WTC progress

Just a quick post and a few pictures to show the progress at the WTC site, the soon to be Reflecting Absence memorial in the footprints of the towers.  They tested the waterfalls a few weeks ago.

I haven't gotten choked up about September 11 in a long time, but the size of the memorial is staggering when you see it for the first time. It was difficult to view, but I guess it's supposed to be.

That's part of the footprint of the South Tower, I think that's a generator and lights being hoisted up.

The South Tower footprint/Reflecting Absence being born...

The view from the Winter Garden.  I've been at this spot maybe a dozen times since September 11 and for years the feeling was like you were looking at a construction site.  With the memorials in view now, the feeling here is starting to change.


The opposite direction of the above view....

Harriet Tubman in Harlem: Not a Typical Outdoor Sculpture

There's somewhere around 200 works of outdoor sculpture in Manhattan.  Works in human form come in two basic types: real historical (e.g. George Washington), and allegorical, representing some sort of ideal (e.g. blindfolded justice).  I'm not sure where Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan figure in, but we'll put them aside for now.  Of allegorical figures, the numbers are about even: 30 or so each of men and women representing everything from Heroism and Mercy to Truth and Beauty.

Of the real historical figures, though, Manhattan has something on the order of 94 men and--up until Harriet Tubman set down on West 122nd in Harlem--5 women.  Women who have risen to statue-worthy status are Joan of Arc, Eleanor Roosevelt (both in Riverside Park), Gertrude Stein (Bryant Park), Golda Meir (a bust on Broadway at 39th Street), and Mother Clara Hale (152 West 122nd).

Technically I suppose we could include the enlarged replica of Picasso's Head of Sylvette in the courtyard of  NYU's Silver Towers, but 1. It's cubism and resembles a spaceship as much as a human head, and 2. She was Picasso's mistress, no Joan of Arc or Roosevelt. I suppose we could also count the statuettes along the facade of the I. Miller building at 46th Street in Times Square of Ethyl Barrymore, Marilyn Miller, Mary Pickford and Rosa Ponselle.  I vote no because 1. Like allegorical figures each represents one of the theatrical arts: musical comedy, drama, opera and film, and 2. They are each represented as a character they were noted for, not themselves.

Now, of the 200 or so sculptures in Manhattan, I have counted only about 6 or so in Harlem (though I'm not considering Morningside or Hamilton Heights, which can justifiably be considered Harlem).  So the arrival of Harriet Tubman at 122nd Street and 7th Ave satisfies two shortcomings in the city's statuary stock: a statue of a historic woman, and another statue in Harlem.  Here she is, along with some of the other outdoor sculpture of Harlem...  (and thanks to Lee Gelber for always expanding my knowledge of New York.) 

I'll let the plaque speak for itself...be sure to read the last paragraph to understand the details in the monument

I made these especially large so you can see the details in the sculpture

 

Details along the base...

Other Harlem sculpture...

Harlem Hybrid, 1976 by Richard Hunt. An abstract rock outcropping on 125th Street with St. Joseph's Church behind...

Frederick Douglass (at 110th Street, maybe more Central Park than Harlem)...

Ghost of the Broadway Central Hotel

My first post is a simple interesting one. I had just read Alone Together: A History of New York’s Early Apartments and had the book with me when I skated over to the site of the old Broadway Central Hotel (the west side of Broadway just north of the Bond Street intersection).  It was built in 1871 and collapsed, as a welfare hotel, in 1973.  The site is an NYU dormitory today. I saw a very distinct shape incised on the adjacent building where the hotel once stood. I pulled out the book and looked at a picture of the old hotel.  Sure enough, the mark on the building was left from the old hotel, sometimes referred to as a ghost or a palimpsest. Here it is...

Notice the distinct shape of the "Broadway Central Hotel" sign in the upper left corner. It juts out a bit from the main building...

The mark on the adjacent building (built after the above picture) matches perfectly...

The site of the old hotel today is an NYU dormitory (behind the trees). Also, you can see the red brick building from the old post card view is still standing!

Look closely at the side of the building above the tree branches!