Early 5WFC design/model on the site of the Goldman Sachs Building
14 Likes
Now THAT is interesting. I always wondered if they planned to expand along West Street
Model of 280 Park Avenue, the Bankers Trust Building
Note a 1-story loading dock built in the middle of Vanderbilt Ave, which a dreadful annex would replace just a few years later
Original 290 Park Avenue, (1922-1961) with the Hotel Chatham behind
Finished product: Hotel Chatham still on the left, Park Lane Hotel still on the right
Modern day in the hall of mirrors
10 Likes
It seems like that is one of the only actual pieces of photography that exists of a previous iteration of the original Plaza hotel that was built from 1883-1890 that had turrets and mansard cupolas.
This drawing from 59th St and 5th Ave was done in 1886 and the mansard elements are visible as in the 1888 photo
This is an image of the original Plaza Hotel from 1894 depicting it as all photos depict it, with a large corniced roof.
I’d assume that the mansard elements were taken away at some point during construction and the cornice/balconies added, because they are the same building.
7 Likes
This is the Fifth Ave. Plaza Apartment Building can you model it?
John Duncan Phyfe and James Campbell acquired the site in 1883. Phyfe and Campbell announced plans for a nine-story apartment building at the site that October, to be designed by Carl Pfeiffer, and construction on the apartment block began that same year. The builders borrowed over $800,000 from the New York Life Insurance Company, and obtained a second mortgage to John Charles Anderson for a total investment of $2 million. By 1887, after taking three loans from New York Life, Phyfe and Campbell found that they did not have enough funds to complete the apartment block. The extent to which the apartment building was completed before the builders’ bankruptcy is unclear. In February 1888, brothers Eugene M. and Frank Earle entered contract to lease the hotel from Phyfe and Campbell, and furnish it. New York Life concurrently foreclosed on the apartment building, and that September, bought it at public auction for $925,000. Shortly afterward, New York Life decided to remodel the interiors completely, hiring architects McKim, Mead & White to complete the hotel. New York Life leased the hotel to Frederick A. Hammond in 1889, and the Hammond brothers became the operators of the hotel for the next fifteen years. [from Wikipedia]
@Mackensen Ah, that’s what you were refering to (definitely don’t believe that any other drawings exist of that design), but it’s still very apparent that that iteration of the project never saw the light of day in any form as what was built of the original Plaza Hotel was the hotel building that started construction in 1883 (as seen in that 1888 photo), it’s not the extremely decorative chateau design.
The 7th and 8th floor design elements and the mansard elements on the roof were probably added to the design before 1888 to try to have some elements of that old iteration before McKim, Mead, and White took over and redid the 7th and 8th floors to be consistent with the lower 6 and removed the mansard elements in favor of a large cornice (a MMW favorite) within the timeframe of 1888-1890. But overall, the vast majority of that first version of the plaza hotel “is” the same building that started in 1883 and opened in 1890, it just went through a slight design change in 1888/89.
As for the model, I normally refrain from taking modeling requests of that nature.
1 Like
I zoomed out the corresponding building from the large image.
I have only found this one photo of the Fifth Ave Plaza Hotel so far, as I also have it in the book. I can very well imagine that there are more photos of it, but they are in private hands. Drawing could exist in architecture books which were printed between 1885 and 1888.
It is worth opening the image in a new tab as it is very high resolution.
This is a photo I took from a NY book from 1890, and it shows the building at the pre-completion stage.
5 Likes
Nice image/find, all the images of the original Plaza Hotel on the internet are very low quality.
I just find it interesting that aside from that 1888 photo (that you’ve zoomed in on) there are no other existing photos on the web that show the older design before MM&W were hired for the last 2 years of construction.
2 Likes
Yes, I know that some original (old) illustrated books have a very large resolution. You can look at the book with a magnifying glass, and I have several of them. But these are books that are well over 130 to 120 years old. Only photographing goes there very badly because they are in a very good and another in good condition.
1 Like
59 years later, this one still hurts.
3 Likes
Had no idea about this building, but I honestly kind of like it.
Grolier Building at 575 Lexington Avenue, with anodized aluminum cladding and yellow tinted glass.
Built in 1958, it was apparently almost universally hated and likened to other ass disasters like the Coliseum and the windowless AT&T Building. It was subject of a recladding in 1990 and sports a black glass curtain wall nowadays.
6 Likes
I am in the group of people that also universally hate(d) the coliseum, I’m glad Deutsche Center (TWC) replaced it lol.
The original Grolier Building façade actually looked interesting, though the tinted glass is hard to discern from the images. The only thing bad about it is that it looked like almost every other plain international style building built in that era. And now it looks like every international style building that’s been reclad before 2000 lol.
2 Likes
7 Likes
It is the most famous destroyed building in New York the old Penn.
Casino
MSG 2
7 Likes
What an interesting little building that casino is.
I don’t want to make controversy, but as for Pennsylvania Station, I’d say it’s the most famous “demolished” building in the city, the most famous (regrettably) “destroyed” buildings would be the original WTC, the words mean the same thing but have different connotations.
It’s so interesting to think that the old MSG’s only took up parts of a block or a full block and now it’s 2 blocks wide.
6 Likes
Old Mail Service Building, just in case anyone was wondering what 237 Park Avenue used to look like before that awful 80s reskin
Depew Place loading dock, note the bridge that connected Grand Central to the Post Office
Copper skybridge that connected it to the New York Central Building
At night in 1968
11 Likes
