New York Places
New plans still say “teardown” for Chelsea’s oldest house
In an April 19 public hearing, the Landmarks Preservation Commission asked 404 West 20th Street’s new owner Ajoy Kapoor to return with a more appropriate proposal for altering it. Just released, the revised proposal will go before a public meeting of the Commission on Tuesday. The new design takes a little off the top and still … New plans still say “teardown” for Chelsea’s oldest house
The Iron Triangle, part 2 / from Kowloon Walled City to Singapore
No place in New York elicits such wonder at the retina’s capacity as the Iron Triangle. Self-contained, densely packed and eye-boggling, it is an alternate reality recalling Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City, demolished in 1993-4, below. Comparing the vibrancy of the Iron Triangle to the city’s canned and bland development plan for it brings to mind William Gibson’s 1993 Wired … The Iron Triangle, part 2 / from Kowloon Walled City to Singapore
The Iron Triangle, part 1 / Wilson’s Garage
Once a swamp and then an ash dump, the ground of the Iron Triangle in Willets Point, Queens, now feels like both. Its businesses have an unacknowledged ancestor within one of the greatest works of American literature. The Great Gatsby was going to be called Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires until the great Scribners editor Max Perkins persuaded F. Scott … The Iron Triangle, part 1 / Wilson’s Garage
The Seminary Block of West 20th Street
The General Theological Seminary’s Chapel of the Good Shepherd overlooks the center of one of New York’s best blocks. The Seminary’s brick collegiate gothic buildings were designed by Charles Coolidge Haight. The Chapel and bell tower of his design were built in 1886-88. The block of West 20th Street in Chelsea between Ninth and Tenth Avenues is one of … The Seminary Block of West 20th Street
Guernsey Street
It’s one of New York’s redeeming qualities that it never runs out of sights to offer even a regular wanderer of its neighborhoods. In addition to planned street-scapes and open spaces, endless random combinations of elements accidentally yield distinctive places. ArchiTakes launches its “New York Places” category with one of these, in Brooklyn. The block of Greenpoint’s Guernsey … Guernsey Street