UES, 42nd Street Wander, & Columbus Circle Wander

My second wander after arriving in New York was through the Upper East Side and into Midtown (Octoberish 2008).

Click here for the wander map.

I started up by 90th and 5th and headed south. The Cooper Hewitt:

Guggenheim:

Park Avenue Synagogue. This is probably one of the nicest Synagogues I've ever seen:

I got onto Lexington and continued south. The Lipstick Building:

Citigroup Center. This building was one of the reasons for this wander. In university I had done a whistlebuilding case study on this building. Basically the story went like this: St. Peter's Lutheran Church occupied the corner where this building went up in 1977. They let Citigroup build the tower on the condition that the church remain on the corner. So the architects had to build on top of the church. This was the origin to the unique design, with the structure built on columns with the church beneath. But since it was built on these columns, special attention had to be paid to the structural design. After construction was done, the architect found out that the gussets had not been bolted as specified in the original design. This basically meant that instead of being able to withstand the types of wind that occur once in a hundred years, it could only withstand the type of winds that New York saw every 2 years. Not good. So the architect actually did the right thing and told the owners. They went in very quietly so as not to freak out everybody working in the building as the winter was approaching, and fixed the gussets floor-by-floor. And since the architect/owners saved them from a potential billion dollar settlement, the insurance company covered the cost of the upgrade. This is the only good ending to a whistleblowing story that I have ever heard, and it's a pretty cool building.

 

 

Everybody knows this picture

From GCT, I headed East to see the UN Building.
The globe in the Daily News Building. I felt like I was going to bump into Clark Kent when I went in here. This is one of those fantastic buildings in New York that make you feel like you've walked into the past to a time when architecture and design meant a bit more than cost and utility.

Every time I go to the UN Building the flags are down. Its pretty out of the way from everything else, so I've only been over there 4 times, but every time - no flags. It just doesn't look quite so impressive without all the flags flying outside -- just another non-descript glass rectangle.

Sphere Within a Sphere. Cool Sculpture:

 

From the UN Building I walked north a couple of blocks until it starts to look like a highway under construction, then I turned back and to 42nd street.

MetLife (Pan-Am for the old schoolers) Building from the side:

Tudor City:

I saw this building looking across the gardens outside Tudor City. I'm still not sure what it is, but I had recently visited Hong Kong, and this building looked like a mini Bank of China Tower

 

From Tudor City I took a bus to the corner of 42nd & 5th.

Public Library Main Branch (officially the Stephen Schwarzman Building). I don't know how New York managed to keep its librarys in beautiful buildings, but good for them. Someday I'm hoping all the scaffolding (side walk shelters ????) will come down and I'll be able to see the whole building.Full-screen

Looking west toward Times Square on 42nd Street. I know it looks like I'm walking in

 

   Skating in Bryant Park

 

Just in case you're like me and you like to go for long walks after your morning coffee(s), the nicest public bathroom in the city is on the north-east corner of the park. I didn't get a picture on this wander because I hadn't found it yet, but its beautiful and immaculate.

Looking across Bryant Park from 42nd Street ,the American Radiator Building (now the Bryant Park Hotel -- nice bar in the basement) with the Empire State in the background. I really love this building too, with its black and gold - there really isn't anything like it in the city.

  

The Grace Building. Another favorite as it curves up towards the sky

 

The new Bank of America Tower, now the 2nd tallest building in New York after the Empire State

Times Square will be another Wander. From Bryant Park I hopped on the subway and headed north to Columbus Circle.
Trump something-something:

 

Time Warner Twins:

  

Snowflakes hanging from the ceiling in the Time Warner entrance:

  

Looking down Broadway from Columbus Circle:

  

Hearst Tower. Its hard to see in the picture because I couldn't get a good angle, but the new modern glassy 2006 high rise is actually built on the original 1928 6-story cast stone building. Cool modern design, LEED Gold (first one in New York--good for them)