Brooklyn, NYC.
Tag: Architecture
Georgetown Vanished
Over the past 10 years I have been photographing two Seattle neighborhoods, South Park and Georgetown. Both neighborhoods have been going through a lot of changes, but more so in the case of Georgetown. This wall is now gone.
The above brick wall was part of the massive. brick structure of the old Seattle Brewery. Today, this wall is gone. At the time I shot these images the walls were propped up or stabilized, on the back side, with large, steel rods or beams ( it wouldn’t take much of an earthquake to being them down). Arched windows, signage and other brick details are really cool and add so much character. Details, that today, would never even be a consideration in constructing a building, brick or otherwise.
My next posting will be of another old structure, Seattle Flour Company in West Seattle.
Old Coffee Warehouse
The old coffee warehouse in DUMBO, on the East River, has been repurposed by the West Elm Company. Here is a link to a video showing the conversion.
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Location: DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY.
Station Design
A look at the Coney Island/Stillwell Ave. subway station in Brooklyn.
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Location: LES, Manhattan.
Blue Glass
New construction in the Lower East Side, Manhattan.
NY Assortment
The Metropolitan Museum, path in Central Park, Katz’s Deli and Brooklyn Bridge.
Various iconic places in NYC.
Shining a Light
Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn. On a bright, sunny day the park lights were one, which made for an interesting glow. In the right, from the 3rd St. bridge in Gowanus Canal about three blocks from where our son and family live, is a view of the new, luxury apartments build right on the EPA Superfund site of Gowanus Canal. I’m not sure how the developer wrangled a green light to develop on this site, but since this is NYC, I would imagine some money exchanged hands and all was good. The Canal has been designated a Superfund site since 2007 and only the week I was visiting were they starting the first pilot debris removal from one section of the canal called “the turnaround ” adjacent to the Whole Foods store that just went in a few years ago ( that’s another story). What may look like an idyllic location in this image is actually a very toxic ( heavy metals, tar oil, etc) waterway which, on heavy rain days, raw, untreated sewage flows into. Then there is the smell, something you would never forget. On hot days the canal becomes this stagnant, heated cesspool that has an odor you would never forget. On this day it was pretty mild, but still can be shocking to non-residents walking through. I have read that the starting rents on the one bedroom apartments is $4500.00 per month! One more dynamic to consider: during Superstorm Sandy the area flooded. The water came up over the banks of the canal and ran uphill about one block, which would put the first floor apartments at risk in the event of another big storm. You can see some videos of Gowanus and the storm on YouTube. Very crazy.
Past and Present
Two iconic buildings in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Public Library and The Old Stone House in Park Slope right across the street from where our son and family live.Both of these images were taken on my iPhone. Every Saturday there is a Farmers/Saturday Market in front of the Library and entrance to Prospect Park and Grand Army Plaza , a confluence of interesting sites to visit. The morning we were at the Market a man with a green flag ran up the steps leading to the library entrance and started waving this flag. I have no idea what it was about, but someone was videotaping his actions. ??
Skinny Houses
I took this photo 6 years ago in NE Portland, OR. The houses were probably less than a year old at the time. This past summer I was contacted by someone in Mass. regarding the use of this image for an Urban Design and Planning Quarterly. Not sure when the magazine will be published. It was a bit of an ordeal getting the images transmitted. They wanted large res versions, as this is, and email didn’t work. I ended up loading the images to my Dropbox account and giving the contact person in Mass. access to that account.
All’s well that ends well.
Horizontal #2
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The newly repainted Julia’s Cafe in Georgetown, Seattle. Barn red?
Shimmering
View of the EMP at the Seattle Center, a Frank Gehry design.
West Seattle Church
In a rundown state. Even the stained glass windows look like they have been neglected for some time.
History Intertwined
In 1962 Seattle architect Paul Thiry did the design of some of the buildings at the Worlds Fair. Just as a side note, he also designed a house less than a mile from my home, on Marine View Drive, in Arbor Heights ( image above). The image of the NW Rooms refers to a series of rooms in a building Thiry designed. Today those rooms are no longer named NW Rooms, but are being used by SIFF and The Vera project, among others.
One of the rooms was called The Nisqually Room. In 1970, a band I was in played one or maybe two nights for some event ( I’ve been told it was a after-concert party for the All City Band in Seattle. I think we owed the music teacher of our high school a favor for letting us practice in his home basement and school music room. Mr. Terpenning was only a few years older than us and was supportive of what we were doing-which didn’t seem too odd at the time, but now……?). That was probably the largest room we ever played. The ceiling was so high the sound went everywhere at once and kind of morphed into something long and echoing.
The article in the link does not say what the Nisqually Room morphed into over the years. It may have been combined with an adjacent room. I have walked up and down the steps and around this set of rooms and my memory says one thing and the physical structures say another.
Anyways, I thought it was interesting that my history and that of Paul Thirys’ met 8 or so years after his design and contribution to the Worlds Fair in 1962.
Art Deco
Some of the Art Deco touches on the art museum in Volunteer Park, Seattle.
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