Tag Archives: New York City

Getting used to Fane tower

Posted on September 9, 2018 by

In “Once It Was a New Building,” my former editor and longtime friend Robert Whitcomb defended the proposed 600-foot Fane tower in this morning’s GoLocalProv. He writes: GoLocal’s mock editorial last week headlined “Dateline 1924: Don’t Let Them Build That … Continue reading →

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NYC, drawn from memory

Posted on January 16, 2018 by

Stephen Wiltshire’s remarkable ability to draw a city from memory came to my attention several years ago in a segment on 60 Minutes or some such show. A British citizen, he was diagnosed with autism at age 3, but his … Continue reading →

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Stuart Little’s aerie in NYC

Posted on December 29, 2017 by

Reading E.B. White’s 1945 masterpiece, Stuart Little, to my little boy, Billy, at bedtime brought the illustration above to my attention last night for the first time in, um, shall we say, several decades. The artist, Garth Williams, drew the … Continue reading →

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Beauty vs. elegance of cities

Posted on November 17, 2017 by

My former colleague at the Providence Journal, Froma Harrop, who has a syndicated column and a website called This East Side (about that side of Manhattan; she also lives partly on that side of Providence), recently asked me to contribute … Continue reading →

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Landmarking the NYPL

Posted on August 8, 2017 by

The New York Landmarks Preservation Commission has spoken. May we strive to decipher its garbled voice? Who can deny the good sense of protecting the glorious interiors of the New York Public Library – from the likes of its own … Continue reading →

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Save twin B’way cast-irons

Posted on August 2, 2017 by

In its length and breadth, Manhattan is a free art museum for all of those who will open their eyes, whether they are Knickerbocker heirs or hoboes from Hoboken. To walk down the street is to encounter museum-worthy works of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Whoa! Driving in N.Y., 1928

Posted on January 26, 2017 by

This video is a riot, even though I’m sure “Driving Around NYC – 1928” was mostly if not all staged. Still wild and crazy stuff, including Harold Lloyd taking Babe Ruth to Yankee Stadium. Anybody know who, just before that, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Humor, Photography, Uncategorized, Video | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Best skyscrapers 2016: Yawn

Posted on December 18, 2016 by

No surprise here, but Dezeen has published a list of the ten best skyscrapers of 2016. I’ve chosen to spotlight the pyramidal monstrosity in New York City by Bjarke Ingels, the Danish architect and founder of the firm BIG. The … Continue reading →

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Stairway to nowhere in N.Y.

Posted on October 11, 2016 by

Above is “The Vessel,” so-called. Jim Kunstler has selected it for October’s Eyesore of the Month, on his website. “The Vessel” is designed by Thomas Heatherwick, the British architect who specializes in the ridiculous. It is apparently an attempt to mimic … Continue reading →

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Gaudi’s Manhattan tower

Posted on July 3, 2016 by

That Gaudi had considered erecting a New York skyscraper is not widely known. William O’Connor writes of it in “Gaudi’s Lost Manhattan Tower” for the Daily Beast. O’Connor prates absurdly of Gaudi’s modernism – more than any other major architect, … Continue reading →

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