Via Twitter yesterday afternoon, @kxd8053 let us know that workers were starting to remove the remaining section of the sidewalk bridge around 51 Astor Place... which provides a slightly less obstructed view of...
And a few commenters here and on Facebook have said that they are starting to come around a bit to the building...
4 comments:
Words fail me. Splendid? Elegant? Inspiring? Not quite. Ah, yes --cheap-ass glass-and-steel warehouse for human labor. Photogenic though, which is all that matters for the tourists.
I've hated this building from the get-go, but now I'm not so negative. A woman at Indochine pointed out how the glass actually reflects the historic buildings, so from not very far away you get a mirror more than a Death Star. Sure, I'd rather it wasn't there at all, but this optical trickery isn't bad. Or at least it's not anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be.
I wouldn't say my opinion of the building has changed, but it would be fair to say I don't hate it any more than I hated the previous building on that site. And considering that the two ugliest buildings in all New York City -- 41 Cooper Square and 26 Astor Place -- are in such close proximity, it's hard to work up much more venom for something so relatively ordinary.
I can say with certainty (I see it every day) that the plaza they're building on 3rd ave is actually pretty nice. The benches are wood, the lighting is warm, the paving is top notch and- astonishing for a public/private park- it'll be open 24 hours.
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