Building of the Day: 130 Livingston Street
The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy. Address: 130 Livingston Street, corner of Boerum Place and Smith Street Name: Metropolitan Transportation Authority Headquarters Neighborhood: Downtown Brooklyn…
The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.
Address: 130 Livingston Street, corner of Boerum Place and Smith Street
Name: Metropolitan Transportation Authority Headquarters
Neighborhood: Downtown Brooklyn
Year Built: 1989
Architectural Style: Post-Modern
Architects: Murphy/Jahn
Landmarked: No
Why chosen: When I was taking photos of this building for this piece, people were looking at me like I was totally mad. No one loves the MTA. Neither do I, but I have to say, I like this building. I like the materials, the polychromatic brick in black and white. We have a strong tradition of striped buildings in Brooklyn, and Helmut Jahn drew on that in this design. I like the shape, too, it’s like an ocean liner on the street. Jahn anchored a strong building on this prominent corner; the building is powerful, yet looks different on all sides, because of the placement of the tower. As per Francis Morrone, in his Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn, Jahn also channeled Brooklyn’s 19th century tradition of corner towers, like Boy’s High School, and some of Montrose Morris’ buildings. How very appropriate for a municipal building in the heart of downtown. Helmut Jahn is a Chicago architect, whose very modern designs made quite a splash in Chicago, then everywhere in the 1980’s. He built several other buildings in midtown Manhattan, the most famous being the CitiSpire building on West 56th Street, behind Carnegie Hall, the tallest mixed-use tower in NYC. Jahn said the dome atop that building was inspired by the Williamsburg Savings Bank tower. Brooklyn architecture is still inspiring the best architects today.
Photo: PropertyShark
Funny you should pick this… Murphy/Jahns new york stuff is so dated… its one hundred miles from their recent stuff. And yea LaFever, they are still pretty active. Not so much in chicago as was suggested above, it like the rest of the country is really slow. They are however still super active internationally… check out their website… they have some pretty great stuff of recent vintage…
http://www.murphyjahn.com
The next MTA capital plan has $12 million for “perimeter hardening” at two facilities, including 130 Livingston. Perhaps this will mean an end to the jersey barriers that have surrounded this building for ten years. Of course, only the MTA could spend $12 million on bollards, but I’ll be glad to see the plaza improved.
I lived up the street (Schermerhorn) when this was built. Teh building was at the junction of Schermerhorn, livingston and Boerum. i was pleasantly surprised to see what they did. It’s great looking, a little quirky, even. And there is a reason for the concrete barriers- there were several bomb threats- at one point we were evacuated up the street. There was a major bomb threat on 9-12 as well. After being in Lower Manhattan on 9-11, the bomb scare in the MTA building down the street,on 9-12 did nothing for my sanity.
Quote of the Day:
“If the MTA building is ever attacked, it will be by a mob of fed-up NYers with torches and pitchforks, not a car bomb.”
the main TA headquarters is the huge building at 2 Broadway in lower Manhattan, this may be their Brooklyn HQ. Not bad digs considering how miserably and inhumanely they treat their customers. To paraphrase Lily Tomlin:
“we don’t care, we don’t have to, we’re the Transit Authority.”
Technically, this is the NYC Transit Authority Headquarters. The MTA HQ is at 347 Madison Avenue in Manhattan.
I do love the building. It manages to be unique and attention-grabbing without totally overpowering its neighbors.
Excellent choice MM. This is a great building for this location with a strong but non-brutalist aesthetic. The work is classic but still looks like it was built last year.
Hey Minard, Jahn is still very active in the Chicago market. No question an A+ talent in modernism.
Forget about the building–what’s with the totally nasty bollards and bulwarks at ground level? They have totally surrounded the building with hideous cement things so poorly done that they still bear the impressions of the cheap plywood forms in which they were poured. You guys are so afraid of a terrorist bombing the frickin MTA building, that you used our recent fare hikes to pay for some p.o.s cement barriers? If the MTA building is ever attacked, it will be by a mob of fed-up NYers with torches and pitchforks, not a car bomb.
sorry about the double posting, I don’t recall hitting send the first time.