By Gus Saltonstall
The San Remo is one of the most recognizable buildings on the Upper West Side.
The apartment building, at 145-146 Central Park West between West 74th and 75th streets, has been home to a variety of famous tenants over the years. And the building’s two towers are among the most recognizable structures when looking west from many sections of Central Park.
This leads to lots of photos like this:
But now something has changed.
“Recently one of the lights on the top of San Remo must have broken,” Upper West Sider Ethan Benjamin wrote in an email to West Side Rag. “It was out for a few days. Then they replaced it… but the two lights are different colors now!”
Prior to the change, the two lights were the same white-with-a-cast-of-blue, as seen in this image from November of 2024.
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New LEDs that weren’t colour matched?
There is no better example of just how much the management company of this building has completely given up on maintaining the character and living environment of this building. You should see what the “back of house” spaces look like in this building now. Terrible lighting. Rusty fixtures. Burned out bulbs everywhere. And don’t even bring up the cockroach problem that hit the basement last year. Entire colonies.
Wow – do you live in the San Remo?
roaches in NYC? say it ain’t so
I applaud the new heterochromous color scheme! What’s wrong with a little diversity — do we whine about the towers of the First Baptist Church in the City of New York?
This was not deliberate – it’s sloppy and careless.
Think of it as found art.
I’m guessing you know the actual reason why the second tower of the Fist Baptist Church remains “unfinished?”
Sí.
Heterochromous — maybe the building management is a fan of Max Scherzer (famously heterochromous).
Sounds threatening? Tune in tonight at 10pm on Fox 5 News.
Halogen vs LED. It’s like headlights on a car, if one goes out replace both.
They must be the same super I have in my building. Absolutely no vision.
wow, some people will bitch about anything!
the new lights are probably far more energy efficient than the old ones, isn’t that a good thing?
Aesthetic details are what maintain the character of a community. When people like you don’t value such details, it impacts quality of life for others. I shouldn’t have to be telling you this.
Somehow this will be Trump’s fault.
Oh, I thought it was Gale Brewer’s fault. /s
Thanks for the correction.
So why not replace both?
Do you have evidence that the new light is more energy efficient? And if it is, what is your justification for not replacing both?
Attention to detail is a lost art, apparently.
I noticed the mismatched lights immediately. My apartment looks directly at it. Very tacky. Please fix this!
These lights have been one on, one off; one bright, one dim, for many many many months. I think depending on how you take the picture, you may see different colors, particularly in the rain or fog, or the window you take the shot from. The only scandal, if there is one, is that they are not always on at all
Do you want to pay the electricity bill ?
Are they obligated to have them on at all ?
For what its worth, to the naked eye there is a clear difference in color.
As you say, the exact colors in photographs will vary a bit based on conditions. In real life I personally see them as roughly “golden” and white with a cast of silvery blue (similar to the article’s description).
The mighty genius LPC – can’t use that paint on that tiny stone in the back corner, need the original paint from the 1930s because this black is not the right black – somehow allowed this ignominy?
Inconceivable.
I don’t find it as aggravating as sitting in the dentist’s chair staring at the ceiling lights where the bulb “colors” or “temperatures” are not the same. It’s a problem in the world of lighting today, where the supposedly same temperature from two different manufacturers can vary, as well.
I must be sensitive to this, in my brain, as it distracts me horribly.
I stared at field lights across the E River for a few years from my apartment, and they were different one stanchion to the next, and it was a major first world problem to me! But no, I didn’t write to 311 about it, only when they stayed on 24/7 and I knew there was a malfunction in the timers/switching. I let the lack of matchy matchy lumens and color go!
Hard to believe Landmarks isn’t all over this…