Manhattan Golden Guys

 Of the 51 works of sculpture sprinkled around Central Park, three are gilded--among them, this portrait bust of John Purroy Mitchel.

 Handsome, progressive, Kennedy-esque, Mitchel was mayor of New York City from 1914 to 1917--at 34, the youngest ever elected. He died 13 days shy of his 39th birthday when, seat belt recklessly unfastened, he fell 500 feet out of an airplane during a World War I training flight near Lake Charles, La. This is his memorial, near Fifth Avenue and East 90th Street

 On the Ukrainian-American Freedom Foundation at 136 Second Avenue is this plaque of Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861), a poet whose work is considered the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature.

Puck, the knavish sprite from A Midsummer's Night Dream, poses with a prodigious pen over the doorway to what was once, at 295 Lafayette Street, headquarters of Puck, the nation's first humor magazine.

This gold-leafed composition by Augustus Saint-Gaudens of William Tecumseh Sherman is losing some of its luster because of weathering and the large number of pigeons "resting" on the monument, in Grand Army Plaza at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street. In her hand a palm branch signifying peace, Nike, winged goddess of victory, leads the general and his lively steed.

 It is a falsehood that Washington Irving lived at 122 East 17th Street, address of the edifice to which this plaque is attached. The circa-1845 house was actually built for the writer's nephew, John T. Irving, and though Washington Irving was indeed a frequent visitor, his country estate Sunnyside in Tarrytown, N.Y., was home. 

 In defiance of Zeus, Prometheus gifted mortals on Earth (represented by the mountain-like base) with fire from the heavens (symbolized by the ring of zodiac signs). For this no-no, Zeus  punished the Titan by having him bound to a rock where a fearsome eagle feasted upon his liver only for it to regenerate and be re-devoured the next day ad infinitum--an aspect of the myth omitted from this 1934 Paul Manship sculpture, the focal point of Rockefeller Center.

 On the porch railing of the Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park South, are figures representing comedy and tragedy.  

  The bust above the Art Deco entrance of the Brill Building at 1619 Broadway is of Alan E. Lefcourt, the building-developer's son, who died in 1930, age 17. Composed in this homestead of music industry offices and studios were standards like "The Look of Love" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, "The Loco-Motion" by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and "Calendar Girl" by Neil Sekada and Howard Greenfield. 

A Tribute to the AT&T Building

At 647 feet, the AT&T Building on Madison between 55th and 56th is Manhattan's 59th tallest skyscraper and its premier example of Post-Modern architecture--a particularly Anglocentric one. The vertical bands of fenestration evoke the radiator grille of a Rolls-Royce and the top, which conceals mechanical and utility equipment, calls to mind the 18th-century English cabinetry of Thomas Chippendale. Completed in 1984, the AT&T Building has since 1990 been known as Sony Plaza.

 Seventy-percent of the AT&T Building is clad with 600-million-year-old pink granite from Connecticut's Stony Creek Granite Quarry, provenance as well for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and the façade of Grand Central Terminal. I took this picture from Central Park's Balcony Bridge, near West 76th Street, at 3:41 p.m. on January 30, 2011.

 This is a picture of AT&T's pediment that I snapped from the sculpture garden at the Museum of Modern Art. How can such a cacophonous clutter of architectural styles be so beautiful?

Once upon a time the country's prime evangelist of minimalist Modernism, Philip Johnson (1906-2005) designed his peacocky pièce de résistance in 1978 and, a decade or so earlier, the MoMA sculpture garden that affords such a good view of his PoMo creation's quirky crown.

Here it is on a bar coaster that I have conserved from the Quilted Giraffe, a restaurant that in the early '90s used to operate in AT&T's rear arcade.

Here are the matches. 

 Better still, I was able to purchase one of Quilted Giraffe's expansive chargers, 12 inches in diameter.

Off-the-Beaten-Path Modernism in N.Y.C.

 89-01 Queens Boulevard: A former branch of the Jamaica Savings Bank (now Capital One), designed by William Franklin Cann in 1968. Ten years earlier, Cann (1916-1983) created one of the most eye-catching icons of the American roadway: The signature origami-ish orange-roofed gatehouses for Howard Johnson's

. 

Soaring to 43 at its highest point, the hyperbolic paraboloid copper-clad roof suggests a bird in flight or a butterfly. In an out-of-the-ordinary affirmation of mid-20th century architecture, the Landmarks Preservation Commission bestowed landmark status to the bank in 2005, a designation that was quickly revoked by the City Council, which caved to grievances from Capital One and a vocal citizenry that viewed the building as merely an eyesore.  

 North Shore Waterfront Esplanade, Staten Island: Designed by Masayuki Sono and dedicated in 2004, this memorial remembers the 274 Staten Islanders who died on 9/11.

 Twinned 40-foot steles evoke varied interpretations: wings; post cards sent to lost loved ones; pages of a book turning to a new chapter; a flower about to blossom.

 Grand Concourse and 165th Street: The Miami-based firm Architectonica expanded the Bronx Museum of the Arts with this accordion-like addition in 2006.

 Interior lighting is by Hervé Descottes of L'Observatoire International, which also designed illumination for the High Line and the new-and-improved Columbus Circle.

