Latest Chapter in Broken Angel Saga
The story of the Broken Angel has gone from being one of hope—pioneering, quirky artist saves whimsical design while making a few bucks—to tragic—lack of political will and a collapsing market drive pioneering artist to desperate lawsuits. Re: the latter, The Times’ new blog The Local marked its first day in business with a post…
The story of the Broken Angel has gone from being one of hope—pioneering, quirky artist saves whimsical design while making a few bucks—to tragic—lack of political will and a collapsing market drive pioneering artist to desperate lawsuits. Re: the latter, The Times’ new blog The Local marked its first day in business with a post about Arthur Woods’ latest effort to save the building he bought more than three decades ago and transformed into a piece of public, albeit not code-conforming, art. According to the blog, Woods has recently sued the lender that began foreclosure proceedings against the property on the heels of a Stop Work Order; his suit relies upon the claim that a notary purposefully put the wrong date on some mortgage documents, though it’s not entirely clear why that would nullify the terms of the $1.8 million construction loan. He’s also making litigious rumblings about his partner on the project, Shahn Andersen. The whole thing is just sad.
Suing to Save an Angel [NY Times]
Broken Angel Up For Sale [Brownstoner]
Broken Angel: DOB Overzealous or Just Doing Its Job? [Brownstoner]
What- wasn’t going after you, just voicing my viewpoint which seems to be at odds with everyone else’s here. For years i went past Broken Angel and fell in love with it. I imagine Arthur didn’t want to give it up because he put so much of himself into it- not as an investment or a piece of real estate, but as his life’s work.
fsrq- for all the years that building stood, and i do think Arthur was very cognizant of his structure and its dangers, you’re writing a scenario of what might happen. Yes- it was a possibility, but then again,so was the possibility that pieces of cornice would fall from old buildings all over Manhattan and in fact did fall on Court St. twice in my life I have been under elevated trains when they dropped bolts a few feet from me. The fact that broken Angel wasn’t droping debris should say something.
There were never deadly debris falling from Broken Angel when it wasn’t on fire FSRQ. Don’t most buildings drop deadly debris when they are in flames?
I’m going to go against my better judgement and respond to Return of the What as if they were a real person with a real opinion and not just an anonymous person on a blog making statements that would be libelous elsewhere.
You were not there. No expediter that is following the law can just “push the paperwork through the system”. A number of different architects and expediters worked on this project. Arthur is not homeless. He has an apartment. I should print this out for him and let him sue you too. LOL.
Arthur could have walked away from his home with a lot of money in his pocket. Instead, he chose to try to stop the DOB from trying to tear the building down. That was his choice, and I chose to try to help him with it.
Its funny how some are willing to overlook the potential of deadly debris falling from the sky when the owner claims its is “art”; but when the deadly shrapnel is just part of a “building” the very same people would be calling for everyone to go to jail.
bxgrl I went to P.S 56 and play in the lot next to this building for years. Went to summer jams in the lot across the street and work on Gates Ave for years!! I have a deep connection to this place. I don’t hate Arthur and I think he was trying to the right thing. Did you know developer had offed Arthur over 1 million for the Broken Angel as is!!! He could’ve walked away scott-free from all this mess but he listed to that Asshead Shahn Anderson and made him a “Partner”! There are angels of this story you don’t know about, I was there.
“Arthur is a 70+ year old artist- if you aren’t an artist maybe you cna’t understand the relationship between an artist and his work. I’m not going to condemn him for desperately trying tp preserve what’s left.”
It was not the DOB fault, it was Shahn Anderson trying to navigate a complexed DOB system!!! All Shahn had to do is hire a Expediter to push the paper work thru the system but Shahn with his ego F*** everything up!!! That’s the story Bxgrl and everytime you want to jump on me, just look at the facts. Arthur is homeless and old, that’s a bad combination for someone to go thru and Shahn is in the clear..
“And Shahn- let this be a lesson. No good deed goes unpunished. You certainly don’t deserve the the things that are being said.”
Yes he does…
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
Arthur LOVES to go to court. he’s had to do it many a time in the past and has won most of his cases. watch out!
There are massive code violations, ’nuff said.
Honestly- so much vitriol for an artist and the guy who wanted to help him. Arthur’s building, while unconventional and certainly not up to code somehow managed to stand for 30 years until the DOB decided it had to fall. Frank Gehry gets paid millions to create buildings that look just as unconventional, and suffer big problems because of poorly designed structures, and poor choices in terms of environment and usability.
Arthur is a 70+ year old artist- if you aren’t an artist maybe you cna’t understand the relationship between an artist and his work. I’m not going to condemn him for desperately trying tp preserve what’s left.
There are amazing artist created structures all over the world, that aren’t up to code, and they are revered as folk art and preserved. Not in NYC though. The city that makes millions of of its arts is not about to let artists get in the way of money.
And Shahn- let this be a lesson. No good deed goes unpunished. You certainly don’t deserve the the things that are being said.
I went back in time on Brownstoner and found this little diddy..
Kudos to Mr. Woods, for being a very smart and canny dude, Shahn Andersen, for being a good guy, and Mr. B for getting the exclusive blog. This should be very interesting and educational.
Mr. Woods’ use of building materials as a sculptural medium is truly wonderful. I love the horizontal line of windows, which give the optical illusion of being crushed under the weight of the structure above. I’m sure that freaked the DOB, but is probably more stable than your average slumlord tenement, where they should be arresting people.
Looking forward to the progress in the coming months.
Posted by: Crown Heights Proud at February 9, 2007 11:09 AM
This was the time the Mutant Asset Bubble was imploding and no one listened. Time is my friend and very soon most of the building projects like this crap will suffer this same fate….
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…