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God is in the details
Mariaplaats, Utrecht, the Netherlands—After (photo taken in 2014). I’m working on a project in Connecticut where the team is proposing a “Slow Zone” in the center of town. An engineer on a project is a...
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The Best Smelling Lobby In New York
YOU CAN FIND some of the best bread and pastries in New York in this Tribeca office building lobby—and in the year 2016, that’s saying a lot. The story is that a New Yorker who’s roamed the world...
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We Moved
To the Broadway Chambers @ 277 Broadway, on the corner of Chambers Street—Cass Gilbert’s first building in New York City. Here’s the view from my desk: For the view from my old office, click here. The...
View ArticleLeon Wieseltier on Modern Cliches
IF you apply for a grant today and want to be successful, you’d better use the words “innovate” and “innovative” in your proposal. In art and architecture, words like “challenging,” “transgressive,”...
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The Biggest Cornices in New York
Above & Below: Astor Court, 209 West 89th St, Charles Platt, 1915. Below: United States Rubber Building, 1790 Broadway, Carrère & Hastings, 1912. The Residential and Commercial Champions....
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The Best Building At Columbia
I.N. Phelps Stokes, St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, 1903-07. THIS IS a difficult building to photograph, and a Northern Italian Renaissanc church with a loosely Byzantine interior wouldn’t...
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Seaside
I RECENTLY spent a week in Seaside, where I was once Town Architect. In honor of Seaside, I’m uploading two essays from Street Design, The Secret to Great Cities and Towns. The first is a general...
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Architecture Is Frozen Music
Imagine the following scenario. There are some problems with it, but you’ll get the point. The Berlin Philharmonic has the only sheet music for Mozart’s Requiem. One day, a fire destroys the last 10...
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Tales From My Privileged Youth
I WAS LUCKY. I was sitting around with friends during the spring term of my senior year in college. “I want to go to Europe,” I said. “How can I get a job there?” “Call Franco at the Red Garter in...
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MSG
Two MSG quotes: “In animal studies, injecting high doses of MSG into the brains of rats made them fat.” – Wikipedia “Through Pennsylvania Station one entered the city like a god…. One scuttles in now...
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