 Fort Washington and Wadsworth Avenues, West 178th to West 179th Streets, Manhattan: A bird's-eye view of the 14 triangular projections of the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which straddles I-95. Like the Jamaica Savings Bank in Queens, the form has been compared to a butterfly.

Designed by Pier Luigi Nervi, the station opened in 1963 and is one of just a handful of his Modern masterpieces outside Italy. The deltoidal openings are not only rhythmically pleasing to the eye, they also ventilate fumes from the 950 buses that daily come and go.
To see more Modernism in New York City, visit: Mid-Century Manhattan Churches & Modernist Townhouses in Manhattan & Ten Mid-Cen Gems in Manhattan

Curiosities in the Carolinas

Eight clamshell-shaped Shell gas stations were constructed in the 1930s of concrete stucco over bent wood and wire. This is the sole survivor of the species and it is at Sprague and Peachtree Streets in Winston-Salem, N.C. 

Earth's largest Duncan Phyfe-style armchair takes its seat on a granite pedestal in the middle of Thomasville, N.C., known because of its furniture industry as Chair City. This whopper is not of wood but concrete and steel, and was constructed in 1948.

Lumberman E. W. Worrell decorated the exterior of his 1877 home in Murfreesboro, N.C., with lively sawnwork, including highly unusual standing-figure cut-outs.

 A highborn Mrs. Butterworth, her consort Frangelico and their heir (who takes entirely after his padre) are a feature of the Bottle House at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, N.C. Artist Virginia Wright Frierson created the work.

Durham, N.C.: I didn't figure it out at first but J.C. stands for the Savior. Who knew He liked to cook? The banana pudding was tip-top.

A hulking roadside chicken along Highway 29 near Lexington, N.C.

 Early grave markers in this country were often wood and here in Charleston, S.C., is one of the very few surviving examples--in St. Michael's Churchyward, denoting the grave of Mary Ann Luyten, who died on September 9, 1770, age 27. Many romantically like to believe that this was the headboard to her and her husband William's bed but, truth is, 'tis not. 

  

 Salisbury, N.C.: I had never heard of a watermelon milkshake but it is one of 52 flavors--including banana pudding and cherry cobbler--that seasonally come and go at Cook Out, a regional chain with 75 outlets.

 In Raleigh, N.C., (byname: The City of Oaks) is this giant copper acorn in Moore Square. 

 Bottle trees are sometimes called "poor man's stained glass" or "garden earrings," and those that sprout all blue bottles are said to ward off bad spirits. This version is in Bishopville, S.C., has green and clear bottles.

    Spencer, N.C.: This 1905 structure was once used to overhaul steam locomotives.

 A devastating terracotta bowl of fruit adorns this Douglas Ellington-designed 1929 building in downtown Asheville, N.C. The cafeteria closed in 1974 and is now the S&W Steak and Wine Restaurant.

 Wilmington, N.C.

Even though Mater now resides in Paris, she's really just a downhome Southern dame.
To see another Carolina curiosity, visit: The Chimerical Cultivations of Mr. Pearl Fryar
To see more architecture of the area, visit: Modernism in the Carolinas

Alluring Architectural Appliqués in the Bronx

Parkchester is a huge middle-class housing complex in the Bronx similar to Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. All three developments sport the same blah architecture but Parkchester's is offset by a rich program of terracotta sculptures, exemplified by this leaping stag. 

The Federal Seaboard Terra Cotta Corporation manufactured more than 500 embellishments for Parkchester, among them this trio of ballerinas. 

The Works Progress Administration theme and look of the sculptures--like these laborers--reflect the time construction of Parkchester commenced, in 1938.

    Sculptor Joseph Kiselewski (1901-1986) depicted a family around this door. 

 Family is an obvious motif in many of the sculptures.

Especially motherhood.

 But sometimes fatherhood, too. 

 The 2008 movie Doubt had a pivotal scene set in Parkchester between Meryl Streep and Viola Davis. Both got Oscar nominations.

You can see other stars in Parkchester any old day--like this hula dancer and matador, both of whom adorn its movie theater.

   

  As do this señorita and Indian chief.

  So does this soldier.  

There are quite a lot of animals as well.

 Like these deer over a doorway.

 And this rooster to remind residents, ugh, it's time to get up and go to work.

 These seals wrap around a corner. . .

. . . as does this resident who has been caught in the rain while shopping.

 The 171 buildings of Parkchester range from seven to twelve stories, and some of the sculptures, like this fireman, are high up. There are 66,000 windows in Parkchester. 

 On this medallion note the yapping pooch and the knitting that occupy laps. 

 Parkchester takes up 129 acres, 22 more acres than the Magic Kingdom at Disney World in Orlando. 

 The windmill on the right of this girl and her dolly seems to reference New York City's origin as Nieuw Amsterdam.

 Here is a lady feeding pigeons. But does it have other meaning? Writer Jonathan B. Hall notes that the pattern of bread crumbs on the left is similar to the image in art of Mary extending rays of light from her fingertips to Earth below, and that her hand is raised in a classic gesture of blessing. The white pigeons might, to some, evoke the image of the Holy Ghost.

Elsewhere are some blue pigeons.

To look at more architecture in this borough, visit: Modernism in the Bronx

& Off-the-Beaten-Path Modernism in New York City

To look at more decorative arts in the Bronx, visit: Nifty Outdoor Mosaics in N.Y.C.