Unlike a lot of people who live in Chicago, I am happy to admit that I <3 New York. Lots. There’s something stupendous on almost every inch of Manhattan island.
Although I am not the first person to reach this epiphany, I am consistently astonished by how much there is to look at. You cannot process even a small fraction of it. [And despite common perceptions about how expensive New York is, there are few other places where the concept that “it’s always free to look” has quite as much resonance.]
All of which is kind of a disclaimer: I’m not suggesting that what follows here is any kind of objective look at New York, or anything more than a superficial glimpse at its surface. But it helps me to understand why I am always so overstimulated whenever I go there.
Mostly I am perpetually astonished by the level of detail you find on just about any building you find yourself standing next to. Maybe the best place to experience this is at Rockefeller Center, which has an almost ridiculous excess of splendid decoration. [If you want to delve into this a lot more deeply, get Christine Roussel’s book about its art program — far more insightful and comprehensive than I could ever attempt to be here.]
While I think the family of words incorporating “icon” are among the most over-used in our present lingua franca, you can safely apply “iconic” to the heroic figures of Atlas
and Prometheus,
which, even if you’ve never been to New York, you will recognize immediately if you have ever watched the Today Show.
What most visitors overlook is the surface decoration on the buildings, which are totally contemporary to the deco flavor of the time, and are executed in an impressive variety of materials:
Carved limestone and sculpted glass on the face of the 30 Rock/RCA/GE bldg
Painted murals inside
And a mosaic tile installation above the 6th Avenue entrance
I can’t tell, but this beautiful entablature on the south side of the International bldg looks like it’s terra cotta.
Even the terrazzo floors in the concourse are works of art
But the richness of NYC architectural detail is endless. I am sort of smug about the whole notion of terra cotta in Chicago, but I will willingly admit New York examples can be a lot more eye-popping. Just check out Terra Cotta Skyline to see what I mean
I have always loved the Bayard-Condict building — Louis Sullivan’s only work in NY
[thank you Google Images]
And I’m guessing the Woolworth building has more terra cotta tile cladding in sheer surface area than any structure in the world
But I was happy to discover this extravagant display at the Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square.
But fast forward to the present. Walking along West Street in Chelsea, the adjacency of Frank Gehry’s ICA building and Herzog/de Meuron’s apartment tower offer untold possibilities for photographers [with better equipment and more talent than I will ever have]
And I knew nothing about the firm of Delavalle Bernheimer, but I really like this building next to the High Line at 10th/ 24th
None of this even takes into account the stimulation you get when you actually walk inside buildings, like the Longchamp store in SoHo, with its liquid-y staircase designed by Thomas Heatherwick.
To say nothing of the charge that comes from gallery shows like the one at Gagosian 21st st, where the industrial designs of Mark Newson are presented as fine art
or the rush you get from a great museum show, like MoMA’s on Abstract Expressionism in New York after WW2
And then, try topping the whole thing off with a trip to the Philip Johnson Glass House property in New Canaan, CT — a visit to which is an experience that pictures can’t begin to convey, because it’s as much an exercise in landscape design as it is in architecture — really a giant site-specific art installation.
I think it’s a good thing I came home the day after visiting here, because my head might have exploded if I saw much more. Consider, if you will, that none of the above takes into account anything like NY’s cultural attractions or entertainments or food or merchandise for sale or multitudes of people almost everywhere. But I hope it explains why it’s the the world capital of sensory overload.
Which should in no way imply that I can’t wait for my next trip.
