Orthodox Jewish Group Digging Gothic Architecture
Back in 1940, the Orthodox Lubavitchers in Crown Heights bought the building at 770 Eastern Parkway for the Rebbe at the time. As the group spread its word throughout the world, the design of 770 caught on to such an extent that there have been a dozen attempts to emulate it. The photographers Andrea Robbins…
Back in 1940, the Orthodox Lubavitchers in Crown Heights bought the building at 770 Eastern Parkway for the Rebbe at the time. As the group spread its word throughout the world, the design of 770 caught on to such an extent that there have been a dozen attempts to emulate it. The photographers Andrea Robbins and Max Becher decided to capture all 12 on film. Most don’t even come close, in our opinion, but that’s not really the point. Check them out on the jump.
770 Eastern Parkway [Robbins Becher via Kottke]
Well,keep in mind that ‘endearing cult’ is praising with faint damns. Running red lights for Moshiach is bad, but not quite in the same league with Xenu-auditing or Kool-Aid quaffing, plus you get to be a branch of a real bona-fide world religion.
Fascinating!
I’ve found them to be one of the least endearing cults I’ve met in my admittedly limited experince with cults. As someone who lives on Eastern Parkway, I’m particuarly disturbed by the way the mitzvah mobiles run red lights, drive dangerously and flaunt the fact that their above the law, basically endangering all pedistrians and motorists between crown heights and times square.
I apologize, as this has nothing to do with architecture, but I to get it off chest when I saw the mitzvah mobile mention…
OK, what no one has mentioned–the superlative oddness here–is that the architectural style of the original building itself is probably irrelevant; the point of the far-flung facsimiles is socio-religious (to groove with the Rebbe). Presumably, had the original ‘770’ been a Spanish Mediterranean stucco, or a Tudor, or a whatever, they would have replicated that, too. I have always found the Lubavitchers to be a rather endearing cult (how can I not be flattered when they mistake me for a nice Jewish girl every time I pass the “mitzvah-mobile”?), and this curious architectural passion–it reminds me of Disney’s “Magic Castle” motif–reinforces that benign oddity.
The one on the campus of Rutgers University is actually the largest one, so perhaps some credit for that.
Why no GMAP link?
The one on the campus of Rutgers University goes farthest away from the orginal. All of the rest of them pretty much keep the elements in scale – the steep pitched roofs, the center entrance with the bumped out bay above it, etc. The entrance to campus house, because they expanded the building in width, looks way too small, and the upper bay just looks like a tiny afterthought.
This is actually really interesting to see how a building, built in one city, at a certain time, for a certain purpose, can be replicated in very different places, for various purposes.
I think the Milan house works. The block is a mixture of styles, so it doesn’t stand out. The best use of the original shape, in my opinion, is the LA house. I really like how they continued the basic design into the rest of the block, making a unified row of buildings.
Now I KNOW that browstoner can never be pleased! “don’t even come close”?? What? I’d say most of them are very close, and a couple are wonderful derivations of the original.
I think the house ruined the look of the street in Milan.