The Seagram building, at 375 Park Avenue and 53rd Street, is one of my favorite buildings in all of Manhattan. It's one of the few sky scrapers with a plaza in it front of it. It was designed by Mies van der Rohe and built in 1958.
The Seagram Building's plaza at 375 Park Avenue
Made of bronze and glass, it's like a modern sculpture in the sky. The beauty of the building is the plaza in front of it. It acts as a platform or a pedestal of sorts, giving the piece (the sky scraper) room to be viewed. When you look through the lobby from the outside you can see right through to the back of building, giving it a light, floating feeling. The additional office space needed was built behind the main building--a smaller building on 53rd Street, home of what used to be the famous Brasserie restaurant where I used to go as a kid, and is now The Four Seasons restaurant.
Mies van der Rohe, who emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1937, was such a genius. So much so that many architects designing Manhattan office buildings took from the original Mies design--minimal modern glass and metal.
Today, Blaise took photos of two Harry Bertoia sculptures--a massive screen and a large cloud hanging from the ceiling--featured in the phenomenally restored Manufacturer's Hanover building. The space at 510 Fifth Avenue at 43rd street, once a bank, is now home to the Canadian clothing store Joe Fresh.
Both sculptures were removed from the interior and had to be restored and re-installed in the original positions. I like the way the clothing store worked with the sculptures to feature them prominently as a major part of their decor. Originally, the Bertoia screen divided public banking from the private banking. Now it acts as the entire back wall of the bright, sprawling second floor.
NBC New York writes:
Dubbed "an architectural gem" by creative director Joe Mimran, the glass-walled building was designed in 1952 by Gordon Bunshaft (best known for the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC), and was made an official landmark in 1997.
Beautiful though the building may be, massive restorations were required to prime the structure for Joe Fresh's arrival, including the re-installation of a winding, 70-foot screen by sculptor Harry Bertoia, which can be seen on the second floor.
It's so great. Going there feels like you have a private art viewing in a public space.
Every time I write on this blog I look at my assistant, Blaise, who is a real writer, and I say to her, "I hate this. It's such a struggle for me to write." Another friend of mine, Lynn Douglass, who blogs for Forbes.com, said my blog was very visual. Of course, I'm compensating by posting a million photographs instead of writing.
But this story changed everything. This time I was truly inspired to write no matter how difficult. It's a story about the creation of Teacher's Village in Newark, NJ, designed by native Newarker Richard Meier. Teacher's Village broke ground in March of 2012. A development that spans a 4-block radius, it contains 3 charter schools, 200 apartments for teachers, 1 day care center and 70,000 square feet of retail space.
Like any urban project it takes years of planning, negotiating, designing, and building. But there was a group of four special people who had a vision and utter faith in the project. Their collective imagination created an evolution for downtown Newark.
I'll start with Newark Mayor, Cory Booker. This man can move mountains. He descended upon Newark with his positive attitude, persistence, and sheer love for his city, all of which makes him a very special person. My first encounter with him was when he gave the commencement speech at Bard College this spring (where my son is a sophomore). His words were not only inspiring for the graduates, but for everyone. He is a remarkable speaker. My favorite line in his speech was, "Live life as if you cannot fail."
When I discovered that the creation of Teacher's Village also involved Nicolas Berggruen, another visionary whom I admire, I wasn't surprised. Berggruen is the president of Berggruen Holdings, a global investment firm, as well as of The Berggruen Institute, a think tank for global issues.
Six years ago Berggruen and Booker and others were talking about their vision of downtown Newark. Berggruen's passion for the Teacher's Village project was relentless. This man, too, is a statesman of the world and is always involved in some form of civic activism; another angel gracefully sent from heaven.
Then there's the lead developer, Ron Beit of RBH Group. Berggruen was responsible for bringing Beit into the project. As Booker put it, Beit came in as "the Alaskan Husky dog of developers." Mr. Beit made sure that through this project the community would be served, the construction would be green, the hires would be local, and the unions would be partnered with. Beit never gave up; he did everything that the city asked of him, which is unusual for a developer.
Then we have the "starchitect" Richard Meier. Archdaily.com says:
"As the Teachers Village occupies a large area south of Market Street and west of Broad Street, each new building of the project is site specific and is designed relative to its context to provide a rich variety of street conditions. The new Halsey Street retail corridor is at the heart of the development and offers a mix of venues for vibrant street life. The residential spaces and schools are designed with generous windows that are open to the light, energy, and activity of the streets below. And, a portion of the roofs and elevated courtyards will serve as green terraces with gardens."
I remember Meier's project from years ago in the Bronx--a cluster of small modern buildings not far from the Whitestone Bridge. (That's my favorite bridge, by the way--ultra minimal.) It's so unusual to see those buildings, near Co-op City, because they are in stark contrast to their surroundings. Meier's building on Eastern Parkway near Grand Army Plaza and the Brooklyn Public Library in Park Slope, is a masterpiece of light and glass. I love the modern look against the neighboring turn-of-the-century buildings. How did you get past Landmarks?!
Thank you, Mr. Meier, for bringing your great talent to downtown Newark (and to Brooklyn). And thank you to Ron Beit, Nicolas Berggruen and Cory Booker for their dedication. It's so exciting. And I don't even live in Newark!
Cory Booker gives a great speech at the groundbreaking of Teacher's Village:
So, I'm open for business in the Hudson Valley now, and I can't believe the sign was handmade--by me!
To save a little money, I decided to make my own sign. I took the letters from my banner on 1stdibs and blew it up in Word. I printed it out, cut the letters and traced them on thicker paper (I used file folders), then cut out each letter. I then traced it on a piece of masonite. ...Okay, the guy at the lumber yard cut the masonite, but I did everything else! I primed the masonite white after it was cut, then I painted a couple of layers of gray oil based paint on both sides.
Once the gray paint was dry I traced the letters on to the gray background and taped the letters off with blue edge tape. I painted the letters in white; the rounded edges were painted by hand and for the hard edges I used the tape. Once dry, I hung it in place. The little "modern" sign below is scripted by hand also -- in my handwriting. Voila!
Shop hours: Saturdays 10-5 and Sundays by appointment Location: 1977 Route 295, Canaan, NY
You know how you go picking for vintage art? Well, I wasn't even picking and I found a vintage piece... by me. Actually, I was at a friend's house and saw that she had a painting on her wall that I made twenty years ago. It's a cute piece. It measures 6x9 inches and it's oil on green canvas. And the painting hasn't moved in twenty years. That's vintage.
