NEW YORK ARCHITECTURE

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I M A G E I N D E X A N D B A C K G R O U N D N O T E S

On my trip to New York City in May 2000 I had at last the proper and complete photo gear at my disposal to get the images I wanted the way I wanted. As a result was a wide range of digital photographs that I'm finally -- in general -- content with.
Of course, like always, most of the images suffer considerably from being "forced" into a more manageable physical (and kilobyte) size for the web distribution. Not only do much of the delicious details get lost when cropped to half the physical height (one fourth of the original, recorded film -- or photo cell -- area), but also often the diagonal lines show visible jagging due to the physical resizing. In addition to the detail loss, the re-compression of the files -- to make them downloadable, ie. < 100 KB -- also has its drawbacks.
Although most of the images are of high-rises (as is appropriate for a scraper site), another pre-trip theme was the Modernist movement and (low-rise) examples of it in the City.
Each image will get a (more or less) short and (usually less) appropriate talk-through and will be placed under an appropriate location header below. More on the backgrounds of some of the photos in the NYC Update 2000 ramblings.

WEST SIDE

N.Y. Telephone Co. Switching Center (W.Midtown)
A pre-trip target, the Hell's Kitchen/Clinton's beautifying element. Rather straightforward to shoot, but the angry skies and clouds create dramatic touch to the pic.
The Tableau
A shot taken from Tenth Avenue and W 56th to the north, a short distance from where the Switching Center photo was taken.
601 W 47th Street
One of the rather few un-preplanned subjects -- an industrialist building in Clinton that struck as a worthy example of industrial loft structures.
United Parcel Service Handling Center
Like the next one, taken from the parking space in front of the Circle Line pier. Photographing these was, in general, waiting for the backlighting morning sun to go behind a cloud. The resizing of the image has visibly jagged some portions of the facade and is not totally satisfactory otherwise either.
Sheraton Motor Inn
One of the two West Side motor hotel buildings planned for bagging. Sadly, the Skyview Inn, another West Side target, had been demolished to serve now as a car park -- now there's a suprising use for a vacant lot in the City... Leaning backwards due to the horizontal format and required tilting.
USS Intrepid
A shot of the a/c carrier before leaving the waterfront -- they seem to have juggled the planes around at least once since the last trip...
101 West End Avenue
This was the "soft" landing into photography in NYC on the first morning, the person somewhat vaguely expressing himself, before grabbing me by the collar and shaking (not stirring). My life wasn't quite running like a film in front of me, but it almost got to that point. Strangely the creature left the camera atop its tripod unhindered -- otherwise my NYC photography would have ended before it even properly began... As for the photo, tilting again and some compression artifacts, but pretty nice nevertheless.
New York Coliseum
The Old Stiffneck -- whatever one thinks of its architecture, Moses' Bunker at least has proper structural supports that will give work for demolition teams for months to come (as of summer 2000). Photographed from the Trump International & Tower's plaza subway entrance.

LINCOLN CENTER

Vivian Beaumont Theater and Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library and Museum one - two
(one) The first photo after the assault at the West End Avenue, I was still pretty shaken and willing to keep everyone a long distance from me... ;^) Bagged from the elevated plaza of the M.L. King Jr. HiSchool.
(two) The scene of the first encounter with the NIMBY policy on the trip, one can actually see the copper walking towards in the middle of the picture. And after that nothing was to be the same... Note the glow on the facade of the protruding upper floor.
Juilliard School at Lincoln Center
A difficult piece to find a good, unobstructed view of, after some walking around and tightrope crossings over Columbus Ave., I finally reached this viewpoint on the Amsterdam Ave. side. Impressive, at least. Shows the travertine facade to a good effect. If I remember correctly, it was here that I devised the "P/PC in a bag" method of viewing the images with the palmsize PC even in bright sunlight -- pretty useful in the coming days!
Metropolitan Opera House
The chosen one from a number of possible shots -- and no tripod of course...

