Buildings have a way of speaking to people. Such expression can come through their design, materials, condition, or decorative elements – and ultimately in their presence. In the middle of the long, wide expanse of Broadway in Newburgh, 121-123 Broadway is a forgotten but beautiful small building. Its Art Deco elements and design suddenly draw […]
Entries Tagged as 'architecture'
A Sweet Statement of Deco in Newburgh
October 1st, 2014 · 2 Comments · Beyond Gotham
Tags: architecture·art deco·historic preservation·Hudson Valley
A Peek Inside Dazzling 29 Broadway
June 20th, 2014 · 6 Comments · Explore New York
It’s hard to quantify the exuberance of Art Deco. Its energy can make an immobile decorative element feel like it’s about to move. Its images jump off of flat surfaces. Its zigzags, lines, and circles seem to dance. Such is the quality of the lobby of 29 Broadway, a lesser-known beauty in New York’s Art […]
Joseph Mitchell’s Regard for Ornament
April 18th, 2014 · 6 Comments · Explore New York
Joseph Mitchell possessed a lifelong fascination with New York City’s survivors, both its characters and its buildings, especially ones that often escaped notice. For some 26 years, from 1938 to 1964, his essays in The New Yorker portrayed the city’s inhabitants from the bearded Lady Olga of circus sideshows and the stout Germans carrying their […]
Pennsylvania Station: Its Glory and Death
February 18th, 2014 · 9 Comments · Explore New York
If ever a hallowed place existed for the travel of the common man and woman, it was New York’s original Pennsylvania Station. Yet a magnificent, soaring station that Alexander Cassatt and the Pennsylvania Railroad built for the ages and opened in 1910 lasted barely over a half-century. Two days after workers started tearing down the […]
Tags: architecture·Beaux Arts·historic preservation·landmarks·manhattan·new york
Art Deco Jazz in Brooklyn Heights
January 19th, 2014 · 19 Comments · Explore New York
Naomi Fatouros, one of three children of architect H.I. Feldman, once wrote that her father “had no pretensions about being artistic.” Still, architects and builders had high regard for Feldman for creating building plans that minimized construction costs and that provided renters and buyers with good views and high-quality apartment layouts, she said in the […]
Tags: architecture·art deco·Brooklyn·new york
The Enduring Wonder of the Rookery
December 30th, 2013 · 1 Comment · Beyond Gotham
One could be forgiven for thinking that one of the crows in terra cotta on Chicago’s Rookery building depicts a current leader of the U.S. Congress. Some of our greatest buildings possess an expressiveness that speaks not only of the time period in which architects and builders created the structure but also to today. The […]
Tags: architecture·Chicago·cities·historic preservation·landmarks
The Art Deco Pleasures of 29 Broadway
November 15th, 2013 · 6 Comments · Explore New York
Their names are unknown, but the fine results of their craftsmanship remain today. On an evening in late February, 1931, the New York Building Congress gave awards and gold buttons to 26 craftsmen for their outstanding work in constructing 29 Broadway. The awards went to William John Delaney, a stonecutter; Louis Materossi, a cement mason; […]
What Is the Future of Midtown East?
