i've got another piece of research you'll appreciate regarding warren street. i was doing some research on dorothy riester, the sculptor, and found a piece on her in the whole empire magazine put out by our newspapers - i think maybe from 1962. in that same issue, they had a big piece on the demolition of a magnificent old bank building on warren in order to put up one of those gray piece of crap period buildings that some deluded wide-tie wearing nelson rockefeller acolytes thought would somehow add modern grace to the city ... instead of quickly becoming shoddy lookalike eyesores.
in any event, in this piece, the guy knocking down the old bank talked about how beautifully built it was, and how hard to demolish ... and they put up this gray cube in its place that is now empty, decrepit and boarded-up, the very symbol of this thimble-deep late 50s early 60s thinking.
anyway, your post hit home because you can still feel the remnants on warren street - and nearby montgomery street - of why they could be called, without laughing, our 'fifth avenue.' it must have been a gracious place to walk and shop. you just fear that we never learn; in the end, as a kind of madness, we choose to build on the mistakes.
Empire Magazine! I didn't even know it had existed until I was researching one of the entries last summer and came across it. The discovery got me completely sidetracked, as I felt compelled to read more editions! What a shame that it disappeared - the long photo essays were great.
(Click to enlarge.)
2 comments:
i've got another piece of research you'll appreciate regarding warren street. i was doing some research on dorothy riester, the sculptor, and found a piece on her in the whole empire magazine put out by our newspapers - i think maybe from 1962. in that same issue, they had a big piece on the demolition of a magnificent old bank building on warren in order to put up one of those gray piece of crap period buildings that some deluded wide-tie wearing nelson rockefeller acolytes thought would somehow add modern grace to the city ... instead of quickly becoming shoddy lookalike eyesores.
in any event, in this piece, the guy knocking down the old bank talked about how beautifully built it was, and how hard to demolish ... and they put up this gray cube in its place that is now empty, decrepit and boarded-up, the very symbol of this thimble-deep late 50s early 60s thinking.
anyway, your post hit home because you can still feel the remnants on warren street - and nearby montgomery street - of why they could be called, without laughing, our 'fifth avenue.' it must have been a gracious place to walk and shop. you just fear that we never learn; in the end, as a kind of madness, we choose to build on the mistakes.
sean
Empire Magazine! I didn't even know it had existed until I was researching one of the entries last summer and came across it. The discovery got me completely sidetracked, as I felt compelled to read more editions! What a shame that it disappeared - the long photo essays were great.
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