2016
Open House New York Weekend
Can't get something for nothing, have to energize your base
This was a hell of a year at Open House New York Weekend and we have a hell of a lot to see, so I’ll try and keep the descriptions brief- note that I used the word “try” and even my explanation (or possibly disclaimer) about keeping things brief is up to over 50 words and counting. That said, we’re starting at the Cornell AAP NYC Studio in the Standard Oil Building on the Battery in New York. The work of the kids at the Cornell AAP NYC Studio was interesting enough, but the building and the view were the real draw at the site.
Look at the line already for 70 Pine Street, one of the really pretty historic skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan. I’m not sure how long the wait is to get in and I’ll never know- I bought an Open House New York pass this year that lets me cut the lines, well worth the $75 if you ask me.
And if you’re not sure which of the historic skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan 70 Pine is, this picture offers a wondrous hint. Carved into the building entrance is a model of the building itself, one of my favorite stops downtown on the walking tours I sometimes lead for architects.
70 Pine Street is being converted to residential units. Commercial tenants want new buildings with large floors while residents want to live in Lower Manhattan (an increasingly interesting residential community), so it’s a win-win for everyone. Tours took us to higher floor units with decent views, but the pictures I’m going to include instead are details from the lobby, all cleaned up and pretty for its new residential debut.
Another Open House New York Lower Manhattan site is the Hall of Records / Surrogate’s Courthouse. It’s behind City Hall and its lobby was open to gawk at. Already we’ve been to three sites and it’s still early, lots more to go though.
We’ve all heard of the High Line (well, to be more accurate, I’m guessing that we have all heard of the High Line by now), but most of us have probably not heard of the Lowline. Both are former rail properties being converted to parks, but that’s where the similarity ends. The Lowline is completely underground and, while I would love to see it built, I am imaging that the experience would be weird at best. Not especially helping is the Lowline Lab near Essex Market, where a mockup is in place of what you might see in that future completely underground park.
We’re still in Manhattan but way, way, way up in Washington Heights. We rode the subway all the way up there to see the United Palace Theatre, originally called the Loew’s 175th Street Theatre and one of the legendary five Loew’s Wonder Theaters built in 1929. Built to show movies, the five theatres (like New York’s five boroughs) were built in Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn and, of course, Jersey City, New Jersey. Apparently even in 1929, no one wanted to go all the way out to Staten Island.
Not technically an Open House New York site (but on the way between sites), this is The Beginning of the End by Rachel Valdes Camejo, located in Times Square and, while I’m not sure of the reasoning behind the art installation, the result was a funhouse mirror showing great, confusing views of Times Square. Apparently the beginning of the end means fun pictures.
Our sixth or seventh Open House New York site (depending on how you count them) this year is the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a vast complex with so much to see that you could end up spending your whole Saturday there if you really wanted to. As you know, that’s not how I roll (I don’t actually, you know, roll), so I spent some time seeing the highlights there including the rooftop at Rooftop Reds, as well as stopping to take pictures of everything I could see as I made some stops at seemingly random studios throughout.
Another stop in Brooklyn in nearby (and by “nearby” I still mean a decent walk) is the Made in New York Media Center by IFP in Dumbo. Here the interior design was what you might expect at a tech incubator, and demos included a virtual reality headset that looks great while you’re wearing it but bot so great when you’re looking at someone else wearing it. Apparently the future is being designed so that we all disappear into imaginary worlds and look like idiots from the outside, just as we all feared it would.
Wow.
I have been to New York hundreds and hundreds of times in my life (possibly thousands and thousands at this point if I was actually keeping track) and all that time I have never been here. This is the Gould Memorial Library at CUNY Bronx Community College, one of the great spaces in the whole city and one that you (like me) probably didn’t even know ever existsed.
The Gould Memorial Library was designed by Stanford White and is just damn spectacular. If you’re thinking that the library is kind of grand for a community college in the Bronx, that’s because it was originally designed as the anchor for a satellite New York University (NYU) campus. And the building was more than just a library, it was (and is) home to the Hall of Fame of Great Americans, a one time top tourist attraction that’s now not only forgotten it’s also kind of dying, no Great Americans have been added since 1976, hopefully not because we’ve run out of new, worthy Great Americans, but I guess that’s a possibility.
CUNY Bronx Community College is three sites in one. In addition to the Stanford White designed Gould Memorial Library and Hall of Fame of Great Americans, there is also a fun collection of modernist buildings designed by Marcel Breuer as part of a NYU campus expansion. The Gould Memorial Library was a self guided walking (or, to be more accurate, wandering) tour, but the Breuer buildings were a guided architecture tour and were (at times) pretty damn impressive.
The third Open House New York site at CUNY Bronx Community College had nothing to do with NYU. This is the new North Hall and Library by Robert Stern, a building which fit in quite well with the McKim, Mead and White buildings but, as you might expect, seemed to ignore the Marcel Breuer ones.
The last site that I visited in this busy Open House New York Weekend was the Azul Rooftop Bar on Greenwich Street just north of Canal. Of course I went there for the view (I will always go to a rooftop if I can), and this one was pretty damn good. Another busy Open House New York with lots of amazing sites, looking forward (as always) to see what’s going to be available next year.
Keep going back in time. Open House New York 2015 is next.
