Painting and Essay by Robert Beck
All day long, I can hear them demolishing the buildings on 66th Street. The ex-ABC complex, where we watched from the street through large windows as news unfolded, is giving way to a 1,200-foot tower—much larger than the 775-foot one the same company just built across the street. Together, we anticipate 557 new residential units, and a queue of black Escalades stretching to the New York Historical.
Hopefully, the new architectural behemoth won’t lean like the one on the East Side (I don’t know what people are complaining about; if you stand in the right spot, it almost looks straight), or sway in the wind like the one toward midtown. There are people in government to make sure things like that don’t happen, right?
Trying to understand the maze of city departments/permits, and who monitors what is very time-consuming and confusing. The locals who have to endure the discomfort and danger during construction attempt to obtain information from the developers and builders and get them to comply with regulations, but they don’t want to rattle their cages too hard for fear they will be cut off from all communication. They have very little power.
They also deal with annoyances beyond the noise, like the smell, the dust, burning eyes, coughing, and the mysterious black stuff on the bottom of their shoes that doesn’t want to come off. And who knows what that foul stuff is they’re breathing. It’s difficult to find out what is going on at all levels. Some information isn’t available to the common citizen until it hits the front page.
The pounding, booming, and slamming sounds like a closely targeted bombardment, with excavators assaulting the ground and jackhammers firing rattling salvos, all echoing along the canyon of buildings. You can feel it through your feet, even when you go inside. The Battle of Lincoln Square rages all day, while NYPD helicopters cruise past in the high background for cinematic effect. It’s loud, it’s relentless, and it’s dirty. Vibrations damage nearby buildings, sometimes in small ways that aren’t apparent at the time but later develop into huge problems.
What makes the Upper West Side a great place to live is not the towering citadels and impregnable bunkers, oddly designed to appear they have been dropped a few times and reassembled without plans. Go anywhere that super-high rises congregate, and you won’t find anything that looks like a neighborhood. From a distance, Manhattan is beginning to resemble the silverware basket in your dishwasher.
It doesn’t have to be. At the end of the same block is an Art Deco apartment building on Central Park West with 40 shades of brick on the façade, starting with a purple-ish hue near the base, working through warm browns and ambers to yellow-white at the summit. It is lovely, particularly beautiful in morning light when casting a warm glow into the trees across the street in the park. It’s subtle, sophisticated, and mature. The New Yorker’s Architecture Critic called the effect “Exhilarating.” Unlike the annoying kaleidoscopic reflections from metal and glass we shield our eyes from today. It’s hard to imagine a future where these contemporary erections are on a UWS architectural tour.
The tops of the new supertalls are frequently left unfinished and ugly. Maybe they think we can’t see that far up. One of the really high buildings south of the park has a top that looks like a prank exploding cigar that has had its humorous moment. I suppose there is no point in dressing these things up anymore.
See more of Robert Beck’s work and visit his UWS studio at www.robertbeck.net. Listen to an interview with him on Rag Radio — Here. Let him know at info@westsiderag.com if you have a connection to an archetypical UWS place or event that would make a good West Side Canvas subject. Thank you!
Note: Before Robert Beck started West Side Canvas, his essays and paintings were featured in Weekend Column. See Robert Beck’s earlier columns here and here.
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Amen, brother. Looks like Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel have dug themselves into a hole once again.
Modern architects are aesthetically blind and inflict their blindness on us all. You on the other hand!
Simply gorgeous painting of a dig! I can’t wait to read the essay, which I’m sure is great, as usual. Thank you!
Robert, you are unfailingly upbeat in your essays, or trying hard to find the good in a situation. This one seems to have you beaten down. It sounds really hard in the moment, and it seems clear that it will diminish our neighborhood a bit when it’s done. So frustrating, so sad. I’m sorry you (and the rest of us) are going through this.
Not beaten, but it certainly is rritating and outrageous.
Great painting of a horrible situation with usual excellent essay expressing the situation. These buildings are a blight in the neighborhood. Thank you.
“Supertalls” are infamous for destroying neighborhoods and communities. They block sunlight and generally serve to create a “less human” atmosphere. They should be banned from active neighborhoods and communities, but the real estate and development lobbies pour more money into campaign coffers than any other lobby in NYC, so our Council members will NEVER vote to limit, much less prevent, them. What a sad joke!
These “Silverware baskets” serve no one except for the heartless building Developers. I think way back when, Bloomberg opened the way for this rampage. If I’m wrong, I apologize. Is there no way to stop this? It’s not at the top of my list given the state of the world ….but nearing the top.
I have lived on West 65th Street for over 50 years and have seen many changes in the neighborhood, some good, some not so good. The two Extell buildings mentioned in the Beck article above fall in the latter category. It seems as if the New York City building department has chosen to side with the developers building these behemoths rather than the residents of the neighborhoods. A sad comment on our value system; profit over quality of life.
Im convinced that anyone that thinks new construction is a terrible blight on the neighborhood has not had to find a new apartment in the neighborhood in many years. For young people, growing families, or anyone who wants to live here, the housing shortage is killing this neighborhood. The neighborhood is the people who live here – not the external appearances of the preservations who want a Potemkin neighborhood.
Understood and agree but new housing has to be thoughtful for the community and the environment . There are many other places and ways to build and to increase “affordable” housing. Also the regulation that allows landlords not to rent their apartments should be reviewed and updated .
“40 shades of Brick”, (a new sexy movie about the city)
“The city looks like the silverware basket in the dishwasher” – Hilarious
“The battle of Lincoln Square “- yes indeed. This new building is going to eat up the ‘hood. There goes the sun!
Glad I can count on your continued paintings and essays to remain the best distraction to keep me sane throughout it all….
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The Upper West Side has been able to steer clear of the huge, tall buildings, going for fewer floors, more sun & sky — and trees. Not against change — just don’t like it when it’s not right for the neighborhood.