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Just yesterday we were discussing the destruction of the Rivington Street Temple. That was a real loss for the Lower East Side. The building was a classic: arguably beautiful, with real historic value. Contrast that to the Catholic Center at NYU at 58 Washington Square South. This is an ugly building, styled in the conventions of the post-war brutalism movement. The interior is slightly more pleasing to the eye, but the overall, the structure is a blight on the neighborhood. As such, we were glad to hear news that the Archdiosese has decided to knock it down. Washington Square News reports:
A hangman’s house turned house of God, the Catholic Center at NYU has its share of idiosyncrasies — including a six-pointed star.But after 42 years of sitting on Washington Square South, the building and its stained-glass Star of David will be torn down at the end of the summer because of its dire conditions, financial issues stemming from a pricey energy bill and the possibility of better utilizing of the space.
The 315-person capacity chapel, which currently serves the NYU Roman Catholic community, will be rebuilt in two or three years. The smaller 100-person capacity chapel will only occupy part of the 35,000 square foot plot, said Father John P. McGuire, the Director of the Catholic Center. It is not known what will be built in the remaining space.
Let's just hope the new building is better looking than the current one!
UPDATE: some commenters were incensed that we condemned the church as being ugly, so we took another long look today. Turns out that it's even uglier than we originally thought! Calling it a visual blight on the neighborhood is being kind. The concrete facade is dingy and dirty, the proportions are horrible, and the brick facing may have seemed like a good idea in the 1960s, but it looks terrible now. Sorry to be so harsh, but the Catholics at NYU deserve a much better building for their masses. WWJD? He'd bulldoze it and build something new.
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If NYU is any way involved, not a chance. The real questions are: Dorm Hall or Luxury Apartments? And will it be tall enough to blot out all of the sunlight reaching the park, or just most of it?
Careful, there. It's still a house of worship for someone else's religion. Might not be the prettiest one around, but there's still something sacred about it for Catholics. It's not exactly something you can poop on.
Also, at least it blends well with a few buildings in the area. And it'd probably look great in Albany.
I don't think this building is ugly at all. I find it kind of cool in a concrete bungalow kind of way.
The previous poster was correct, its destruction is tied to money and development rather than aesthetics.
I quie agree with ace, i actually don't find the building ugly. It's a bit strange and out of place, but that gives is character.
While it may not be the greatest building (although I do like it), the new construction that NYU has been putting up in the neighborhood is simply aweful. That new building on LaGuardia and Union Square South in paticularly vomit-inducing.
I fondly remember Sunday service there, attending after a brisk walk in my PJs....sad to see it go.
It may not be from an architectural period you like, but it's not ugly and the likelihood that what replaces it will be is high.
This is not good news.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! It's kinda funky in a weird way.
Sad. I also like the building. Sad to see it go. I'm sure whatever they put up there will be 100 times more tacky and unappealing.
A blight on the neighborhood? Wow. Catholic NYU students have been worshipping there for 42 years.
I'm aware that you think all Judaica in this city is beautiful and wonderful, but that doesn't mean your opinions are everyone else's, you stupid prick.
It is ugly, but at least it's small and ugly, which can sometimes be kinda appealing, like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.
As opposed to what will replace it, which I guarantee will be BIG and ugly.
Funny how I'm sure we will hear from both educators (NYU) and religious (Catholic Church, my church BTW) how this is an attempt to improve and beautify the neighborhood and just do the right thing and feed the soul and the spirit and it's not about money; but make no mistake, when they say it's not about the money, it's about the money.
Definitely a poorly-worded headline, but on the other hand, Jake (I think) did post something a few weeks ago about a non-ugly church he was sorry to see close.
Also, I'm not Jack, but what is the deal with Jake's posts? Seriously, stick with taking pictures and dealing with behind-the-scenes stuff and let Jen write the prose.
This is the coolest looking church in the Universe. It looks like they are worshipping Xenu.
Every generation hates what came before. Mid 20th century architecture is being destroyed at an alarming rate. I'm not a huge fan of this building, but I think it's a safe bet that it will be missed in a number of years - especially it's replaced with another cheap box.
i don't think it's ugly. the geometric exploration of the concrete slab movement is interesting to me, and i love new york city for its architectural diversity... representing so many recent design periods.
but if we're talking ugly, let's point out that big NYU building next to it.
"but if we're talking ugly, let's point out that big NYU building next to it."
To expand on that, if we're talking ugly how about ALL of the NYU development in the area once known as the Village.
Focusing on this one building and praising its destruction is questionable in the light of the 'Palladium' dorms where the old Palladium was and the Bottom Line 'NYU Violet Lounge'.
Can't wait to see the Irving Plaza NYU Adult Ed. Extension and the Blue Note NYU Freshman Orientation Center.
