Worst Buildings According to Christopher Gray
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1065 Park Avenue at 87th Street. Something you see everyday can affect you just as much as some awful monstrosity you only pass by once a month. For me, it is 1065 Park Avenue, designed in 1969. This building - like many others - really does flip the bird at the city, in this case 30 stories high. Everybody has one of these: the difference between mine and yours, is that I walk past mine every day. For the tenants – nice people all, certainly! - the developer-architect planned a nice little ground floor, with plantings (wonderful, yes) and a small plaza (private, keep out!), and that awful travertine that every developer thought lent class with a capital K. So far so good, or at least, chacun a son gout. But the city at large – you and me - gets the cheapest possible tower, straight up, no variation, not even a nod to the cornice line - you could turn this building upside down and not notice. My kid sister could have done better than this, and I don’t have a kid sister. The message is: I got mine pal, and I'm leavin' you nuttin'!