[MassHistPres] lessons from New York in today's Times

Wed Apr 2 10:57:17 EDT 2008

Let's not forget that there should be many criteria used to determine if a
structure is worth preservation: architectural history (representative of
time and place, etc.), social history, neighborhood context, and of course
the embodied energy idea. This is not just about taste, or whether we like a
building or not. Thousands of second empire structures were razed in the 50s
& 60s because people didn't like them -- and our built environment is worse
off for it. 

One also has to consider the quality of what will replace the O'Toole
Building, with regards to maintaining the area's scale, and quality of
design and materials -- are we exchanging a building of age with a definite
point of view for a cheap box built with modular components, the sort that
is homogenizing American cities everywhere?

Evaluating structures based only on economic forces or aesthetic taste
ignores the preservation standards that have been hammered out over 50 years
of making difficult calls like this one. It seems to me that the best course
is to go slowly, and apply decision-making formulas to arrive at a
considered, balanced judgement. It's not perfect, but it's what we've got. 

Rosemary Foy

-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Aaron Marcavitch
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 7:26 AM
To: MHC listserve
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] lessons from New York in today's Times

All due respect taken - we could discuss the merits of the building til the
cows come home.  I'm a big fan of Boston City Hall but there are other
brutalist buildings that I just dont get.  While Philip Johnson's house is
now a registered landmark, I probably wouldn't have blinked if it
disappeared.  

My point is more that people are becoming aware of this recent past "idea."
The fact that its even being debated is a good sign.  It allows us to air
the exchanges - such as this.  Just dont let us fall victim to the
grandparent syndrom - we like what our grandparents had, not what our
parents had.

Thanks Dennis!

Aaron

--- Dennis De Witt <djdewitt at rcn.com> wrote:

> With all due respect. . . .    As someone who who believes  
> passionately in modern architecture, has written about it, and taught 
> its history and theory,  I can only say that building has minimal 
> redeeming architectural merits and is urbanistically awful.  His other 
> NYC buildings are a little more interesting -- but imagine a
> city built like that.  It is truly hostile to the urban environment.   
> (Others can judge its social historic significance.)
> 
> It is a reasonably bad example of what was known at that very brief 
> moment (from the late '50s into the early '60)  as "the architecture 
> of delight" (Saarinen's term for a pair of buildings he and Harry 
> Weese did - later picked up and used by Safdie).  There are good 
> examples by people like Stone (yes at Columbus Circle) and  Rudolph
> (Wellesley) and Saarinen and Yamasaki and others.  That is not one of 
> them.
> 
> Dennis De Witt
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Apr 1, 2008, at 12:50 PM, M Fenollosa wrote:
> 
> > Architecture
> > In Village, a Proposal That Erases History
> >
> > <presspan.jpg>
> > Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times The 1963 O'Toole Building, 
> > threatened by development
> >
> > By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
> > Published: April 1, 2008
> > The passionate battles surrounding the birth of New York's 
> > preservation movement nearly a half-century ago seem like distant 
> > memories now. For some New Yorkers the main threat to architecture 
> > in the city is no longer the demolition of its great landmarks, but 
> > a trite nostalgia that disdains the new.
> >
> > <prop190.jpg>
> > Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers A rendering of a plan for St. 
> > Vincent's Medical Center in Greenwich Village. The lines indicate 
> > the elevation of existing hospital buildings. A hearing on the 
> > project is scheduled for Tuesday.
> >
> >
> > Well, think again. Over the last few years the growing clout of 
> > developers has gradually chipped away at the city's resolve to 
> > protect its architectural legacy. The agency most responsible for 
> > defending that legacy, the New York City Landmarks Preservation 
> > Commission, has sometimes been accused of putting developers'
> > interests above the well-being of the city's inhabitants.
> >
> > A proposal before the commission to tear down several buildings in 
> > the Greenwich Village Historic District is shaping up as a crucial 
> > test of whether those critics are right. A hearing on the issue is 
> > scheduled for Tuesday morning, and New Yorkers would do well to 
> > follow the proceedings if they care about the city's future.
> >
> > The application by the St. Vincent Catholic Medical Center calls for 
> > the demolition of eight structures on West 11th and 12th Streets, 
> > near Seventh Avenue, to make way for a towering new co-op building 
> > and a hospital. The threatened buildings range from the
> > 1924 Student Nurses Residence Building to the 1963 O'Toole Building, 
> > one of the first buildings in the city to break with the Modernist 
> > mainstream as it was congealing into formulaic dogma.
> >
> > The question facing the commission is which, if any, of these 
> > buildings contribute to the character of the neighborhood, a 
> > protected historic district. (If the agency sides with 
> > preservationists, the battle is not necessarily won; St. Vincent's, 
> > which is financially troubled, still has the option of pleading 
> > economic hardship.)
> >
> > Sadly, the hospital's application reflects the pernicious but 
> > prevalent notion that any single building that is not a major 
> > historical landmark - or stands outside the historical mainstream - 
> > is unworthy of our protection. Pursue that logic to its conclusion, 
> > and you replace genuine urban history with a watered-down 
> > substitute. It's historical censorship.
> >
> > St. Vincent's board would like you to believe that this is a purely 
> > practical decision. The project, planned in partnership with the 
> > Rudin Organization, a local developer, would be built in two phases. 
> > In the first the five-story O'Toole Building would be demolished to 
> > make room for a 21-story tower that would house the entire hospital. 
> > (Because of the floors' unusual height, this is roughly equivalent 
> > to a 30-story building.) A 21-story residential tower, flanked by 
> > rows of town houses, would replace the hospital's seven other 
> > buildings between 11th and 12th Streets.
> >
> > The hospital expects to get $310 million from the sale of that land, 
> > which would go toward the construction of its new $830 million 
> > tower. (It would raise the remainder through private donations and 
> > other sources.)
> >
> > In patronizing fashion, hospital officials have suggested that 
> > preservationists are choosing buildings over lives, as if the two 
> > were in direct opposition. This is the kind of developer's cant that 
> > is ruining our city. The addition of up to 400 co-op apartments is 
> > about money, not saving lives. There are plenty of other ways that 
> > the hospital could upgrade its facilities.
> >
> > The existing buildings that make up the hospital's main campus east 
> > of Seventh Avenue do not rank as major historic landmarks. Even 
> > preservationists concede that the George Link Jr. Memorial Building, 
> > a bland brick box dating from the mid-1980s, is not worth saving.
> >
> > But it is not their status as individual objects that makes these 
> > buildings important; it's their relationship to the historic fabric 
> > of the neighborhood. The designation of the neighborhood as a 
> > landmark district in 1969 was intended to protect humble structures 
> > like these. Established after local activists brought attention to 
> > the destruction wreaked by urban renewal projects, the designation 
> > was an affirmation that the city's character is rooted in the small 
> > grain of everyday life.
> >
> > The threatened demolition of the O'Toole Building is most troubling 
> > of all. Designed by the New Orleans architect Albert C. Ledner, it 
> > is significant both as a work of architecture and as a repository of 
> > cultural memory.
> >
> > It was built to house the National Maritime Union, as the era of 
> > longshoremen and merchant sailors was nearing an end. Its glistening 
> > white facade and scalloped overhangs, boldly cantilevered over the 
> > lower floors, were meant to conjure an ocean voyage and a bright new 
> > face for the union. (Think of "On the
> > Waterfront.") Its glass brick base, once the site of union halls, 
> > suggests an urban aquarium.
> >
> > In short, you don't need to love the building to grasp its 
> > historical value. Like Ledner's Maritime dormitory building on Ninth 
> > Avenue or Edward Durell Stone's 2 Columbus Circle, the O'Toole 
> > represents a moment when some architects rebelled against 
> > Modernism's glass-box aesthetic in favor of ornamental facades.
> >
> > Viewed in that context, the O'Toole Building is part of a complex 
> > historical narrative in which competing values are always jostling 
> > for attention. This is not simply a question of losing a building; 
> > it's about masking those complexities and reducing New York history 
> > to a caricature. Ultimately, it's a form of collective amnesia.
> >
> > At St. Vincent's, the damage is likely to be only compounded by the 
> > design of these new co-op buildings, a sentimental faux version of 
> > the past.
> >
> > If we continue down this path, we'll end up with the urban 
> > equivalent of a patient on meds: safe, numb, soulless. Is this 
> > choosing lives?
> >
> > <presspan.jpg><prop190.jpg>
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