It looks like a place Party Members go for the Two-Minute Hate. I can't believe the Catholic Church actually bought into Modern architecture. If I had a blank check, I'd replace it with a Victorian-Gothic or Georgian style chapel.
"Also, at least it blends well with a few buildings in the area. And it'd probably look great in Albany"
Word to that, I went to college in Albany and lived a block from Empire State Plaza. ESP has been maligned for political, practical and aesthetic reasons but I've always thought it was pretty in a "Behold! It's the City of the Future! (Brought to you by your friends from 1964)" way.
I've been told that it's one of the finer examples of this archetectural movement... and sadly, SUNY Albany (my alma mater) is one of the worst. The long standing rumor was that the design of the school was originally intended for a prison in Arizona.
Maybe that's why I think the Catholic Center looks pretty neat... it would probably look much better if it was given a power wash.
That church looks like a refugee from the 1964 World's Fair, possibly the "Catholicism in the Future" Pavilion.
Ugly? Are you insane? It has CHARACTER, something we are losing every day as more and more buildings get torn down for glass-walled condos or whatever. It's a bit suburban, but I'm sure whatever replaces it will be even more so.
I like it. Reminds me of St. John's Abbey in Collegville, Minnesota -- a very strange poured concrete building (see this link: http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/St_Johns_Abbey.html) designed by Marcel Breuer in the 50s. Or Eric Mendelsohn's synagogue in St. Paul, Minnesota -- also from the fifties (see here: http://www.cala2.umn.edu/arch5512/KammerMcNallanGiesen_Fields/ConstructionProject.html).
Eh, the church isn't REALLY ugly, but it's definitely not my favorite building in New York.
But Kimmel (that NYU building next door)? Is awesome. Ok, it may not be the prettiest thing ever to look at, but the interior makes up for that. I love you, Kimmel!
I think it's ugly, too, but I'd much rather live with a small, not so pretty, church, than whatever high-rise shit scrap development will likely go up (and is likely the real reason for demolition).
I actually really like this building -- I'd only just seen it a week ago after watching a guy juggling fire in Wash. Square. I actually stopped to gawk at how cool it was for awhile. And I hate most brutalist stuff.
Wow, what a beautiful building. I can't believe you'd say terrible things about it. Well, I guess all these super-snide NY'ers said terrible things about the WTC and then BOOM! one day they all cried a river of tears and said it was there favorite building. curious, huh?
beauty is in the eye of the beholder right?
Try spending all four years of your undergrad on an entire campus done in the "Brutalism" style (http://www.aviso.net/chicago/higherlearning/uic/uic.jpg).
Brutal is right. Yuck. I won't be sad to see this eyesore gone.
"When you're talking about the skyline of tomorrow, you're up against two schools of thought. The first is that of the "serious" architects-- the sort Modernist dreamers that did away with all that bourgeois ornamentation and obsolete classical nonsense in favour of good, clean lines suitable for the enlightenment of the proletariat who didn't know what was good for them.
They loved to plop down great slabs of brick that were cities unto themselves in vast plains of concrete dotted with trees that gave no shade, marble benches that no human being could sit comfortably on, steps that were so wide and low that they made you walk like a duck, and nothing to give any pedestrian any protection from the elements. In the summer you roasted under the sun and in the winter you froze in the raw northern winds. But it gave the paperboard models a wonderful sense of perspective.
It's all horrible, so why do it? Because it was all so anti-bourgeois and it was the sort of place where, in the words of Alexi Sayle, 'They expected working class people to wander around discussing Chekov.'"
-Tomorrow's Skyline
I am an NYU '02 Grad. This place means so much to me that I hate to see it go. As students worshipping at this chapel, my friends and I would call that big stone Jesus figure "RoboJesus." It definitely had it's odd features, but over the course of four years it became a sort of second home. We saw friends get married there, our many traditions celebrated there, and made many new friends there.
It may different, it may be odd, but it's definitely not ugly. I would hope that there would be more respect for a place of worship and a place that many people hold dear.
I live across the park from this church and I've prayed there many times. I wouldn't call it an eyesore -- it's not architecturally beautiful, but it's nice because it's small. I hate the elitist urban architectural ideal that everything has to be beautiful instead of just functional.
And yes, you can guarantee that NYU will be going for another 30-floor shadowcaster...
Jesus would build it out of wood.
Every faith has some ugly houses of worship, and this one really _is_ ugly.
I was there often, and it always struck me as a graceless mix of Brutalist parking garage plus bomb-shelter: squat and civil-defensive looking, as if it were designed to withstand attacking hordes from the Square.
I know that some have sentimental ties to it, and NYU is eating the neighborhood alive -- but that still doesn't make it a gem.