145-146 Central Park West
The San Remo
1929
Renaissance Revival
Emery Roth


Today’s blog post is about the most famous New York City Co-op apartments. The quintessentially desirable addresses in Manhattan! The most storied addresses of the city.



720 Park Avenue
1928
Neoclassical architecture
Cross & Cross / Rosario Candela




740 Park Avenue
1929
Art Deco
Rosario Candela & Arthur Loomis Harmon
Considered a legendary address
“at one time considered (and still thought to be by some) the most luxurious and powerful residential building in New York City”



960 Fifth Avenue
1927
Warren & Wetmore / Rosario Candela
Considered along with 820 Fifth Avenue & 834 Fifth Avenue of the three top buildings on Fifth Avenue




211 Central Park West
The Beresford
1928
Renaissance Revival




834 Fifth Avenue
1931
Art Deco
Rosario Candela
It has been called “the most pedigreed building on the snobbiest street in the country’s most real estate-obsessed city”



435 East 52nd Street
River House
1930
Art Deco
Bottomley, Wagner & White



1 West 72nd Street
The Dakota
1884
German Renaissance
Henry Janeway Hardenbergh
Oldest remaining luxury apartment building in New York City
One of five top-tier apartment buildings on Central Park West the others are 88 Central Park West, 101 Central Park West, The San Remo, The Beresford



1040 5th Avenue
1920s
Rosario Candela
Along with 1020 Fifth Avenue and 998 Fifth considered the most luxurieous and prestigious co-operative buildings in the upper east side



998 5th Avenue
1912
Italian Renaissance
McKim, Mead & White
The building was the first super-luxury apartment house on Fifth Avenue. The architect was given unlimited permission to create whatever was necessary to lure the very wealthy into the building.



101 Central Park West
1929
Neo Renaissance



88 Central Park West
The Brentmore
1910



820 Fifth Avenue
One of the most expensive and exclusive apartment

TravelerDoor has put together a list of the most iconic buildings in the world.

Visiting the Taj Mahal I was very lucky. We were told at sunrise is best. We set the alarm for quite early, looked outside and saw “pea soup fog” so we go back to bed and rise a bit later. At that point in spite of the fog we decide – let’s go. Well! We approached the gate and could not see anything, then every step we took the Taj Mahal started to appear through the fog until by the time we were close we could see it but we were surrounded by fog. Having it appear throught the fog was just the most magical. By the time we came out the fog had lifted.

On this long list I’m happy to say I’ve seen 6 and would say there are 5 I’d really like to see.

Seen:

• Hawa Mahal, Jaipur
• Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
• Taj Mahal, India
• Chateau Frontenac, Québec
• Red Fort, India
• Palace of Versailles, France

On bucket list:

• Westminster Abbey, London
• Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy
• Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
• Great Wall of China
• Winter Palace, Russia

Leon Krier (1946-) is a Luxembourgish architect. He studied at the University of Stuttgart in Germany but did not complete his studies. One year later he started working with James Stirling in London. He is known to be a critic of modernist architecture. He divides his time between designing, writing and teaching.


Citta Nuova, Alessandria, Italy




Vallage Hall, Windsor, Florida




Krier House, Seaside, Florida




Ciudad, Cayala, Guatemala City




Main Square of Poundbury

Annabelle Selldorf (1960-) is a German born architect and founder of Selldorf Architects based in New York City. In youth she was inspired by the work her father did on a house in Cologne. Later by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe. She studied at the Pratt Institute as well as the Syracuse University.


Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility




347 Bowery




Steinway Hall




David Zwirner – 20th Street




Hauser Wirth 18th Street




National Gallery, London




10 Bond Street




Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego




Clark Institute Visitor Centre, Williamstown, MA

It’s always fun to explore houses used for past television shows or movies. Some are facades, some you can visit, and some are private homes. So should you find yourself in front of one be respectful.

