Gothamist: NY Times Architecture Critic's Tear Down Wish List

soopaman

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:16:13 -0500

Blue building is awesome!! I want to add the Time Warner center. The Liberty tower should be torn down the day its completed(if its ever built).

cahbasm

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:17:29 -0500

yeah i never really thought how bad madison square garden and penn station are... pure garbage... spot on with everything though...

NannyState

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:18:29 -0500

9W57th. That shockingly hideous Verizon tower in Lower Manhattan. 55 Water St. 1 New York Plaza. The Jacob Javits Federal Bldg., not the Javits Center. And While I dislike most anything Trump's name is affixed to, I'd just like to see that name blasted off every building with tank fire.

Andrew Wiseman

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:51:53 -0500

How about every Duane Reade facade?

Kojak

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:20:13 -0500

If it was still standing, I would've added the World Trade Center to this list.

tingo

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:16:48 -0500

How about the ugly complex monstrosity just above Houston between the west and east village? It's a dead zone.

BongoBoy

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:27:01 -0500

Here's a few that should go away, not only for their unmitigated fugliness but for their main tenants: 1) 450 West 33rd Street at 10th Avenue. The building that straddles the train tracks just west of Penn Station. 2) 620 Eighth Avenue, across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal. It's a rather new build, with no redeeming qualities fit to print. 3) The Port Authority Bus Terminal.

JMH

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:38:58 -0500

"Yes, because New York is in such DIRE NEED for new apartment buildings right now. Let's rip down a building that generates revenue." I think there's a pretty significant need for reasonably priced rental properties in NYC. It's overpriced condos that we've got a glut of. (Of course, if the Javits Center were redeveloped into housing, I have a hunch it'd be the latter rather than the former.)

Gregoire

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:20:50 -0500

I'm very happy to see nobody saying the Met Life Building. That old thing has paid its dues.

Billiamsburg

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:12:40 -0500

How about public housing in general? could open up lots of great land when we get over that failed experiment.

ides_of_march

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:58:53 -0500

I'd rather tear down some of the concrete boxes with 50 Fedders air conditioners embedded in the facade that keep sprouting up all over Queens. Could somebody please put at least a minimal effort into the aethestics of these building? These eye-sores look like public housing in Uzbekistan.

Toby von Meistersinger

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:58:10 -0500

Off the top of my head: Anything "designed" by Frank Ghery. Anything with the word "Trump" attached to it. The United Nations.

Doctor Memory

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:56:17 -0500

The west side Trump buildings: dear god yes. I'll happily chip in for the dynamite. In combination with the west side highway (which should have been sunk underground decades ago, or just eliminated entirely), they're an ugly iron curtain dividing New Yorkers from their own waterfront.

JGNY

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:54:25 -0500

It's a good list Nicolai put together. I would add 60 Wall (I think it's the Deustch Bank now). It represents all that is terrible in 1980's architecture and banking culture. http://www.nyc-architecture.com/LM/LM027-MORGANBANK.htm Also, despite the obviously sacred place the WTC now holds in our memories it would have taken the cake for the worst in NY in terms of planning, design, and non-functionallity.

Spiritof76

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:44:19 -0500

I'd like to submit any building that carries the Trump name, with the possible exceptions of buildings that he bought rather than built. Besides, should Atlantic Yards ever be built, it will singlehandedly take over the list.

matty

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:28:17 -0500

Hmmm yeah, I guess it's pretty unique. Ok it stays! :D

Jen Chung

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:23:06 -0500

@matty, interesting, Ouroussoff loves the Blue.

matty

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:20:51 -0500

What about that blue glass building in the LES?

Think twice

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:19:26 -0500

IMO: Madison Square Garden Yes. Trump Place Indifferent. Javits Center Why? Mt. Sinai Med Ctr. Yes. 375 Pearl Street Hell yes. Astor Place Indifferent. 2 Columbus Cir. Indifferent Add 3 Park Avenue (which replaced this beauty) and Bobst Library to the list.

sinisterteashop

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:16:15 -0500

Great list.

Bluealways

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:10:55 -0500

Annenberg sucked from the inside too. And the rust really is making it fall apart. The Verizon building, like 33 Thomas Street, is a major telephone switching center for the entire continent, so I figured the point of the bland Brutalist structures was security.

Gregoire

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:10:27 -0500

"This site would serve better as housing than as a shed for dog shows and car fanatics." Yes, because New York is in such DIRE NEED for new apartment buildings right now. Let's rip down a building that generates revenue.

thenamesdave

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:06:11 -0500

Yay, let's complain for the sake of complaining.

thenebula

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:02:07 -0500

as crappy as the javits center may be, that atrium still looks great in photos like that.