439 East 77th Street
Photo by Michael Young
203-205 West 38th Street (recladding)
Before:
After (earlier today):
What do people like more - before the reclad or after?
The reclad is mediocre and looks kind of dated. The old facades just needed a good power washing and they’d be good as new.
Definitely a downgrade
Lipstick on a pig. Tear down and build a respectable high rise
another recent reclad
307 West 39th Street
before:
source: https://www.apartments.com/307-w-39th-st-new-york-ny/l6618md/
after (earlier today):
well…They did a great job at creating the ugliest block in the city.
I hate it here
I honestly wonder whether we might see a lot more of these ugly conversions as a side effect of the new scaffolding laws. If the cornices and stone embellishments on your building are in need of maintenance and you can’t just put a construction shed up for eternity anymore, the most cost-effective strategy is to just tear the facade down and replace with something that may not require as much maintenance (like the atrocity that recently happened in Herald Sq on 33rd). If your building isn’t landmarked, I’d assume that’d be the way to go now in this new regulatory environment. I hope I’m sorely wrong though, of course.
Amazon is growing rapidly in the city. I like seeing the Magnificent 7 expanding more into NY. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Tesla, and Microsoft. Heck even OpenAI is getting in the market. I’m wondering if Amazon would ever consider consolidating into one building.
Too bad their HQ2 project didn’t become 2wtc or another supertall in the city.
Yet, another beautiful building demolished, while also leaving a bunch of nondescript buildings standing. The replacement isn’t announced yet.
Scaffolding coming down for 170 W 22nd St (7th Ave)
Not bad. Some thoughtful detail, good scale. An improvement.