EAST SIDE TREK

N.Y. Telephone Co. Building (Murray Hill)
From the series: "non-publicly-acclaimed but nevertheless included buildings". The sidewalk in front of a park next to the Queens-Midtown tunnel exit offered a good vantage point -- although before getting there I first had to negotiate the endless stream of speeding vehicles coming out of the tunnel... Unfortunately the nearby sleek old Airlines bus terminal had been long since removed from the way of an apartment tower (ie. The Corinthian)...
NYU Medical
Shot on the way to bag the Waterside. (I was originally to photograph also the Kips Bay Plaza beehives, but eventually they were even surprisingly unimpressive and were discarded -- maybe on the next trip...) As all sorts of additions had crowded the original buildings of the hospital complex, this slab with a similar character had to do. Shot from a road island almost underneath the elevated FDR, with all sorts of flotsam and jetsam around. Not one of those places to be in after nightfall.
Waterside
A fine view found by chance after moving to the other side of the road and closer to the Bellevue. Just ever so slight leaning to the right of the northernmost tower. After this, took a course around the Bellevue complex and entered the Waterside compound itself thru' the only route available for pedestrians: the foot bridge crossing the FDR. I decided against taking any photos inside the compound, not least because a security guard was present (even though there were no signs about prosecution for trespassing like outside the Pete' Cooper Houses compound), but also because the windy, concrete slab-clad plaza was a rather anti-human environment. And that in a complex which literally requires crossing a bridge to reach the nearest greenery. (Talking about Cooper Houses, a prize for those who hunt down the First Ave. greengrocer deli owner who sold me a box of strawberries white with mildew underneath a layer of delicious samples -- talk about roses with thorns -- when I found out the truth I was too far south to return and let 'im 'ave it. These are nice stories, innit?)
Seward Park Houses Extension
Although a distinct target in a low-rise neighbourhood, the austere north facade, however, made it almost unrecognizable when approaching. A less than satisfactory result in details, but passable.
Arts for Living Center
A turn to the east along Grand St.. Shot from the opposite park after some replenishment from the nearby chain grocery store (if I remember correctly, the only such I came across during the trip, as opposed to the wealth of diminutive delis all over -- Suburban Style, yeah). (To further divert from the Issue, it's interesting how fast yoghurt can reach boiling temperatures in the scorching NYC sun...) As for the photo, a failure, to put it bluntly. The colour of the bricks is warped and the photo is out of focus. That's what I call constructive criticism...
Chatham Towers
Down East Broadway and thru' the even surprisingly Oriental and teeming offspring of Chinatown at Manhattan DUMBO. One from the series of "artsy" ideas -- but rather successful nevertheless. One of the definite pre-travel photo targets (in fact, one of the "seminal" buildings known from the very early days of studying NYC architecture -- unfortunately, the book, Ashton's New York got later stolen from the local library (it was not me!!)), yet I almost managed to walk past these buildings on my way to the Civic Center after the tiring East Side Trek. Remembered also as the "dead mouse picture", as there was a dead mouse on the sidewalk by the building where I set the tripod. Poor thing. ;^)
U.S. Courthouse
A re-make of the building, this time from the elevated plaza in front of the Javits Federal Office Building. Unfortunately, the backlighting of the sun caused the image to flush down completely... Was grudgingly added to the collection.
Civil Courthouse and Municipal Courts Building
One of the pre-trip Modernist targets (Say "Puff Daddy"). Perhaps not actually as good as originally thought, the converging verticals and very restricted line of sight also caused the image to fall short of expectations. A black VW New Buggy with the license plate "BUGGY" parked near the location of the shooting (of the photo, not the Puff Daddy affair).

