoot the maidens head on. This time I shot from the side, to bring them closer together – conversational distance.

194 Riverside Drive

Manhattan, , , , , , , ,

194 Riverside Drive is relatively small, and well-screened by the trees of Joan of Arc Island – it would be easy to miss. But the building’s bold features are well worth seeing close up.

According to the Street Easy real estate website, the seven-story building originally had three 13-room apartments per floor; now there are 42 units.

The architect, Ralph S. Townsend, also designed neighboring 190 Riverside Drive as well as the much showier Kenilworth on Central Park West. In one of his Streetscapes columns, The New York Times’ architectural historian, Christopher Gray, provides some background on the architect.

(A wonderful collection of Gray’s columns was published in 2003 under the title New York Streetscapes. Although it is now out of print, you can still get copies at Amazon.com – both new and used: New York Streetscapes: Tales of Manhattan’s Significant Buildings and Landmarks)

194 Riverside Drive Vital Statistics
  • Location: 194 Riverside Drive at W 92nd Street
  • Year completed: 1902
  • Architect: Ralph S. Townsend
  • Floors: 7
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1989
194 Riverside Drive Recommended Reading

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Traffic Building

Manhattan, , , , , , , ,

Traffic Building is standout architecture for its elaborate brown brick and terra cotta facade. The six-story loft building on Chelsea’s West 23rd Street was designed for the now-defunct Traffic Cafeteria. A diner has taken its place.

According to the Daytonian in Manhattan blog, the ground floor brick and terra cotta has been replaced with stone tiles, but the top five floors – except for modern windows – have kept their original design.

Traffic Building Vital Statistics
  • Location: 163 W 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues
  • Year completed: 1931
  • Architect: Abraham Fisher
  • Floors: 6
Traffic Building Recommended Reading

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Astor Place

Manhattan, , , , , , , ,

Astor Place, a blue-green glass exclamation point in NoHo, leaps up from the center of an architecture-rich neighborhood.* New York critics’ opinions seem as varied as the surrounding buildings.

The New York Times‘ review asked, All That Curvy Glass: Is It Worth It? Suzanne Slesin noted a disconnect “between the grittiness of the neighborhood and the shiny newness of Mr. Gwathmey’s design,” but focused on interiors. She loved the views from within all that wraparound floor-to-ceiling glass, but bemoaned the paucity of solid wall space for paintings and other essentials. (You can peruse floor plans at the Street Easy NY listing.)

The New Yorker called it the Green Monster. Paul Goldberger acidly remarked, “Its shape is fussy, and the glass façade is garishly reflective: Mies van der Rohe as filtered through Donald Trump.”

City Realty’s extensive review is more neutral and academic. Among other things, Carter Horsley reveals that the Gwathmey, Siegel & Associates design is actually the third proposal for that site. (Mr. Horsley previously wrote about real estate and architecture for The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, and New York Post.)

The developer, Related Companies, calls the design “Sculpture For Living.” And whether you like the building or not, the 39 multi-million-dollar condominium units are all sold.

* See Astor Place and Vicinity for a quick neighborhood tour.

Astor Place Vital Statistics
  • Location: 445 Lafayette Street
  • Year completed: 2005
  • Architect: Gwathmey, Siegel & Associates
  • Floors: 21
  • Style: Postmodern
Astor Place Recommended Reading

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Gramercy House

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Gramercy House is one of New York’s most colorful apartment houses, designed by George and Edward Blum. The prolific architects designed at least 70 apartment buildings and 60 commercial structures in New York, but only three in the Art Deco style.*

Like most of the Blums’ apartment houses, Gramercy House is distinctive for its unusual brickwork and ample terra cotta – notably the bold geometric band above the first story. Even the rear light courts (viewed from E 23rd Street) have broad blue terra cotta bands. The corners of the E 22nd Street facade have bricks set at an angle, and setbacks in the upper floors have unusual inset chamfers. Contrasting brick bands break up the facades on E 22nd Street and Second Avenue.

* The other two are 210 E 68th Street (1929) and 315 E 68th Street (1930).

