NYC Facades

A panorama of Bowling Green

From a walking tour I did in January, 2009.

A very clean design

See these notes from Columbia College. Located at 1 Wall Street at Broadway.

Tallest building in the city for some time

This one is pretty famous; just google.

Filthy, but with great promise

Building detail

This is my kind of building: great detail, and great promise. Or, as my mom said, “this is the before picture.”

Broadway and Fulton Street.

According to lore (and Wikipedia), George Washington prayed there on his Inaugration Day.

Shabby extended shack

Like other iconic buildings, I tried to have a different take on this one, but those pictures didn’t come out. However, this funny modification made my cut; it looks like the ram on a giant triangular ship. The little shack they added would not be so silly, if not for the fact that the pillars visible through the clear glass are so out of place!

The top of the corner.

2nd floor corner

West face column

The watertower, from the West.

The water tower, from the easet.

I was blown away by this building. It was understated, yet highly ornamented. Even the column in the gap between windows had a decorative framing. It also offered a number of strange features, such as:

• What is “corporation” on the water tower?
• Why is the water tower a different style altogether? (Yes, I made sure they’re the same building!)
• Why is the facade different on the Broadway  side versus the 57th street side? That is, in the first picture, why are there two angular tops on Broadway, and only 1 on 57th street?

Is that even a water tower at all? Why would there be an air conditioner coming from the window, then?

Of Columbus Circle fame

I was just taking a picture of the statue of Christopher Columbus, who seemed very out of place among the skyscrapers hundreds of feet to either side. That didn’t really pan out, but I did find it interesting having Columbus posing above the hurried man crossing the street.

It just so happens that there is another Christopher Columbus Statue in Riverdale, constructed by Robert Moses when he built the Henry Hudson Parkway. (Clearly, I don’t know the whole story.) I rode my bike up there, but didn’t get a chance to photograph the gent; perhaps another trip will take me there.

Highly ornate

This is one of many highly ornamented buildings in the southern part of the Upper West Side, particularly on Broadway.