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The Frick Collection has yielded.
Facing a groundswell of opposition to a proposed renovation that would have eliminated a gated garden to make way for a six-story addition, the museum — long admired for its intimate scale — has decided to abandon those plans and start over from scratch. [...]
With the proposed renovation, designed by Davis Brody Bond, the Frick, on East 70th Street in Manhattan, had sought to increase its exhibition space [...].
— nytimes.com
Previously: Leading artists call to action against the Frick expansion plans View full entry
Axel Bering and Michael Jacobi, the main investors behind the Prora project, claim they could not care less about a building once being dedicated to Hitler. [...]
He and his partner, Michael Jacobi, both confess that because they had to comply with German regulations, their investment carries some Third Reich architecture qualities. They did, however, add a balcony, but otherwise they see Prora as a nice beach town and a solid investment.
— thedailybeast.com
Artist impressions of various sections of the Prora colossus and their new make-up (source: Seebad Prora):Previously View full entry
During the [1964-65 World's Fair], the elliptical Tent of Tomorrow was used as a versatile performance space...But not much has been done to preserve the structure since the fair ended in 1965...At the moment, there are no formal proposals, and ['Modern Ruin' film director Matthew Silva] admits it’ll be hard to raise funds without one. But he hopes the film, as well as his advocacy group, will get people thinking about what can be done. — New York Magazine
Related:The NY Mets Are Trying to Save the 'Tent of Tomorrow'Vandals break into the historic New York State Pavilion and set fire to a stolen van, damaging the 50-year-old terrazzo map"Modern Ruin" documents the rise, fall, and revival efforts of historic New York State PavilionKickstart this!... View full entry
The interior of the Four Seasons restaurant, a vision of Modernist elegance with its French walnut paneling and white marble pool of bubbling water, should not be changed, New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission decided [...].
The decision was a setback to Aby J. Rosen, the owner of the Seagram Building, which is home to the restaurant. Mr. Rosen had proposed what he characterized as minor changes to the interior that was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson in 1958.
— nytimes.com
Phyllis Lambert — part of the group of architects passionately opposing Rosen's revamp plans and personally interwoven with the history of the Seagram Building like no one else — penned this Op-Ed in the New York Times last week: Save New York's Four Seasons. View full entry
Amanda Burden often said that, thanks to Bloomberg, "we are building and rezoning today once again like Moses on an unprecedented scale, but with Jane Jacobs in mind." That's oxymoronic. You can't do both. As for who's winning the future of New York, it's clearly the followers of Moses. The preservationists are the underdogs here. — nymag.com
While the museum describes the 42,000-square-foot addition as something that would “further fulfill Henry Clay Frick’s long-standing vision to offer public access to its works of art," others, including a group of 51 prominent artists and architects — Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman [...] among them — think it would undermine exactly what they love about the place.
Under the banner of Unite to Save the Frick, this group sent a letter to the city, copied to the museum, expressing their displeasure.
— vulture.com
Here's the letter that Unite to Save the Frick sent to NYC leaders today:May 6, 2015Dear Mayor de Blasio and Chair Srinivasan:The residential scale of the Frick Collection exerts a special power over those who walk its halls. To have visitors experience the feeling of living with art was the... View full entry
It's been over 50 years, but for many, the destruction of Charles Follen McKim's original Pennsylvania Station still stings (hey, even Mad Men mourned its passing). But now, there is a hopeful (if improbable) plan from Richard W. Cameron—principal designer at Atelier & Co—to bring back the civic jewel of a long-gone New York.
According to Traditional Building's's Clem Labine, Cameron's plan has three main goals [...]."
— ny.curbed.com
Previously View full entry
This modernist villa on the Côte d’Azur, designed by Irish architect Eileen Gray, has witnessed wartime shootings, murder and vandalism by Le Corbusier. Now, at last, it has been brought back to life [...]
Le Corbusier visited and, apparently outraged that a woman could have made such a significant work in a style he considered his own, assaulted it with a series of garish and ugly wall paintings, which he chose to execute completely naked.
— theguardian.com
As the museum turns 50 this year and debate continues about LACMA Director Michael Govan's plan to replace the Pereira buildings (and a later addition by Hugh Hardy) with a giant new wing by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, it's worth remembering how the original LACMA campus was greeted — as well as a few things about the Los Angeles into which it was born. — latimes.com
Related: Christopher Hawthorne dissects Zumthor's inkblot with LACMA Director Michael Govan View full entry
New plans for the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Arcadia has neighbors riled up.
Owners of the 1952 house want to turn it into more than just a home, but those living in the wealthy neighborhood aren't too happy about it.
[...] said the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house is "an example of what I consider to be an architecture embodiment of Arizona exceptionalism."
However, this landmark home now finds itself in the middle of controversy.
— azfamily.com
When the Lambert Houses were completed in 1973 as part of the Bronx Park South Urban Renewal Area, the complex was quickly recognized as a significant architectural and social contribution. [...]
So when UO columnist Susanne Schindler learned that Phipps is planning to demolish and redevelop the Houses, citing structural issues and significant security concerns, she wanted to understand what went wrong at this much-lauded site.
— urbanomnibus.net
Top Turkish government officials, nearly 100 international dignitaries, and 500 members of the Turkish Jewish community took part in a ceremony commemorating the re-opening of the Great Synagogue of Edirne today after a five-year restoration. The synagogue is claimed to be the largest synagogue in... View full entry
Prolific Los Angeles Modernist Rudolph Schindler designed dozens of timeless duplexes, apartments, houses, and office buildings, but he only ever designed one church. Bethlehem Baptist Church in Central-Alameda was built in 1944 for a small, black church congregation. Now, just after a much-needed restoration to what was for many years a pretty rough-looking building, the architecturally significant church—an official Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Landmark—is up for sale. — la.curbed.com
Houston’s iconic NRG Astrodome “can and should live on” as a multi-use park that will enhance the quality of life for residents of the city, serve as a popular tourist destination, and catalyze economic development that enhances the greater NRG Park and benefits the region as a whole, according to a report released today from the Urban Land Institute (ULI). — uli.org
Read the full ULI report, The Astrodome, Harris County Texas: A Vision for a Repurposed Icon, here. View full entry
Frank Gehry's Winton Guest House was recently announced to be up for auction on May 19 in Chicago. Designed for Mike and Penny Winton during the '80s in Lake Minnetonka, MN, the Guest House helped propel Gehry into international stardom in the '90s. Currently, the University of St. Thomas owns the... View full entry