DOWNTOWN

100 William Street
Very difficult lighting conditions due to the blackness of the mass, like at the CBS Building. One of the rare occasions where either the autofocus or the compression algorithm of the camera (or both) made the photo less than satisfactory.
U.S. Steel Building
A view through the Liberty Plaza park trees. Once again, the resizing makes the image lose much of its effect, however modest... Actually a rather nice juxtaposition of glass rows and monstrous steel beams.
Cedar Street view
A view from the Liberty Plaza east sidewalk. The canyon view with the Modernist skyscrapers' facades on the left, with the 70 Pine in the background and the eclectic Equitable to the right, struck as the thing to photograph. Teetering near the edge, I (only just) avoided cracking my skull by almost falling down the stairs into the Liberty Plaza below...
60 Wall Street and 70 Pine Street
A dramatic vantage point from Wall Street. Restless, the streaks of shadow and converging verticals work a bit too well, but never mind.
88 Pine Street
Despite the by-now familiar resizing problems, nevertheless an effective view of Pei's wall. Just one of the many buildings that seem to get the better the closer one moves...
1 Financial Square
From within the shadows of Front Street, with one of the remnants of old-day waterfront buildings in the background.
55 Water Street one - two
(one) Taken from the street, between two parked cars, and rather swiftly, before (with my already established luck) an owner can arrive to give The Attitude... One of the most successful shots, and an almost sculptural view of the Old Bulky.
(two) Have to say that taking this photo was, along with the encounter with the retardo near the 101 West End, crossing the Waterside bridge ;^), or maybe standing on the top level of the Trump Tower atrium, one of the most frightening experiences of the trip. The plaza was so barren, so remote and the buildings so abandoned-looking that the idea of having only one entrance there (there was also another, like I was to later note) and maybe some seedy characters arriving, made me work at a healthy rate. The "lesson" of 101 had gone even too deep...
77 Water Street
Very windy conditions, so much that I actually waited for the wind to abate (a couple walking in front of the camera, some distance away, in fact thought that I was waiting & leaning to the 55 Water wall looking bored because they were in the frame area -- nope, like I told them). In the end I decided to shoot nevertheless as the bubble levels didn't show any sign of shake -- as neither did the resulting photo.
1 N.Y. Plaza
Shot with the tripod standing as close as possible next to the 2 N.Y. Plaza wall.
17 State Street
Wandering around for a good spot to visualize the structure and the core, with the "customary" requests for money by a homeless (I actually jumped a feet in the air as he approached from behind while I was intently looking for a vantage point from the north) and for taking a souvenir photo for a tourist couple. After it became clear that the line of cars queuing for the Staten Is. Ferry was not going to move from the image area for some time, the picture had to be taken as it is. Perhaps should have also taken another shot of the core structures from underneath the building.
Battery Garage
A target due to its unusual forms. Parts of the photo a bit too dark in shadows.
Downtown Athletic Club
A shot from Greewich Street across the Brooklyn-Battery entrance. A pity that the entrance with the text "Downtown Athletic Club" couldn't fit into the image.
Irving Trust Building
Remake, remake. Why change a winning formula...
Thames Twins
A failed image, to put it bluntly. No tones, just an overexposed wall on top -- and an underexposed one on the bottom. The one drawback of digi-imaging, the narrow "band" of exposure, the limit between under- and overexposure.
Millennium Hilton Hotel
From amidst the tree pots in front of 4 WTC. Very satisfactory.
1 Bankers Trust one - two
(one) From closed Liberty St. in front of the 4 WTC, with the plazas and the tapering facade pillars shown. The horizontal photo of the same theme was later discarded.
(two) From the WTC compound -- and without tripod. A sunset image, as can be seen from the golden hue on the windows.
World Trade Center one - two
(one) A pic slightly too underexposed for my taste. Nothing fancy, just plain frontal.
(two) A closer view. Sunlight and huge expanses of aluminium.
7 World Trade Center
Not a completely successful, but nevertheless passable view of the Vesey St. side of the building and the bridge.
Barclay-Vesey Building one - two
(one) Battery Park City -- the only (landbound) direction from which to bag the Bar-Vesey properly. Strong orange hue from the setting sun. Another surreal encounter with the NIMBY -- this time I was setting up my tripod at the northern entrance to the Amex Tower as a type driving past in a trolley-truck asked about whether I was going to "stay for long" (at least he politely greeted first). Was he afraid of me planting a bomb with the tripod or setting up a home there? Gimme a break...
(two) The eastern entrance (and the Washington St. address) to the building -- the West St. side was undergoing, along with much of the interiors, a renovation, or was at least in a severe turmoil... The West Street sides of the buildings were clearly in "backyard" status. No wonder, with the West Street (highway) roaring past and the concrete roadblocks.
World Financial Center one - two
(one) A late afternoon shot from the Battery Park City waterfront towards the 2 WFC and Wintergarden. Not best possible composition and the interference pattern on the WTC towers is very apparent.
(two) The wintergarden interior, with ample room in the photo reserved for the marble floor in the foreground & not cropped.
Marine Midland Bank plaza
Alarmingly fuzzy image, but somewhat usable nevertheless. The last image I took in Downtown. Note the famous grid ("Don't block the box") in the foreground.

