March 21, 2007

16 Nevins: "Disneyland To A Very High Order"

We've always been curious about this Medieval-looking building on Nevins and so were pleased to learn that Christopher Gray had covered it in his Streetscapes column for The Times back in October 2005:

At 16 Nevins Street, the restaurateur Joseph J. Sartori had the architect Arthur Starin create a startling surprise of rough stucco, heavy roof tile, mock half-timbering and ingenious decorative elements. The $40,000 facade, designed in 1922, is a picturesque feast, quite appropriate for Sartori, whose well-known restaurant, Joe's, was a prime meeting place for political and civic figures. In 1937, striking waiters complained that Sartori had given years of free meals to Justice John H. McCooey of State Supreme Court -- who had barred them from picketing.

Starin was working on a double lot, and so the building is an Alpine-style avalanche of sloping roofs, odd little dormers and lookouts, and visibly hand-hewn beams set within the ostentatiously roughened stucco surfaces. There is a mysterious cat silhouette on the left-hand chimney, which is itself modeled to look as if it were made of individual chunks of stone. An original downspout, embossed with grapevines, has escaped damage, and a single leaded-glass window has somehow escaped removal. The timbers are visibly hand-pegged. The former Joe's Restaurant building -- now home to a deli, the Metro Food Court -- has something Disneyland about it. But it is Disneyland to a very high order.

Gray also discusses similar timber facades at 385 Jay and 93 Court. Any other examples that people can think of?
3 Old Gems That Sparkle Without a Spotlight [NY Times] GMAP P*Shark

Posted by Brownstoner at 10:31 AM | Comments (14)
Categories: Architecture

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