St Raphael's Roman Catholic Church

Built in 1900-1902

Photographed in 2012

The Church of Saints Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael. is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 502 West 41st Street in Hell's Kitchen / Clinton, Manhattan, New York City, near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. It was established in 1974 from the parish merger of St. Raphael's Roman Catholic Church and SS. Cyril & Methodius and is staffed by the Franciscan Friars. The church is located in the former St. Raphael's Church. It is the city's Croatian American parish.

The church building and "dwelling house" (used as a rectory) was built between 1900 and 1902 ("in marble" according to some) as the Parish Church of St. Raphael to the designs by the New York architect George H. Streeton for $90,000 (for the church) and $25,000 (for the dwelling house). The twin-towered design and front facade is composed of Manhattan schist trimmed with limestone; the rest of the church is brick trimmed with stone.
(Source: Wikipedia)

The Towers - Jackson Heights

The Towers 34 Avenue, 33-15 to 33-51 80th Street, Jackson Heights, NY
Andrew J. Thomas / 1923-25 / Neo-Romanesque

Jackson Heights is a unique neighborhood in the history and development
of New York City. Some of the city's first co-ops and large private gardens
were introduced by the Queensboro Corporation in the 1920s. It was an era
of architectural experiment and a bold attempt to create a model "garden city."

The Towers is a landmark co-op building in Jackson Heights Queens.
One of the most prestigious addresses in Jackson Heights, it was once
home to Edward A. MacDougall, Jackson Height's original planner and
the President of the Queensboro Corporation. THe towers represents the
zenith of full-block architectural imagery in Jackson Heights.
There are 8 buildings, guarded by griffins and connected by lush gardens
surging around them, enclosing a private park.

Reference:
Tour of Jackson Heights Co-ops and Historic Architecture

"30 Rock", the Rockefeller Center, NYC

30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112
Built in 1933, Photographed in 2010

Popularly known as “30 Rock”,  the GE Building is a slim gothic skyscraper and the centerpiece of the
Rockefeller Center complex. At 850ft (259m) with 70 floors, it is the tallest, grandest and most dazzling
of the Rockefeller Center buildings. The landmark emanates a futuristic, larger-than-life grace, despite its
bulky limestone base, which garnered another nickname: “The Slab.” The 70-story Art Deco building
was originally constructed for the Radio Corporation of America in 1933 (formally known as RCA
building), and was exceptionally modern for its time, with a contemporary open lobby and even
escalators connecting the ground floor to lower level shops.

The top floor of the building is an event room and restaurant named the Rainbow Room, above that is
the Top of the Rock observation deck. The building is the setting for the famous "Lunchtime atop a
Skyscraper" photograph, taken by Charles C. Ebbets in 1932 of workers having lunch, sitting on a steel
beam, without safety harnesses. The 840-foot (260 m) drop lies below.

One of the little known but fascinating parts of Rockefeller Center is the underground concourse, known
as a 'city in the city'. It is an exceptional example of civic planning. All buildings share a common design
style, Art Deco, and are connected to each other via an underground concourse, the Catacombs. This
interconnected series of pedestrian passages stretches from 47th Street to 51st Street, and from 5th
Avenue to 7th Avenue. The concourse, New York's largest underground city, contains retail shops, fast
food, fine dining, post office, and subway entrances.

One of the first escalators provided access to this concourse from the lobby. The open lobby was the first of its time and rich materials, reduced black and beige ornamental scheme is enhanced by dramatic
lighting. Granite covers the building base to a height of 4ft (1.2m), and the shaft has a refined facade of
Indiana limestone with aluminum spandrel panels.

In 1985 the GE Building was given official landmark status.

To view more photographs, visit my flickr slideshow, or thumbnails.

New York Public Library

Fifth Avenue, bet. 40th and 42nd Street, NY, NY
Architecture by Carrere & Hastings
Established in 1895, Opened in 1911, Photographed in 2010

This historical piece of architecture, the library, together with McKim, Mead & White's demolished
Pennsylvania Station and Warren & Wetmore's and Reed & Stem's Grand Central Terminal, is
one of the top examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in United States.