When in San Francisco several years ago I wanted to see The Painted Ladies. That row of houses is next to Alamo Square. My daughter and I taxied over. Then from the top of Alamo Square we could so easily see our hotel downtown that we decided to walk back. Little did we know we would be walking through the Tenderloin District. There we were in sketchy neighbourhood when my daughter decides to pet a dog tied on a post outside a restaurant. The owner came running out and started yelling at us. In a pre cellphone era we hightailed it out of there and back to our hotel. Thing about San Francisco is very often one block is safe and the next is not. At least that’s how it was when I visited.

Have you visited any? Is there one you would live in?

ADD INTERIOR PICS

Academy of Music
East 14th Street and Irving Place, Manhattan
1854 – 1926




The Metropolitan Opera House – also known as the Old Metropolitan Opera House
1411 Broadway
1883 – 1967
J. Cleveland Cady





I chose to explore this topic as it will be featured in season 2 of The Gilded Age, wich will be released on Sunday, October 29.

Between 1906 and 1910 New York City was the setting of the War of the Operas.

At first the Academy of Music was the setting for Operas. It was considered the epitomy of high culture and refinement. Initially 4000 seats on 5 levels a fire in 1866 necessitated rebuilding and reduced the number of seats to 2500. New York high society had their boxes. These were owned by the old money. New money was not able to obtain boxes. New money at the time being John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and William Kissam Vanderbilt.

The battle started when the new money had the Metropolitan Opera house built. Twice the size of the Academy it was of course very opulent. Boxes were purchased at the time for $15,000 ($46,000 in today’s money).

Eventually Caroline Aster who was the ultimate New York socialite conceded and relocated to the Metropolitan Opera House. With her acceptance of the new operat house the rest of the old money followed.

Homesthetics has put together an interesting blog post entitled “45 of the most famous buildings in the world with unconventional architectural structures.”

Fascinating buildings. One in Canada, some in Europe, but it seems like the majority are in the Arab world and Asia. It’s an interesting grouping. I’d say I love most of the buildings. I think they could have done without: the binoculars, the strawberry, and the teapot. Those could be part of a post perhaps called humourous architecture (or kitch). Zabeel tower scares me, it reminds me of the spires on St Mary’s Catholic Church, in the Civic Hospital area. Every time I drive by I think “ouch” looking at how sharp those 4 spires are.

The choice of topic for today’s architecture blog post was easy. Set to change the live entertainment standard, every major news media was covering the opening of The Sphere at the Venetian in Las Vegas: BBC, Forbes, Euronews, CNN,



At first I was going to do explore other large Speres but all things considered there is so much material here – I thought let’s focus. The Sphere is 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide. For reference purposed the Peace Tower is 302 feet light. There are 1.2 million LED puck lights inside and outside. The Sphere was opened September 29 with a U2 residency. It was designed by Populous a prolific architecture firm. Haptic technology is built into 10,000 of the 18,600 seats which of course all have access to wi-fi. SACO Technologies a Canadian company designed both the exterior and interior screens. I don’t feel I can adequately address the speaker system but I can say it has 4D technology which includes wind and scent.

Is it tacky, ridiculous, over the top: Well yes. It’s in Las Vegas and adjacent to the Strip.

Archdaily presents some fun pics.

Eileen Gray was an Irish architect and furniture designer. Born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland in 1878, she died in Paris in 1976. During her carreer she was influenced professionally by Philip Wilson Steer, Henry tonks, and Frederick Brown. Personally she was linked to Romaine Brooks, Loie Fuller, Marie-Louise Damen, and Natalie Barney. Her most famous residential structure is E-1027. Furniture wise the E-1027 table designed in 1927, remains a very popular table almost 100 years later. Her Dragon chair was sold in auction at the Yves Saint-Laurent estate sale. I love chairs but it’s hard for me to understand how a chair can be sold for so much. My thought is as is for all high end pieces if someone paid that for it it must have merit, merit that we may not understand.

Le Corbusier, an architect I normally respect was a houseguest of Jean Badovici (a coleague of Gray) he took it upon himself to paint murals on the walls. Much to Gray’s displeasure!


E-1027



E-1027 table



Dragon Chair