Every Building on Fifth

Originally Frawley Circle, Duke Ellington Circle was named after the celebrated composer and musician in 1995.  Two years later artist Robert Graham’s rather arresting memorial to Ellington was installed, showing Ellington and his piano aloft on a platform borne up by nine nude caryatids. The Circle marks the boundaries between Harlem and East Harlem and… Continue reading

We’re pleased to feature a link to a recent article by David V. Griffin for Real Estate Monthly on Archtober Cocktail Crawl 2017!  One of a series of biannual events sponsored by the Architects’ Newspaper, the event featured open showrooms throughout the Flatiron District and over 1,200 guests. Full story here!

An oddly desultory design by the offices of Robert A. M. Stern, 1280 Fifth Avenue, also known as One Museum Mile, was the first major building on a Central-Park-facing block since the 1970s.  An uninteresting PoMo exercise it was also intended to be the location of the Museum of African Art, (not to be confused… Continue reading

Anywhere else, 1274 Fifth Avenue might be seen as a drab little nothing of a building; standing next to 1720 Fifth Avenue, it seems a gem of proportions and detailing. It is the only Fifth Avenue building facing Central Park to sport a fire escape on the façade.

Despite the urge to simply dismiss this beige box as the ugliest apartment building fronting Central Park, 1270 Fifth Avenue is actually historically notable for being the first middle-income co-op apartment building constructed in Manhattan under Section 213 of the National Housing Act, which authorized Government-insured loans to private developers of co-operative housing.  The act… Continue reading