The construction began in 1902, and it consumed enormous budget of 9 million dollars, as the project
would grow over time. The whole things took 9 years to build. It took a half of time to build the outside
of the building , and it took the equal amount of time, almost 4 and a half years to build the inside.
Partially because they designed not only the walls or ceilings, but also they designed the chairs, tables
and shelves. As you see in some of their main rooms, such as the rose reading room (the picture on top),
everything has a certain level of synchronicity. This gorgeously decorated rose reading room is nearly
300ft long, with 52-foot high ceilings.

The exterior white marble came from Vermont and two-thirds of it was rejected as not high enough
quality. The marble walls are one foot thick and the basement of the structure has additional brick walls
four feet thick.

The first book that was ever checked out at the NY public library, by the way, was "Ethical Ideas of Our
Time" a study of Friedrich Nietzsche and Leo Tolstoy. The slip was introduced at 9:08 am, and he got
his book 6 minutes later.

The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

Due to the current 2009 economic crisis, NYPL is facing a $23.2 million funding cut when the new
fiscal year begins July 1. This will result in the expected elimination of 465 jobs, and in sharply scaled
back branch operating hours. To make an action, please visit the following link:
Don't close the book

Reference:
-Bowery Boys Podcast, episode #17
-NYC-Architecture
-Wikipedia

To view the rest of interior photographs, visit my flickr slideshow, or thumbnails.

Museum Of Modern Art, NYC

11 West 53rd Street (Between 5th and 6th Ave), NY, NY
Architecture by Yoshio Taniguchi
Renovated in 2004, Photographed in 2010

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has been singularly important in developing and collecting
modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world.

The idea for The Museum of Modern Art was originated by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (wife of John D. Rockefeller Jr.). In 1925, she started collecting Modern and European Art to decorate her own homes. Later, she turned a part of her apartment into a gallery. It was called the Topside Gallery. It was on the 7th floor of her home on 44th street. The room itself, the gallery was intimate, sort of like a nicer version of parent's living room. There, she was able to express her personality through those arts. Her taste went into folk art, modern art, she had a particular fondness for Henri Matisse. According to her biography, she loved experimentation, was open to new ideas. She wished to branch this out a little further, and provide a way to support artists and present these arts to the public.

However her husband was not supportive to any of those. In fact, he opposed it. He thought it was too
extravagant. Accoring to her biography, in 1933, her husband hired a couple of doctors to say she was
having a nervous breakdown that she needed to be in a bed for months. Two of her sons confirmed that
was made up. However that didn't stop Abby from working on a museum. There were moments that she popped out the bed, get as much done as possible, and jump back into the bed, and do the sick routine. Apparently she worked around it. She eventually came across two of the lady friends, who worked on the foundation of the museum with, Lillie P. Bliss and Mary Quinn Sullivan.
They became known variously as "the Ladies", "the daring ladies" and "the adamantine ladies". They
rented modest quarters for the new museum and it opened to the public on November 7, 1929, nine days after the Wall Street Crash.

The first director, Alfred H. Barr Jr., was a 27 years-old promising young protege. From that position, he was one of the most influential forces in the development of popular attitudes toward modern art; He
expanded the meaning of the word "modern art". To him it included film, design, architecture, and
photography. He actively and purposely used that definition when he did the exhibits, and shocked a lot
of people. Today, MOMA reflects what he was doing back then. His achievements accumulated
quickly; the Museum held its first loan exhibition in November, on the Post-Impressionists Van Gogh,
Cézanne, Gauguin, and Seurat. Perhaps Barr's most memorable and enduring accomplishment in his
directorial capacity was the Picasso retrospective of 1939-1940, which caused a reinterpretation of the
artist's work and established the model for all future retrospectives at the Museum.

MoMA's midtown location underwent extensive renovations in the early 2000s, closing on May 21,
2002. From June 29, 2002 until September 27, 2004, a portion of its collection was on display in what
was dubbed MoMA QNS, a former Swingline staple factory in the Long Island City section of Queens.
Museum re-opened on Nov 20th, 2004, MoMA's reopening brought controversy as its admission cost
increased from US$12 to US$20, making it one of the most expensive museums in the city; however it
has free entry on Fridays after 4pm, thanks to sponsorship from Target Stores.

To view more photographs, visit my flickr slideshow, or thumbnails.

