Dreaming of a Better Block
Honestly, I am having a hard time figuring out why the most hideous tenements of the last turn of the century are far more pleasing to the viewer than today’s middle-income condos.
An abandoned South Bronx tenement. Note the cornices, keystones, and rounded corner. Photo by Ray Mortenson, 1984
Today’s developers seem to be cutting costs at every available opportunity. It seems that in the New York of 2007, only two architectural styles predominate- glass and steel boxes for the rich, and brick boxes for the poor. Whatever design there is to these buildings, it fails to inspire. Tearing down an older home in favor of high-density dwellings isn’t always bad news, but when it ruins the unique image of the neighborhood-
No stonework or decorations here. The viewer should at least thank the builder for providing gables to break the boredom.
This is New York in 2008. Goodbye aesthetics, and welcome back functionalism. Where these homes stood, there was once beautiful architecture. Usually, only an affluent neighborhood like Park Slope can muster the clout to prevent ugliness from being built. In my home borough, it’s good to see minority and middle-class neighborhoods speaking out against crapitecture.
This Long Island City tenement is a gonner. Expect a glass box in its place. Photo byLIQcity
Architecture critics praise these new glass boxes. It’s the new black, but from a pedestrian’s point of view, there’s really not much to see here. In my opinion, the glass office boxes are related to the brick boxes. Both lack imagination and design. When an abandoned South Bronx tenement looks better than an inhabited 21st century apartment, we have some serious thinking to do.