MIDTOWN WEST

GE Building
The first photo taken during the trip. Surprisingly strong blue hue and the edges jagged after resizing. Still better than the original taken three years earlier.
MONY Tower
The shot that could have been (a bit) better. I got driven away from the best viewpoint I found -- in front of an empty small resta at 6 AM. "Mi casa..." Managed to just cut the entrance canopy under which I resorted from the top of the image.
Sixth Avenue office towers
A morning shot along the avenue. Kind of remake of a catastrophic earlier effort on the theme.
McGraw-Hill Building passage
One of the few pics where I "voluntarily" used the string stabilizing (instead of tripod). Or maybe the fact of the place being a property of a corporation worked subconsciously...? The waterfall suffers from discolouration due to the limits of the photo-cell.
CBS Building
A "squeeze" between Paine Webber and Credit Lyonnais. The light "bleeding" through at the top makes the result less than perfect.
Equitable Building II
A shot from the farthest possible point on the sidewalk next to the CBS Building. Any further, and a delivery truck would have blocked the view -- that explains the strong converging on the image. Darn.
Museum Tower and St. Thomas'
The "remake" of the failed 1997 image (come to think of it, they all failed...). Beautiful details and colours as opposed to the old photo -- that is, in the original shot, this resized image loses much of the power...
Canada House
Battling with light and shadow -- and eventually also with horrible jagging due to resizing. Hopefully someone can figure out something from it.
500 Fifth Avenue
Another remake, with the same banners on the right.
(Replaced with a rescan of the original slide shot of 1997. 18 Nov. 2004)
Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co.
One of those surreal situations; set up the tripod in front of a closed Fifth Ave. entrance to a bank catty-corner from the ManHan (with notices informing that posted to the door, "use the 43rd St. entrance...") -- the best vantage point for the shoot. People came in a steady stream, for some reason, to try the closed door, despite the clear posted sign... Interesting that none of the pedestrians actually told me to get off blocking the entrance, though. Lucky me then, that there were no clerks around... Very satisfied with the result, but after all it took some waiting to find a clear sight line amidst the Fifth Ave. traffic.
W.R. Grace Building
An impromptu shot with a nice reflection of the curving end facade on the glass wall of the HBO. Unfortunately, the plaza was hidden behind the parked bus -- without me even quite realizing its disturbing presence at the moment...

MIDTOWN EAST

GM from the Park
The only photo taken from the Central Park, and the only time I ventured into the Park during the trip -- a diagonal dash from Columbus -- although I certainly traversed the whole eastern length of it on Fifth Avenue later on. (That walk from 125th to 57th just went to show that trading my photo trip "working" sneakers to army boots for such a walk will result in a tiring, painful experience, but one can't violate the stylistic integrity...) As I was crossing the road to the shooting location, I almost got run over by two runners ;^) on the Central Park biker-blader-skater highways...
Solow Building one - two - three
(one + two) Two (slightly) different views from two locations. One from an entrance niche (I actually could take it unbothered...), the other from next to the Hotel Pierre wall. The ventilation grille on the sidewalk next to the building wall prevented from utilizing an even better vantage point -- now one of the legs of the tripod was already resting on the grille. Nevertheless, both came out well.
(three) An early morning shot, yet a scene of another smug NIMBY approach. Nevertheless, managed to take the photos I wanted before being driven away from this "public" plaza. Somewhat unsharp.
Fifth and 57th towers
View from 57th Street towards the top-priced retail node of the City.
Corning Glass Building
Shot from sidewalk in front of the Crown Building on Fifth Avenue, just after the Solow Bldg incident & involving the famous explosion of frustration... A pretty good location to shoot from and pretty nice lighting of the subject itself. One of the faves.
Ritz, Galleria & 135e57th
Originally intended for bagging only the difficult Ritz Tower, the vantage point from Lexington Avenue also suited including the Galleria and 135e57th to the same photo, as a by-product -- although the latter was indeed originally not even remotely meant to be included in the trip quota. The brick mountain of the [unknown] in front somewhat disrupts the entity.
135 E 57th "temple"
Perhaps the ultimate artsy pic of the trip. This is the second, released, version of the shot, the first was a horizontally arranged one with wider cropping and subsequently with less impact. The total enjoyment marred by the jagging on the Citicorp/group cooling tower exhaust.
Galleria
An un-preplanned photo taken from 58th Street. Not one of the most succesful outcomes, but works nevertheless.
Four Seasons Hotel
From 58th Street.
LVMH Tower
The building bagged from perhaps the only good (on-street) vantage point.
IBM Building
The emptied (of people and extra bamboos) skylight atrium from the 57th Street side entrance. A little later another inconvenient moment, as I was told to make my way to IBM's front lobby by going around the building, as people were not allowed to go through the elevator lobby. Oh, well + another use of the word "private"...
100 Park Avenue
A shot from Park Ave., with a bit of a general view of the avenue. The 100 Park itself a bit fuzzy, tho'.
Chrysler Building East/Kent Building
One of the original targets before the trip. Although I had read about the facade conversion to a curtain wall, I seemed to have "forgotten" about it and was, yes, shocked, to see it in its present form, Philip Johnson or no Philip Johnson. A major letdown, but at least the vantage point was great to bag both the Chrysler and the Kent Bldgs. Was asked by a native passerby what I was shooting/why I was shooting them and I replied by the vague "because they have the same owner".
Helmsley Building
Pondered hard about the best possible vantage point to take the photo, I settled on the front-court of the ex-ChemBank, still a bit too close in terms of converging verticals. An unreal feeling, standing under these huge 'scrapers, with the traffic noise (I wonder if there is a special gene in the NYorkers that compels them to use the car horn at least once a minute), looking up to the camera screen (thank God for a high tripod). Unreal even more because of the fact that no-one complained about the photography -- and to set the record straight, was subsequently not allowed to shoot in the upper lobby of the Union Carbide/Chase.
Bankers Trust Co. Building
Like the Helmsley Building, shot from the front plaza of the ex-Chemical Bank Building.
345 Park Avenue
It never ceases to amaze me how almost in every case the 'scrapers look so much better in detail and in close scrutiny (the WTC being one of the few exceptions, mainly because of their solid appearance from afar). Another proof, the from a distance appalling 345 takes in a totally another character up close with the concrete-framed huge window openings in structural bays. Did I hear groans of disagreement?
500 Park Avenue
The one that remained untaken during the 1997 trip. Shot from across Park Ave., pretty uncomplicated affair. Satisfactory result.
Universal Pictures Building
One of the pre-trip targets, and was surprisingly still around...

