Woods Agree to Dismantle Angel, Work with Developer
Big news on the Broken Angel front: Yesterday, the Woods agreed in Supreme Court to dismantle the 40-foot sculpture that sits atop the former trolley headquarters; they also have a tentative agreement with local developer (and former reno blogger) Shahn Anderson) to turn the building into condominiums, according to Tish James. This is not the…
Big news on the Broken Angel front: Yesterday, the Woods agreed in Supreme Court to dismantle the 40-foot sculpture that sits atop the former trolley headquarters; they also have a tentative agreement with local developer (and former reno blogger) Shahn Anderson) to turn the building into condominiums, according to Tish James. This is not the outcome the Woods wanted but sure beats ending up with nothing. I have to do something, Mr. Wood said. Everything I own is there: paintings, thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Maybe we can do a Broken Angel reno blog? (As an aside, the mainstream media once again fails to give proper attribution to blogs in this article. We just don’t get the reluctance. Robin?)
An Angel Is Pulled Closer to Earth [NY Times] GMAP
Photo by Liz O. Baylen for The New York Times
Here’s few photos I took in 2000 of Broken Angel. At the time, I didn’t know anything about the building and haven’t updated my page in a long while.
http://www.disassociate.com/lost3.html
that page is connected to my main site
http://www.lostbrooklyn.org
Broken Angel update 1/15/07
Some good news for Broken Angel. My parents signed an agreement with Shaun Andersen, a local developer on Saturday. This agreement will remove the threat of demolition by the Department of Buildings. Our thanks to Letitia James, Brent Porter, Peter Grossman and Zerlize Goodman for their help in overseeing and mediating the agreement. Under the terms of the agreement my father will work with Shaun to redesign and develop Broken Angel as condominiums. The sale of these condominiums will pay for the work that is necessary to bring the building to code and allow my father to see his vision realized and completed. In addition a second building will be created at 8 Downing Street (the lot next door) that will become an arts space. My father chose to work with Shaun because from their previous friendship, he felt that given the current circumstances, this collaboration would offer him the best opportunity to contribute to the design of the building and keep the spirit and details of Broken Angel intact. A show of photographs and my father’s plans for the original and the re-envisioned Broken Angel are currently on display at Higgens Hall at Pratt. http://www.flickr.com/photos/onebadapple/168044712/in/set-127493/
Chris Wood
The Hill oh DK come save the world now.
they should have tried to leave their building to pratt university in trust so that they can live their until they die and then the building could be used as the school that they had envisioned their building would one day become. they only option isn’t selling it as condos – but it is the only option if you want to maximize your dinero.
The show is still up at Pratt’s Higgins Hall I just found out. Check it out. It’s a very thoughtful visual study of what Woods has done in creating Broken Angel and the adaptation proposed by Pratt’s architects is really wonderful. It’s key to the project that the integrity of Woods vision – his unique whimpsy and raw artistic quality – be preserved.
I don’t know Anderson but we will we writing an article in the next issue of The Hill and one part could be an interview with him.
DK Holland
So if no one does anything and the Woods’ get thrown out on the street and the building gets torn down, people will be crying why did no one step up to help them? So someone does, and all people like cj and anon 6:29 can say is that the man must have some kind of sinister ulterior motive. You can’t win around here.
Praising Shahn for his involvement seems a little much to me. He is one of the first to step up to the plate publicly but, what is his real offer? Nobody wants to lose money but taking half the profits from this old couple and charging them a 13 – 14% interest rate on a morgage seems a little suspicious. All of this press and internet buzz will eventually spark an offer from obscurity or from somewhere obvious but more will come. I feel like this couple deserves a little more than a nod from new yorkers and beyond – what “more” could be defined as is definitely debatable
Shahn, while I haven’t seen the drawings, I’m pleased to hear what sounds like a great outcome. Sincere thanks for whatever your work on this has been or will be.
So what’s wrong with a guy making a living, 6:29? If he takes his valuable time, money, and expertise to develop a site, why shouldn’t he get paid? I certainly have no problem with that, and neither should anyone else. I’m glad he’s a neighbor, a friend and/or advisor of the Woods’, and is working to preserve as much of the artwork as possible, provide for space for other artists, and build some housing to pay for all of that. We should be having a parade for the guy. Seems to me, he “new” (knew – hello, spelling/usage 101)much more than you seem to.