New York State Pavilion at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NYC

Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY
Built in 1964, Photographed in 2010

The New York State Pavilion was constructed for the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
Designed by architect Philip Johnson, the “Tent of Tomorrow” measures 350 feet by 250 feet, with
sixteen 100-foot columns suspending a 50,000 square-foot roof of multi-colored panels. The popular
exhibit for the state of New York also held three towers, measuring 60 feet, 150 feet, and 226 feet. The
two shorter towers held cafeterias for the fair, and the tallest tower, as the highest point of the fair, held
an observation deck. Fair visitors ascended the towers in the “Sky Streak” capsule elevators.

The New York State Pavilion also included the adjacent “Theaterama,” which exhibited pop art works
by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) and Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) among others. The “Theaterama” also
screened a 360-degree film about the wonders of New York State, from Jones Beach to Niagara Falls.
The space was converted to the Queens Playhouse in 1972 with its first production, George Bernard
Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” opening in October of the same year. The theater continued to operate until 1985
and was renovated and reopened in 1994.

Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, often referred to as Flushing Meadow Park, is the second-largest
public park in the City of New York (after Pelham Bay Park in The Bronx., It was created as the site of
the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair and also hosted the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair. It is
maintained and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

To view more photographs of the park, visit my flickr slideshow, or thumbnails.

Further reading about the New York State Pavillion:
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/nypavilion/index.htm

Radio City Music Hall, Interior, NYC

1260 Sixth Avenue (aka Avenue of the Americas), NY, NY
Built in 1932, Photographed in 2010

Radio City Music hall is the corner stone of the Rockefeller Center office complex buildings on 50th
street and 6th avenue. This really is the showcased jewels of the center, and the classic example of Art
deco style. It is the largest theatre in town.

The interior was declared a city landmark in 1978. It was was designed by Donald Deskey, who won
the competition. He designed over 30 spaces inside the theatre including 8 lounges, smoking rooms, and
etc. Each room has its own theme, and he worked with all manners of different artists. A lot of them, by
the way, were recommended by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s wife, Abby, who just had opened the
Museum of Modern Art. Some of the artists designed some of the pieces that ended up in the Radio City.
One of them, who didn't, but who had signed a contract, was Georgia O'Kieff. She was all ready to go,
and was going to design a mural in a lady's room. However, at that time, she was becoming a very well
known artist, and her husband, who was a little bit of controller, thought she wasn't getting enough
money, and demanded 3 times as much money. Eventually by the time they had it all sorted out, because
she really wanted to do it, she had no time to finish it. She went in, started it, and left with having a
nervous breakdown and quit.

Donald Deskey, in his later career, took a chance and started a graphic design firm and designed some of
the most recognizable icons of the American domestic products, such as the Crest toothpaste, the Tide
bullseye, Jif peanut butter, and Pampers disposable diapers.

Reference
-The Bowery Boys: New York City History

To view more photos of the interior of the building, visit my flickr slideshow, or thumbnails.

The Bowery Savings Bank, Subway Entrance, NYC

110-120 East 42nd Street, NYC
Built in 1923, Photographed in 2004

It’s difficult to grasp how many different kinds of stone and marble and other fine materials those who
planned and built the Bowery Savings Bank brought together. Both the exterior and the interior of the
bank building, at 110-120 East 42nd Street in Manhattan, are designated as New York City landmarks.

The building doesn’t call as much attention to itself as other beautiful, eye-catching landmarks in the city.
Still, it looks like a piece of an Old Europe city tucked across from Grand Central Station, with its grand
rounded arches, detailed stone carving, and a rock-solidness that feels centuries old though it was
constructed in the early 20th century.

Further reading:
-Bowery Savings: The World in a Building

Show Window at Bloomingdale's, NYC

Built in 1931, Photographed in 2004

Bloomingdale's, a chain of upscale American department stores owned by Macy's, Inc., has 36 stores
nationwide, with annual sales of $1.9 billion dollars. Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers
Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on
Manhattan's Lower East Side. In 1872, Bloomingdale's expanded and opened their East Side Bazaar, a
harbinger of the modern "department store."

In 1886, it moved to 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, still their flagship store, anticipating and
capitalizing on the northern movement of New York's upper and middle classes. By 1929,
Bloomingdale's covered an entire city block. Two years later, the glamorous Art Deco edifice that still
graces Lexington Avenue was completed.