THIRD AVE & UNITED NATIONS

Ford Foundation interior one - two
Two photos under the label "they actually allowed me to photograph the interiors". A magnificent urban oasis of greenery, glazed tile, granite -- and Cor-Ten (or something with similar rusty characteristics).
United Nations Secretariat one - two
(one) A remake which actually was a bit of a disappointment due to the lighting conditions -- and the image resizing. Notable are the colour spectres on the grille at the top, partly due to the fact that I accidently switched the image size selector to small (one-half, gives surprisingly bad quality) for two pictures...
(two) A successful and almost romantic rendition of natural, brick and glass-steel architecture. Artsy.
1 & 2 U.N. Plaza one - two
(one) From the walkway leading to the Tudor City from 42nd. Far from a success, the photo also suffers a lot from the resizing.
(two) The other one mistakenly taken with "small" picture setting, and it can be seen -- all the colours of a rainbow. The driveway and spaces underneath the "skirt" on the right were of surprisingly mediocre design...
Trump World Tower
The tower in its mid-May 2000 status. A pity that, like I found out, it replaced the Engineering Societies Center, which I had selected for photography before the trip. Darn.
860-870 U.N. Plaza
Taken from the sunny U.N. Plaza (despite I had years ago sworn to never cross to the dark side of the First Avenue after the gutlessness of the UN at the "safety zones" of Srebrenica and Gorazde -- so much for pathos...). A rather uncomplicated & pleasant shot although slightly unfocused.
1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
One not originally meant to be photographed, I, in fact, didn't even recognize what I was photographing, lost as I was in the Third-Second Ave Modernist enclave with my superb sense of orientation... I pinpointed the building from faraway and must have somehow mistakened its lovely form for the triple-7, something that I soon found out. The picture was taken from the, hum, Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, with a number of people actually resting there -- uncommon in itself -- and I was even able to take the photo unmolested. I Should cut back on complaining?
777 Third Avenue
One of the specially chosen "targets" before the trip, with the combination of Seagram facade and a Lever-like column-lifted tower. Photographed from the "plaza" of the 800 Park Avenue.
800 Third Avenue plaza
The plaza, or rather, a sidewalk extension facing a doorless and windowless part of the 800. To punish for such exploitation of plaza bonuses I used the tripod on this private property.
780 & 800 Third Avenue
With the 780 Third Avenue very difficult to shoot properly, a compromise featuring also the neighbouring number 800 was bagged instead. And found to be of nuisance rather than of any use...
885 Third Avenue, "The Lipstick"
A remake of a 1997 shot. The planned shoot of the 909 and 919 had to be abandoned due to a virtually non-existent line of sight.
Greenacre park
The "vest-pocket" park on E 51st Street between Second and Third Aves. I was actually then looking for the (ex-)Rockefeller guest house but in fact only later bumped on it by chance on a late night walk there...