May 31st, 2013 · 2 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Explore New York
One person’s “beautiful” is another person’s “dowdy,” and someone’s pronouncement of “architectural significance” is another’s “obsolescence.” These are the terms people are using in a clash over zoning and related plans that will likely shape a historic part of New York City for the future. Consider the character and skyline of Manhattan’s Midtown East, where […]
Tags: architecture·historic preservation·landmarks·manhattan·midtown·New York architecture·smart growth
Grand Central’s Gems at 100, Part II
March 27th, 2013 · 1 Comment · Explore New York
If children were to design and build a train station, it might well turn out to be Grand Central Terminal. It’s big, and it has all kinds of cubbyholes, caverns, and passageways; a magical ceiling full of stars; places with models, books, and toys; great food from hot dogs and chili to all kinds of […]
Tags: architecture·Beaux Arts·landmarks·manhattan·New York architecture
The Treasures of Grand Central at 100
January 31st, 2013 · 9 Comments · Explore New York
For many, it may be hard to grasp that where Grand Central Terminal stands today we could have had massive office towers and no magnificent train station. But it’s important to never forget. In the 1950s and 1960s on separate occasions, developers and Penn Central Railroad launched plans that would have destroyed Grand Central. Ultimately, […]
Tags: architecture·Beaux Arts·landmarks·manhattan·New York architecture
Splashy Art Deco on a Staid Block
December 6th, 2012 · 11 Comments · Explore New York
Some musical riffs can suddenly elevate the mood. So, too, can a jazzy building. It can bring your senses alive, make you perk up and pay attention, if even for a short time. Buildings aren’t passive entities; the very good ones generate an active engagement. The best architects know this to the core. In a […]
Tags: architecture·art deco·historic preservation·landmarks·manhattan
Redeemer Lutheran’s Staying Power
October 5th, 2011 · 16 Comments · Beyond Gotham
When we behold a beautiful historic house of worship, we may well find a sturdy and durable congregation that has also withstood the test of time. Both materials and people become a study in resilience. Redeemer Lutheran Church in Kingston is a sweet and brightly warm church set within the Rondout neighborhood of this Hudson […]
Tags: architecture·art·historic preservation·Hudson Valley·spiritual places·stone
Meditation: Looking Mindfully At Details
August 5th, 2011 · 6 Comments · Explore New York
In the middle of a number of us playing soccer on a delightful summer evening, one of my partner’s grandchildren said, “Look at that sky!” The sky just before sunset was full of large pink, gray, white, and lavender swirling patterns above. How wonderful that she was aware of the beauty around us and shared […]
A Bit of the 19th Century on Lispenard
June 10th, 2011 · 20 Comments · Explore New York
Every once in a while I turn down a street in New York and suddenly think, “How have the bulldozers and the glass towers not obliterated this one?” Lispenard Street is one such place, a quiet street of a few blocks that is seemingly forgotten just one block south of the crazy, hustle-bustle free-for-all of […]
Tags: architecture·historic preservation·manhattan·new york·Tribeca
Details, Details: Greenwich Street
April 27th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Explore New York
“Manhattan” and “quiet” are two words that many people do not associate with each other and put together in the same sentence. Yet many pockets of Manhattan offer quiet, especially when we calm the mind enough to find the inner peace that allows it. As one of those Manhattan walkers whose mind often can be […]
A Riveting Blue in the Lower East Side
January 21st, 2011 · 2 Comments · Explore New York
Sometimes a building just says “look at me” before you know it and your eyes are captivated in curiosity and wonder. It was an icy cold January afternoon with a brisk breeze, on a walk south of Grand Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The brick storefronts of the 19th century tenement buildings beckoned warmly, […]
Tags: architecture·manhattan·new york
Lost and Found in the West 40s
January 7th, 2011 · 16 Comments · Explore New York
Walking and loving a New York street is akin to a long-term relationship. It’s an experience of both exhilaration and dejection, of losses and gains, times of discovery and times of pain. Sometimes you feel all is lost, and during others you can’t believe your good fortune. New Yorkers who love the streets know this […]
Tags: architecture·manhattan·midtown·new york
Order Unheeded at Underground RR Home
December 13th, 2010 · 6 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Explore New York
One hundred and fifty years ago, escaping slaves found a safe shelter at the home of Quaker abolitionists who lived at 339 West 29th St. in New York City. The family risked their lives in harboring the slaves. During the Draft Riots that erupted in the city in 1863, the family came under attack for […]
Tags: architecture·historic preservation·landmarks·manhattan·new york·women
Going Dutch at Kingston’s Wiltwyck Inn
October 22nd, 2010 · 6 Comments · Beyond Gotham
Call it Old Europe and the Dutch colonies meet the early 20th century. The Wiltwyck Inn is a petite building, by no means grand. This two-and-a-half story structure, tucked among plenty of historic buildings in the Uptown Stockade neighborhood of Kingston, conjures up faraway places and times long ago, thanks to its personality and out-of-the-ordinary, […]
Tags: architecture·historic preservation·Hudson Valley·landmarks·women
Savoring Leroy Street’s Details
August 2nd, 2010 · 7 Comments · Explore New York
Often a street in New York just beckons you to walk down. Leroy Street in Greenwich Village is one of those places. On a walk down Leroy Street between Bleecker and Bedford streets and then around the corner, noise peeled away and the buildings drew my eyes to their features. It’s another era, no longer […]
Tags: architecture·historic preservation·landmarks·manhattan