Tavern on Green, NYC

Built in 1934
Photographed in Dec. 2008

Tavern on the Green was originally created as an 'affordable' dining alternative for the middle class,
located in Central Park on the Upper West Side of New York City, in the United States. With 2007
gross revenues of $38 million, from more than 500,000 visitors, it was the second highest-grossing
independently-owned restaurant in the United States (behind The Venetian's Tao restaurant in Las
Vegas, at $67 million).  Of the several dining rooms, the most famous was the Crystal Room (picture on
the top), which features windows overlooking the restaurant's adjacent garden in Central Park.

Tavern on the Green had its last seating on December 31, 2009. It is auctioning off its interior
decorations and closing its doors because of bankruptcy.

One Court Square, NYC

1 Court Square, Long Island City, NY
Built in 1990, Photographed in 2004


One Court Square, also known as the Citigroup Building, is a 50-story (209.1 meters or 686 feet) office
tower in Long Island City, Queens just outside of Manhattan. It was completed in 1990 by Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill LLP for Citigroup. The tower is tallest in New York City outside Manhattan,
also known as Pulse87.7 broadcasts from the top of this building.
It is not to be mistaken for the Citigroup Center in Manhattan, which is across the street from Citigroup's
main headquarters at 399 Park Avenue. The buildings are one subway stop away from each other along
the E train.

Maritime Hotel, NYC

363 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011
Built in 1966, Photographed in 2005

Guest rooms built for members of a sailors' union - each with windows shaped like portholes - and later
used by runaway teenagers and then by visitors from China are now occupied by hip visitors to New
York in what is now the Maritime Hotel.

The hotel is the latest incarnation of the white-tile 12-story structure that occupies the blockfront on the
east side of Ninth Avenue between 16th and 17th Streets.

For further reading:
Maritime Hotel in wired new york

McDonald's on 42nd Street, NYC

220 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
Photographed in 2004

Time Warner Center

Columbus Circle, NYC
Built in 2003, photographed in 2005

Exxon Building, NYC

1251 Avenue of America, NY, NY
Built in 1971, photographed in 2005

The Exxon Building, more widely known by its address, 1251 Avenue of the Americas, was part of the
later Rockefeller Center expansion (1960s-1970s) dubbed the "XYZ Buildings" on Sixth Avenue, (also
known as Avenue of the Americas). Their plans were first drawn in 1963 by The Rockefeller family's
architect, Wallace Harrison of the architectural firm, Harrison and Abramovitz.

James Watson House, NYC

7 State Street, New York, NY, 10004
Built in 1793, photographed in 2005

James Watson House (currently part of the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton) was built in 1793. It is
located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, across from Battery Park. It was the family home of
Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint, and is now the site of a Roman Catholic shrine in her
honor.

For Further reading:
SHRINE OF ST. ELIZABETH ANN BAYLEY SETON and James Watson house

Confucius Plaza Apartments, NYC

Built in 1975, photographed in 2005

Confucius Plaza Apartments is a limited-equity housing cooperative in Chinatown, Manhattan. The 44
story (433 ft (132 m)) tower block with 760 apartments was constructed in 1975 at a cost of
$38,387,000. The coop members are almost exclusively Chinese Americans. The complex is located
north of Chatham Square at the intersection of Bowery and Division Street.

Nathan's Famous, NYC

1310 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Built in 1916, photographed in 2003.

Nathan’s Famous was founded by a Polish immigrant, Nathan Handwerker, and his is truly an authentic
“only in America story.” He started his business in 1916 with a small hot dog stand in Coney Island, New
York. He sold hot dogs that were manufactured based on a recipe developed by his wife, Ida. 


Today, Nathan's reaches millions of customers through traditional and captive market restaurant
operations, a branded product program introduced throughout the food service industry and packaged
products sold in supermarkets.


For further reading:
Nathan's famous Homepage

The Music PalaceTheater on Bowery St, NYC

91-93 Bowery Street, (on the corner of Hester St.) New York, NY 10002
Photographed in 2004

The Music Palace, the last surviving Chinese movie theater in Chinatown, was closed for business sometime around 2000.
The building is currently demolished for a new retail/residential development.

Further readings:
NYC China Town - Bowery Street -
Theater Info

Plaza Hotel, NYC

Central Park South & Fifth Ave
New York, NY 10019

Built in 1907

Photographed in 2004