The April series, done in collaboration with the WNYC Culture department's new project on the changing NYC architectural environment, continues. This week, The New Yorker's architecture critic Paul Goldberger take the opportunity to answer some of the interesting questions that have come up over the past three weeks, and look at some submissions to the Cityscapes Flickr project.
Follow Along With a Slideshow of Cityscapes Flickr Submissions!
Comments [20]
One of my favorite spots is the rooftop garage of the Stop-n-Shop in Sunnyside. It is the best view of Manhattan especially at that early evening time when the sky is that beautiful dark aqua blue and the sun still reflects alittle bit of pink/orange in the sky.
There is a fantastic exhibition of urban landscape photographs made from rooftops in lower Manhattan by New York artist Peter Baker. They are beautiful large format color prints. I highly recommend checking out these images. The show is titled My Lost City: Photographs. They are showing at Kris Graves Projects gallery in Dumbo through May 10.
Responding to Chuck from Brooklyn, I strongly support the High Line, and in fact have contributed to Friends of the High Line.
Brian,
If you haven't already, could you address the issue of the High Line on Cityscapes? This is a project that has received millions in public funding, largely because of the people who have pushed it's development (developers, gallery owners, architects). Yet there is a fantastic public park (Hudson River Park) just two blocks away, in this already affluent neighborhood. While aesthetically this project has merits, it represents an amenity for the area, and is not deserving of tax dollars. This is especially true if you consider the lack of open park space in places like East NY and Bushwick. It's like using tax dollars to fund more Mercedes for rich people on Park Avenue.
I went to my computer and tried to get the WNYC web site and this slideshow on line. Unfortunately, it took about ten minutes to get past the opening splash screen about Earth Day asking us to "become a WNYC Sustaining Member now". This is another in a series of really annoying promotions of WNYC sustaining membership. Someone in WNYC is trying to push this too hard, and it may boomerang against membership.
Re: lit offices in the night: I used to work graveyard shifts. I wonder if Brian realized there may be work going on in those lit spaces he sees from Union Square.
My favorite view point of the Manhattan is from the Sunset Park in Brooklyn, especially when the sun set. It's so beautiful!
The rooftop of the School of International and Public Affairs on Columbia's Campus -- it is a secret 360 degree view of Manhattan and NJ, Bronx and Queens. Both rivers, too!
Best view of lower Manhattan - 69th Street Pier in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (where I grew up).
On Northern Boulevard, facing west at the Americana shopping center in Manhasset, there is a traffic light on a hill and the skyline is perfectly framed, especially gorgeous at sunset. It's my daily fix of nirvana!
Hey Brian, I'm a former Staten Islander, and there's a great view from Wagner College. And don't foirget the SI ferry!
When I came home from college in September 2001, my dad took the Bruckner into Manhattan. I will never forget the beautiful expanse of the skyline disrupted by the giant plumes of smoke rising from lower Manhattan. To this day, that view is both one of my favorites and one that fills me with sadness.
vito acconci says there are two kinds of public space. the kind the public has a right to, and the kind where public gathers and by force turns it into public space. are there examples of privately owned spaces that have become public by force?
Hey how about the Citi-Bank 'fallic' symbol in Long Island City?
Ain't OUR building be-yew-tea-ful???
An unknown very pretty and pleasant little space that is unknown to everyone except probably the residents of the area is a small park in the Bx which lies between Courtlandt Avenue, 161st-162nd streets, Park Ave (tracks and old station of Amtrak). It was the oasis I and my friends went to play and get away from the traffic along Courtlandt Ave. in the 50s and 60s. It is still there and is (was?) a really lovely little park with toilets, swings (adult and kids) and a sandbox. I don't even know if it has a name!
The non profit Douglaston Garden Club takes responsibility for two NYC Designated Green Streets because of lack of public funds to accomplish the ongoing maintance. We spend over $5,000 a year to maintain The Katherine Turner Richardson Park and The Alameda Street Malls.
My favorite view of the city is the one you get for just a few minutes when the F train comes above ground. It has the quality of surfacing from being underwater for a big gulp of air.
The non profit Douglaston Garden Club takes caresponsibility of two NYC Designated Green Streets because of lack of public funds to accomplish the ongoing maintance. We spend over $5,000 a year to maintain The Katherine Turner Richardson Park and The Alameda Street Malls.
There can't be a better vantage point than the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights. I've always wondered why anyone would want to live on the Manhattan side.
Right the city should make the rules, that's what public is. If the corporation wants to "donate" to the public space then good and so be it, it must follow the rules and not make them!
Leave a Comment
Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more.
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting. By leaving a comment, you agree to New York Public Radio's Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use.