My Favorite Living Room

I often find myself sipping white wine and eating shrimp cocktail in the living room of my good friends Susan and Rich Lobel of Brooklyn Heights. It is one of my favorite places. Not only are the Lobels (and their two very charming and talented children) so hospitable but they occupy three stories of a brownstone that was masterfully renovated and designed by architect Brendan Coburn and Joseph Smith of Coburn Architecture in 2005.

Both Susan and Rich have a great eye for furniture and art. One evening when I invited myself over once again–sipping on vodka this time–I discovered a new painting adorning the wall above their piano. I knew it had to be something special. I felt even more excited than when I’ve scored at a flea market or at an auction.

Sure enough, the painting which is plastic and oil on canvas, was an original mid-century piece done in 1959 by Herbert Ferber. Ferber is known for his sculpture but was also a serious painter. His work was part of the early Abstract Expressionist movement in post World War II America and was exhibited alongside the work of de Kooning and Pollock, among others.

The piece was purchased by Susan’s mother (who still goes antiquing at Brimfield every year, you go girl!) from Knoedler Gallery in New York. When Susan’s mom recently moved to a smaller place the painting went to Susan and Rich.

So now my favorite place is even more special. It’s like having your own private museum without paying the price of admission.

PS. They have two of Ferber’s outdoor sculptures on their property in Woodstock, New York. Guess who’s coming to visit this summer!

Modernism in Brooklyn's Public Housing

From my assistant, Blaise:

Ilya Bolotowsky's first study for the Williamsburg houses mural, 1936.
Photo: www.artnet.com

Photo: www.nyc-architecture.com

I’ve walked by this corner several times in Williamsburg. It’s hard not to notice this striking structure — so different from neighboring buildings — but I never knew its significance until Jim Clark, one of the artists represented by Corinne Robbins Art & Design tipped us off on the history.

The term housing project often brings to mind disregarded, depressing, style-less concrete structures that are simultaneously sprawling and confining. But in 1936 William Lescaze, a Swiss-born modernist (who later taught industrial design at Pratt Institute), teamed up with Empire State Building architects and, in collaboration with the Federal Public Works Administration and the newly formed New York City Housing Authority, embarked on creating the Williamsburg Houses. It was the first instance not only of modernism in American low-income housing, but a demonstration of innovation and care devoted to a gravely overlooked and underserved population. The result was a revolutionary 12.8 million dollar design bringing European aesthetics and International Style architecture to Brooklyn and the U.S. at large.

The Williamsburg Houses is a 4-story, 1,622-apartment complex covering 23 acres that transformed 12 extremely bleak slum blocks bordered by Bushwick Avenue and Leonard, Maujer, and Scholes Streets. The buildings which house roughly 6,000 people are angled at 15 degrees to the grid to allow for more sunlight in the homes and breezes through the courtyards. The housing is adorned with tan brick and blue tiles and stainless steel canopies over the doorways, and boasts landscaped parks, playgrounds, commercial storefronts, a community center, and a junior high school. The New Deal-era Federal Art Project also integrated art into the collaboration and commissioned two murals, one by Francis Criss who created a marouflage of the L train, and the other an abstract work by Ilya Bolotowsky.

By the 1960s the Williamsburg Houses were in steady decline. While hailed by many critics, it was also criticized for its shoddy construction and problematic design mechanics. In the mid-1990s extensive revivification began at the behest of NYCHA.

The restoration project was deemed “the best public housing project ever built in New York” where, reportedly, the quality of living has drastically improved. By 1993, the Williamsburg Houses were designated a city landmark.

Historic aerial view. Credit: www.nyc-architecture.com