Gramercy House Vital Statistics
  • Location: 235 E 22nd Street at Second Avenue
  • Year completed: 1930
  • Architect: George and Edward Blum
  • Floors: 17
  • Style: Art Deco
Gramercy House Recommended Reading

Google Map

Holtz House

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Holtz House seems taller than 12 stories, thanks to the four-story “wings” that Charles Holtz and Bruno Freystedt annexed in 1910 to expand their two-story restaurant in New York’s Ladies Mile Historic District. Architect William C. Frohne designed a memorable storefront that is still largely intact.

The builder, Philip Braender, was a prolific developer who erected more than 1,500 structures in the last two decades of the 19th century according to the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC).

The three-story base is the building’s most notable feature: Two large doorways flank the two-story storefront – an elaborate wall of five casement windows topped by oval panes and an ornate metal frieze displaying winged dragon-cornucopias on either side of the name “HOLTZ.” Above the base is a nine-story arch containing the central windows.

Two years after opening, Holtz House was connected to the adjoining buildings (numbers 5 and 11) to accommodate Holtz and Frystedt’s expanding business, the LPC reported.

The loft building originally housed all commercial tenants, then in 1987 the top eight floors were converted to residential units, notes the Daytonian in Manhattan blog.

Holtz House Vital Statistics
  • Location: 7 E 20th Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue
  • Year completed: 1908
  • Architect: William C. Frohne
  • Floors: 12
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1989
Holtz House Recommended Reading

Google Map

160 E 22nd Street

Manhattan, , , , , , , , ,

160 E 22nd Street is a brash condominium tower cantilevered over a pair of holdout townhouses on Third Avenue. It’s an astounding sight: 16 stories of grey limestone and glass suspended 25 feet over the fragile-looking (and nearly vacant) mid-block buildings.

It looks odd, but the final structure is an improvement over three earlier plans, which had been ridiculed as “Fortress of Solitude,” “Green Monster,” and “The Thing That Ate Gramercy.”

Owners of the holdout buildings weren’t willing to sell their sites, but they did sell air rights. The moral of this real estate tale: If you can’t buy, cantilever.

(The Curbed NY blog has start-to-finish coverage. Also see The New York Times’ The Hangover: Cantilevered Buildings of New York.)

160 E 22nd Street Vital Statistics
  • Location: 160 E 22nd Street at Third Avenue
  • Year completed: 2014
  • Architect: Perkins Eastman
  • Floors: 21
  • Style: Postmodern
160 E 22nd Street Recommended Reading

Google Map

Lord & Taylor Building

Manhattan, , , , , , , , ,

Lord & Taylor Building, an individual New York City landmark and part of Ladies Mile Historic District, was decaying despite its protected status, until Spanish investors resuscitated the structure in 2009. However, 901 Broadway is only part of the store that existed from 1870 to 1914. A larger, L-shaped portion was separated in 1914 and remodeled – it’s now known as 897 Broadway.

The store was not the first cast iron building in New York, but architect James H. Giles innovated by letting the cast iron show, instead of disguising it as stone – common practice at the time, according to the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Lord & Taylor Building Vital Statistics
  • Location: 901 Broadway at E 20th Street
  • Year completed: 1870
  • Architect: James H. Giles
  • Floors: 5
  • Style: French Second Empire
  • New York City Landmark: 1977, 1989
Lord & Taylor Building Recommended Reading

Google Map

Warren Building

Manhattan, , , , , , , , ,

Warren Building is a neo-Renaissance gem with exquisite detail, refurbished in 2012. Though stripped of its original first floor colonnade and fourth floor balconies, the building’s marble and terra cotta trim, combined with roman brick, are stunning.

The prominent firm of McKim, Meade & White designed this seven-story building – and also designed the Goelet Building diagonally across Broadway. Broadway cuts diagonally across E 20th Street, making corners a little awkward (because we expect building corners to be right angles). McKim, Mead & White finessed the Warren Building’s corner with a chamfer; the Goelet Building’s corner is rounded.

Warren Building Vital Statistics
  • Location: 903-907 Broadway at E 20th Street
  • Year completed: 1891
  • Architect: McKim, Mead & White
  • Floors: 7
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1989
Warren Building Recommended Reading

Google Map