MIDTOWN SOUTH

2 Penn Plaza
Finding a good spot for this involved in fact rounding the whole Penn Station/MSG complex in morning rush (with people belching from 2 Penn's station entrances to streets), before setting the tripod into a snug safe spot next to a sub entrance, away from the feet of commuters. Consideration, first and foremost... ;^)
Empire State Building one - two - three
(one) After some walking, this viewpoint appeared rather easily -- it's a wonder how a 400-meter building can be so hard to see even from within (relatively) low rise buildings.
(two) An artsy idea from the same spot, a reflection from a display window. Building(s) unfocused due to the position of the camera.
(three) From the eastern flank of the Flatiron. Also the last one of the photos on the trip.
New York Merchandise Mart and NYSSC Appellate Division
Another artsy idea that occurred on the spot of shooting the skyscraper and the distinctly different courthouse within the "frame" of the 11 Madison's archway. The (cord-stabilized) shooting was preceded by the "friendly", attitude-laden reply by the clerk inside the 11 Madison lobby -- all the way on the other side of the huge building. Silly me to ask in the first place...
Flatiron Building
A remake of the "backface of Flatiron" theme.
Madison Square Park east
A failed photo due to backlighting sun (and the MetLife's scaffolded tower) -- added now to the collection just for its information value.

TIMES SQUARE

Condé Nast Building
An early dawn shot from 43rd Street which brings out the electric-blue, hi-tech nature of the building.
Bertelsmann Building
One of the early morning shots from the almost-deserted TSQ. Shot from underneath the Reuters Building construction site sidewalk overhead shelter, the tripod was standing on a steel floorplate that reverberated to people walking on it. But luckily there were so few people around that the unstable footing didn't prevent taking the photo. It's strange how, while in the City, the several construction sites all over Manhattan become such an integral part of the streetscape that a construction site even for a huge skyscraper doesn't seem like that, only just another "ordinary" propped sidewalk tunnel.
Millennium Broadway Hotel
From Seventh, with the unabashedly glamorous, 1920s-inspired ad on the facade.
Doubletree Guest Suites
From Seventh and 47th.
1585 Broadway
The 1585 directly from an opposite direction to the 1997 photo. Much better outcome -- again. Maybe a bit too much is hidden behind the 1580 Bdway/2 Times Sq, "TSQ northern advert tower". I maybe tried too much by taking also the Art Deco lighting fixtures(?) at Sixth and 47th into the image...
Times Square Theater
These 42nd Street shots were taken at the end of a particularly long working day. As usual, it gets dark pretty fast in NYC throughout the year (as compared to the "all-day" Scandinavian summer) and when I returned from a Downtown stint to the TSQ area, the darkness finally caught up. Like the next one, one of the definite pre-trip targets, the building was actually taken as part of checking out the status of buildings and scenes in the 1980 film Times Square. (The worst loss, in terms of facades, at least, were the fine, arc-facaded warehouses occupying the 56th and 57th Street Hudson River piers, both having been torn down, along with the other pier warehouses.) A shot that involved a lot of waiting to find a proper, open view amidst the incessant pedestrian traffic.
Candler Building
A difficult target, shot from an acute angle. One of the tripod legs was in fact supported on the incised, angled stone plate on the Ford Center facade. A policeman stood nearby, but somehow I was able to work without interference...

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Altschul Hall, Barnard College
A Brutalist tower dominating Broadway. Just perfect.
Law School
The "toaster" with its cooling ribs. If only the horribly dated window treatment was left undone... A photo marred by the converging verticals -- the closeness of the shooting location and the horizontal composition meant that even the highest position of the tripod (yep, I was allowed to use it) wasn't enough to improve the resulting "tilting" of the building.
College Row
The contrasting original campus buildings across Amsterdam Avenue.
St. Paul's Chapel
The Byzantine church with streaks of Classicism. A location opposite, on the elevated East Campus, gave an opportunity to bag this church complete with its apsis, Byzantine dome and campus-matching facade colour.
Casa Italiana and School of International Affairs
The distinctly contrasting structures in Italienate and more ribbed Modernism occupying the north side of East Campus. One of my faves, with both occupying half the frame and the facade colours and the vertical elements (the protruding, rusticated corner and the stairwell) binding them together.
East Campus Center
A pretty pleasing "contextual" (if more to the old campus of Columbia than the Modernist East Campus) complex from the corner of the campus with its two-toned brown brick facing.

M A I N P A G E