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Actor, director, producer, critically reviled restaurateur, and hotelier Robert De Niro made a cameo appearance before the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday to defend the penthouse built atop his new Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca.
Some Tribeca residents are urging the commission to force De Niro to tear down the penthouse because its design differs from what was approved four years ago. According to the Times, De Niro pleaded with the commission to retroactively approve the penthouse: “If there are any minor little mistakes, my apologies for it, because in any creation there are those things, and we hope that they’re not in any way misconstrued as being wrong or that we can do it because we want to do it.”
But Nadezhda Williams of the Historic Districts Council said that’s a bunch of raging bull:
It might be understandable that a few mistakes had been made. However, simply put, this is not the penthouse that the commission approved. It is larger and closer to the edges of the building, and the roof line is mansard rather than hipped, making it more visible. It makes it appear more residential and fussy than industrial or a mechanical-style rooftop addition that is normally found on Tribeca rooftops.Whoa, whoa – a mansard roof line? No wonder the neighbors are outraged! Well, not all the neighbors; De Niro’s show biz colleague Edward Burns – reveling in the sudden exposure – professed a philistine’s love for mansard roofs, telling the commission, “The building is beautiful and, for me as a layperson, architecturally beautiful.”
The Daily News has it that the local community board is urging the landmarks commission to legalize the penthouse. But the commission’s chairman sent De Niro and his design team back to drawing board to modify the penthouse and bring it in line with what was originally approved.
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The Historic Districts Council got this one right: the penthouse, indeed, the entire hotel is tres vulgar. And that mansard roofed penthouse looks like a Commerce Bank in Parsippany. Jake La Motta woulda loved tha joint, though.
the landmarks commission is not like other city agencies. visit their offices and compare how you're treated with other city agencies and you'll see.
Edward Burns is a great guy.
For every DeNiro classic, there are at least 11 clunkers, including his Penthouse.
“I remember those cheers. They still ring in my ears. And for years they'll remain in my thoughts. Cuz one night I took off my robe. And what'd I do, I forgot to wear shorts. I recall every fall, every hook, every jab, the worst way a guy could get rid of his flab. As you know, my life was a jab. Though I'd rather hear you cheer, when I delve into Shakespeare, "A Horse, a Horse, my Kingdom for a Horse." I haven't had a winner in six months . I know I'm no Olivier, but if he fought Sugar Ray, he would say, that the thing ain't the ring, it's the play. So gimme a stage, where this bull here can rage. And though I can fight, I'd much rather recite. That's entertainment. That's entertainment.”
Wow, DeNiro is STILL busy ruining Tribeca? I thought he finished that a decade ago.
The non-industrial look of new building in a very post-industrial, residential and affluent neighborhood shouldn't be relevant.
Nice Raging Bull reference Andrew....