5. Castle Williams
Location: Governors Island
Built: 1807-1811
Architect: Lt. Col. Jonathan Williams
National Register Number: 72000863
Listed: July 31, 1972
Visited: July 21, 2007
Joe Schumacher: "Built to protect the city from the British in 1812. [Castle Williams], along with Castle Clinton on Manhattan, was so successful the British decided to burn a different city further south." Ha ha ha. (That city being, of course, Washington, DC.) In contrast to Castle Clinton's sexy post-conflict history as an opera house, immigration center, and after a handsome McKim, Mead & White renovation, aquarium, Castle Williams has only been given unglamorous adaptive re-uses by the military, including a prison. There's a campaign to convert it into a new Globe Theater, based on the designs of Foster + Partners, they of The Gherkin, The Glass Testicle, and uuuuhhh the Hearst Tower which is awesomely green but has no cute nickname. Great buildings all (I'm easily distracted by glitter), but I'm less positive about the design for this theater -- much as a new Globe is an alluring possibility (though is New York City lacking in dramatic venues?), every rendering occludes the fort's rustic red sandstone features and imposing profile.
Jonathan Williams gave his name not only to this fort but to Williamsburgh in Brooklyn. So you know he was a total dude.
Built: 1807-1811
Architect: Lt. Col. Jonathan Williams
National Register Number: 72000863
Listed: July 31, 1972
Visited: July 21, 2007
Joe Schumacher: "Built to protect the city from the British in 1812. [Castle Williams], along with Castle Clinton on Manhattan, was so successful the British decided to burn a different city further south." Ha ha ha. (That city being, of course, Washington, DC.) In contrast to Castle Clinton's sexy post-conflict history as an opera house, immigration center, and after a handsome McKim, Mead & White renovation, aquarium, Castle Williams has only been given unglamorous adaptive re-uses by the military, including a prison. There's a campaign to convert it into a new Globe Theater, based on the designs of Foster + Partners, they of The Gherkin, The Glass Testicle, and uuuuhhh the Hearst Tower which is awesomely green but has no cute nickname. Great buildings all (I'm easily distracted by glitter), but I'm less positive about the design for this theater -- much as a new Globe is an alluring possibility (though is New York City lacking in dramatic venues?), every rendering occludes the fort's rustic red sandstone features and imposing profile.
Jonathan Williams gave his name not only to this fort but to Williamsburgh in Brooklyn. So you know he was a total dude.
Labels: Fort, Governors Island, Lt. Col. Jonathan Williams, Military, Prison
posted by Michael at
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