I was recently led by the ever useful AIA Guide to New York City to a quiet block of E. 82nd Street between First and Second. I wanted to see Nos. 306 and 306A, a teeny tiny brick row house and an even smaller row house situated just behind it, down an alley. "Early residents at a smaller scale," the guide mused. The accompanying picture (below) made the buildings look positively quaint.
When I got there, though, both structures, built in 1855, were gone, leveled. They're weren't landmarked or protected in any way. In their place is this handiwork of hideousness, pictured above. It's still under construction. No chance of it getting into future editions of the AIA.
Thankfully the two buildings next to it are still happily standing. In turn, the ugly building in question is not out of scale with it's neighbors. So yes while it is quite bland in contrast, it isn't 12 stories tall.
ReplyDeleteIf it just had a bit more ornamentation, it could even pass off as a poor excuse for Art Deco. Throw a clock on it or something.
I lived on First/82nd from 95-05, and only sort-of remember the front building--certainly not the back one. But it looks as if they were still standing as of 2000, the year my AIA edition was printed.
ReplyDeleteI lived on the block for seven long months in 2005-2006, and the buildings were there when I arrived and demolished when I left. I think they got knocked down in early spring 2006. I noticed them immediately and liked them even though they were really dilapidated, and in my NYC naivety I thought they were going to fix them up.
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