2021
Open House New York Weekend
Somewhere in all that talk is all the answers
The pandemic is over (probably) and after that weird virtual Open House New York from last year (it was actually pretty good to be honest), we’re back live and ready to go. First up is the first site I went to, Mecanoo’s new Stavros Niachros Foundation Library, located just about across the street from the main New York Public Library in midtown, because the corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue can never have enough libraries.
The Stavros Niachros Foundation Library was interesting and well done, but the real reason to go there is to see the roof. There aren’t all that many free roof decks in the city and even fewer in Midtown, especially if you take away restaurants and bars. This one has a great view of the other library (which is just across the street) as well as across Fifth Avenue. It was open for Open House New York but is also open anytime, highly recommended for a quick stop if you’re in that part of Midtown anyway.
I took it easy this year. Normally I would hit at least ten sites over two days, and have done far more in the past. This year the list wasn’t great because (of course) that of damn pandemic, and I’m still not fully comfortable being around a lot of potentially sick people because (of course) of that damn pandemic. I focused on only a few sites, and my Sunday star attraction was St Bart’s on Park Avenue, designed (mostly) by Bertram Goodhue.
The dome at St Bart’s (or St Bartholomew’s if you’re being more formal) is pretty damn spectacular no matter which way you look at it although, to be honest, looking up at it is probably best.
This is a green roof at PS 41 in Greenwich Village that I needed to show a proof of vaccination to visit, even though it was outside. I guess it was because you had to go inside (and up all those damn stairs) before you went outside. As for the picture, it’s me testing the new Macro lens feature on my iPhone 13 Pro, which explains that blurry Jefferson Market Library tower in the distance.
My visit back to Roosevelt Island wasn’t specifically to see any Open House New York sites this year, it’s honestly just great to be out again and an outdoor visit there was honestly a bit more appealing than some of the other available Open House New York sites this year, many of which I’ve already been over all these years of attending these weekend events.
From Roosevelt Island, I decided to give in and call it a day, due to the availability of the remaining sites that late on Sunday and honestly I wasn’t feeling my best that day to begin with. But instead of just masking up on the F train to start heading back home, I decided to hop on an NYC Ferry and take the scenic route down to Wall Street instead. Always a good choice, even though the scheduling of these ferries on weekends isn’t really all that great, plus they always seem to run late because there are so many tourists on board and there’s a lot of dwell time at each stop. Still, if you are lucky enough (like I was) to land a seat on the roof deck, you kind of start to hope that the ferries goes even slower so you can enjoy amazing views (like these) as long as you possibly can.
Keep going back in time. Open House New York 2020 is next.
