Tag Archives: New York

Two visions of New York City

Posted on October 13, 2021 by David Brussat

Two recent panels held by the Empire Station Coalition discussed rebuilding Penn Station in its original 1910 design and growing opposition to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Empire Station Complex, which would clog the area around Penn Station with glass-box skyscrapers. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Christo, homage to a life

Posted on May 31, 2020 by David Brussat

The artist Christo has died. One must not, they say, speak ill of the dead. I am not speaking ill of the dead man but of his art. Those who bruise easily may stop reading here, but Christo’s death will … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Save the Frick Music Room

Posted on November 18, 2019 by David Brussat

Boards of institutions always seem to want to do more for the institution than the institution needs. And whenever a board proposes to do something, it is normally more than is judicious, often a lot more – a unwitting attack … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

For one- or two-way streets?

Posted on July 22, 2019 by David Brussat

On a recent sojourn in (and above) Manhattan, Steve Mouzon sparked a Facebook conversation about the merits and demerits of one- and two-way streets. It unfolded at such a high level of thoughtfulness about streets (of either ilk) from so … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

More for my groaning shelf

Posted on April 14, 2019 by David Brussat

Here is the UK Guardian architecture critic Oliver Wainwright’s critique of Hudson Yards, the “largest and most expensive private real estate project in U.S. history.” His article is called “Horror on the Hudson: New York’s $25bn architectural fiasco,” and it … Continue reading →

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HQ2 twofers and Providence

Posted on November 14, 2018 by David Brussat

Two major eastern cities have won the HQ2 sweepstakes, and you have to wonder whether the twofers – Long Island City and Crystal City, outside Manhattan and D.C. – both realize they got half a loaf. How soon will it … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Corbu’s rant at Neimeyer

Posted on June 21, 2018 by David Brussat

Oscar Niemeyer, the Brazilian architect who died in 2012 at age 104, is best known for designing Brasília, the sterile über-modernist new capital city that arose in the Brazilian outback in something like three years in the late 1950s. Its … Continue reading →

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The battle of the Frick

Posted on June 17, 2018 by David Brussat

The question of how to expand the Frick Gallery, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, without threatening its architectural integrity continues following a May 29 hearing of the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission. Four hours of testimony for and against the … Continue reading →

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Steampunk vid of New York

Posted on May 15, 2018 by David Brussat

Came across this film, “The Old New World,” of New York and bits of Boston and Washington, D.C. (the Capitol), in about 1931, on the Kuriositas website. It is the Old New World Project run by Alexey Zakharoff. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Old Video | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Stern’s 250 W81st tops out

Posted on February 5, 2018 by David Brussat

Robert A. M. Stern’s latest Manhattan apartment building at 250 West 81st St., on a corner of Broadway, recently topped out. That means the top of the building’s steel structure of girders has been achieved. It is 209 feet tall, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments