Over the weekend David Byrne's Playing the Building installation opened, ostensibly making the Battery Maritime Building the city's largest instrument. The weekend boasted some long lines for those who wanted to get their fingers on the ivories -- unless of course you were Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, who strolled to the front Saturday to take their turn. The retrofitted organ and all of its pneumatic tubes will be there every weekend through August 10th,......

David Byrne and Creative Time have hooked up to bring the Battery Maritime Building alive this summer (while it's rehabilitation process is ongoing), with an event titled "Playing the Building." When we talked to Byrne in March, he hinted at the project, saying he was working on an "audio installation at the Marine Ferry Terminal – you know, that beautiful empty building at the foot of Manhattan. Creative Time is helping." At the end......

Rendering via Curbed. The NY Times has some new news on the Battery Maritime Building. They pose the question, "What if you had a majestic skylighted, columned hall in a Beaux-Arts ferry building at the tip of Manhattan and were required to use it as a public space? What would you do with it?" This is something that Dermot along with Rogers Marvel architects have been slowly figuring out. Plans were set to include......

Illustration of of the BMT from north and south vantage points, via the NYC Economic Development Corp. Plans to construct a glass addition to the top of the Battery Maritime Building moved a little closer to fruition this week with the approval of Community Board 1. The New York Post reports that the Board was a little concerned about the scale of the glass addition that will be added to the century-old structure, but......

This week, reports the Downtown Express, the Landmarks Preservation Commission recommended that architects incorporate elements of the Battery Maritime Building's original architecture into a proposed plan to renovate and expand the ferry terminal. The Dermot Company seeks to develop a glass boutique hotel (complete with roof lounge) and specialty foods marketplace above the Beaux Arts ferry terminal. The changes at the Battery Maritime Building gives us an inside look at the politics of historic preservation,......

This weekend, you could take a trip back to the 1860s with a visit to Governors Island. It's the Civil War Weekend, and the 119th New York Volunteer Historical Association will "recreate garrison life on Governors Island during the Civil War, portraying officers, soldiers and guards in the Regular Army conducting drills, a guard mount and historic weapons demonstrations." Here's a schedule of events for both Saturday and Sunday: 10:00: Witness the morning calls......

Yesterday, the City announced the official $150 million East River redevelopment plan. The 2 mile esplanade will connect East River and Battery Parks, and have a new "waterfront esplanade with new plantings, benches, tables, repaving, improved lighting and a widened bike path," community space at Pier 15, commercial and cultural pavilions along South Street, new park and open spaces and a new public plaza in front of the Battery Maritime Building; the Fulton Fish......