184 Adelphi Showing Its True Colors
When we last checked in on 184 Adelphi Street last Summer, it was clad only in exterior insulation. Now it’s got some kind of metal exterior. While we think the design is interesting in itself, we think it’s less successful contextually than the nearby 364 Myrtle condos and the art studio on Vanderbilt. Regardless, we’d…
When we last checked in on 184 Adelphi Street last Summer, it was clad only in exterior insulation. Now it’s got some kind of metal exterior. While we think the design is interesting in itself, we think it’s less successful contextually than the nearby 364 Myrtle condos and the art studio on Vanderbilt. Regardless, we’d rather see a strong statement like this than a Fedders special.
Angles, Setbacks and Windows on Adelphi Street [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB
You’ll take this over a Fedders building. Grow up you people are completely nuts. This is far uglier.
1:35 & 2:32 – The Greenwich Village precedent was the first thing I thought of too. Of course there, the design makes specific reference to the history of the site – it was where the Weather Underground had a bomb-making mishap and blew up the entire brownstone.
That site was (is) also in a Landmark district.
I like mixing old and new. But rowhouse blocks have an inherent rhythm, so IMHO there has to be something that ties the new in with the old. This building doesn’t have a stoop, the windows don’t line up with those on the other buildings, it’s taller and doesn’t have a cornice, isn’t brick and doesn’t have a flat facade. A new building doesn’t need to have all or even most of these features, just enough of them so that the new building is part of the ensemble. 1:35 stole my thunder, but s/he is so right. If you aren’t familiar with the building that replaced the one the Weathermen accidently blew-up, you owe to yourself to go to that URL.
I’m waiting for him to finish before I decide. I’m told there will be a second type of metal involved (trim?).
Though, for the moment, it does look like someone laid into it with a dull can opener.
I don’t love it — agree with the above post about the windows — but I like it and wish I saw more new builds like this. To my eye, all those new buildings that almost-but-not-quite fit in with the block (the brown stucco, beige brick, etc) are much more jarring in a row of brownstones than something that makes a direct contrast. If you’re not going to build a 19th-century brownstone in 2006–and you’re not–then build a 21st-century building.
If you honestly prefer Fedders buildings to this, then God bless you, you deserve them, and you’ll get your wish many times over.
Especially like the metal. So there.
This one in Greenwich Village is much better (and has aged much better than I think this new one will):
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GV/GV024-18West11thSt.htm
Me too 12:06. Fedder better. Metal finish don’t jive w/ that of concrete & masonry.
10:56, I actually agree with you!
Looks like something that a tribeca/soho ‘loft’ lover would build. Isn’t it interesting how people with widely divergent world outlook can coexist next door to each other and somehow the mix still works.
Whenever I stumble across one of these, I file it under the ‘general neighborhood improvement’ log and I breathe a sigh of relief.
But I guess the real question is whether or not someone walking through the neighborhood 20 years from now will still see this as a general neighborhood improvement or as a ridiculous oddity.
Also, will the resale of these modern buildings keep up or outstrip their victorian brownstone neighbors.