58. West Street Building
Location: 90 West Street
Built: 1905-1907
Architect: Cass Gilbert
National Register Number: 06001303
Listed: January 25, 2007
Visited: August 31 and September 7, 2007, and whole buncha other times
Additional Documentation: 90 West Street website
I am in love with this building, and I want you to fall in love with it, too. But I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge.
As with the Park Row and the Chamber of Commerce buildings, I have sharp memories of the first time it went from background noise to an object of contemplation: I was at the FedEx station in the lobby of Two World Trade Center, waiting for my package to be processed, and outside the huge glass windows, I could see it lit like electric lace, the upper floors burning hot with the highlights and shadows thrown by tiny figures too small to apprehend. What was I thinking? I was thinking, oh, what a beautiful old building. And nothing more. And even as I walked the streets south of Tower Two in my idle time, or had lunch alone at the Tall Ships Restaurant with all the commodities brokers, or just stepped out to step out, 90 West did not force itself upon my attention the way it would now. A parking lot in front, though allowing an unobstructed view, also blunted its impact--it was too far away to ever get all up in my face. St. Nicholas was far smaller, yet it was hard not to notice because it was so anomalous; 90 West just looked like another building. Once thought a tall one, it had been overshadowed at least since the World Trade Center was constructed, and so it would remain.
When the towers went down, they compromised the integrity of other buildings. Falling rubble poked holes all around. 7 World Trade Center was slashed, burned, and collapsed; the Deutsche Bank Building, exposed to the elements through holes in its facade, was eventually declared unsalvagable. 90 West got beat up bad, too. Two people died in an elevator. Four floors were gutted by fire, and four others were substantially burned. Huge parts of the north side's façade were scraped and slashed. But this 1907 building survived all these late 20C structures--in part due to being covered, inside and out, in terra-cotta, a distinctly 19th-Century form of fire-proofing--and after a careful multi-million dollar renovation, is an apartment building. (Albeit one with an excellent view of World War III's first stomping grounds.)
On the outside, the terra-cotta assumes the language of Gothic architecture: bracket and colonette and crocket and rosette and arch and spandrel and molding and foil and archivolt and ball flower. Almost all of this is done up in creamy-buff color (which any sky will flatter, no matter the weather), save for bands of green and some touches of baby blue, yellow, and brick-red. Much of the detail is invisible to the naked eye, but contribute to an overall sense of complexity--for example, I'm guessing that the polychromy is there to give the illusion of depth--but it takes binoculars or a telephoto lens to actually see any of it for what it is. When I did for the first time last year for this project, it was as if I just discovered the backyard I grew up contained a fully-functioning rainforest. It was beguilement, it was shock. It was love at first sight.
You almost wonder why anyone would go through much trouble to achieve such subtle optical effects, but perhaps all these details are maybe not so much to be seen as to be there, serving as totems; a thick coating of the past to protect the building from harm.
OK, I don't think I can touch this building. Just look at the pictures.
Built: 1905-1907
Architect: Cass Gilbert
National Register Number: 06001303
Listed: January 25, 2007
Visited: August 31 and September 7, 2007, and whole buncha other times
Additional Documentation: 90 West Street website
I am in love with this building, and I want you to fall in love with it, too. But I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge.
As with the Park Row and the Chamber of Commerce buildings, I have sharp memories of the first time it went from background noise to an object of contemplation: I was at the FedEx station in the lobby of Two World Trade Center, waiting for my package to be processed, and outside the huge glass windows, I could see it lit like electric lace, the upper floors burning hot with the highlights and shadows thrown by tiny figures too small to apprehend. What was I thinking? I was thinking, oh, what a beautiful old building. And nothing more. And even as I walked the streets south of Tower Two in my idle time, or had lunch alone at the Tall Ships Restaurant with all the commodities brokers, or just stepped out to step out, 90 West did not force itself upon my attention the way it would now. A parking lot in front, though allowing an unobstructed view, also blunted its impact--it was too far away to ever get all up in my face. St. Nicholas was far smaller, yet it was hard not to notice because it was so anomalous; 90 West just looked like another building. Once thought a tall one, it had been overshadowed at least since the World Trade Center was constructed, and so it would remain.
When the towers went down, they compromised the integrity of other buildings. Falling rubble poked holes all around. 7 World Trade Center was slashed, burned, and collapsed; the Deutsche Bank Building, exposed to the elements through holes in its facade, was eventually declared unsalvagable. 90 West got beat up bad, too. Two people died in an elevator. Four floors were gutted by fire, and four others were substantially burned. Huge parts of the north side's façade were scraped and slashed. But this 1907 building survived all these late 20C structures--in part due to being covered, inside and out, in terra-cotta, a distinctly 19th-Century form of fire-proofing--and after a careful multi-million dollar renovation, is an apartment building. (Albeit one with an excellent view of World War III's first stomping grounds.)
On the outside, the terra-cotta assumes the language of Gothic architecture: bracket and colonette and crocket and rosette and arch and spandrel and molding and foil and archivolt and ball flower. Almost all of this is done up in creamy-buff color (which any sky will flatter, no matter the weather), save for bands of green and some touches of baby blue, yellow, and brick-red. Much of the detail is invisible to the naked eye, but contribute to an overall sense of complexity--for example, I'm guessing that the polychromy is there to give the illusion of depth--but it takes binoculars or a telephoto lens to actually see any of it for what it is. When I did for the first time last year for this project, it was as if I just discovered the backyard I grew up contained a fully-functioning rainforest. It was beguilement, it was shock. It was love at first sight.
You almost wonder why anyone would go through much trouble to achieve such subtle optical effects, but perhaps all these details are maybe not so much to be seen as to be there, serving as totems; a thick coating of the past to protect the building from harm.
OK, I don't think I can touch this building. Just look at the pictures.
Labels: Cass Gilbert, Financial District
posted by Michael at
9:34 PM
1 Comments:
This is a beautiful building. I remember when I worked for American Express and would travel to WFC for business I would stay at the Marriott next door. Often times I would get a room that would face the south side of the building and stare out my window at the beautiful architecture of the West Street Building. It was just so beautiful. I recall one time I was actually staying on the top floor of the Marriott and could look down along the side of the building. I could see the people's desks and all their personal effects. Pretty cool for a guy from the beaches of Fort Lauderdale! Just to be up that high! The building was just awesome. So much detail in the stone.
I'm glad to see that it survived 9/11. It's a true landmark to the city of New York and to our country. I don't work for American Express anymore and have not been back to NYC since 9/11. Part of me wants to go back and see it all, put another part of me wants to leave things as they were in my mind. Just keep it all the way it was the last time I stayed at the Marriott and walked to the WFC, through the Marriott World Trade Center and the WTC building across the walking bridge and through the Winter Garden. Just the way it was at 7:30 am on 9/11/01.
I know we all wish that, but we can't.... So many losses. God Bless all who left us on that awful day in history and God Bless all their family and friends. May the West Street Building stand proud for all of them now and forever. Peace on earth always.....
Post a Comment
<< Home