Last night, an unoccupied five-story hotel at 22 West 24th Street collapsed; no injuries were reported. The former La Semana Hotel "fell into itself leaving a giant, although relatively tidy, pile of rubble," according to the Post. Witnesses said the 8PM collapse sounded like a bomb explosion and that "floor by floor, the building simply gave in." A fire official told the NY Times, "If this happened during the daytime, during a workday when......

The planned makeover of Washington Square Park inched closer to reality yesterday following a decision by the state appeals court. The new ruling lifts an injunction imposed last summer in response to allegations that the Parks Department had not sufficiently disclosed its renovation plans to Community Board 2, The Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Art Commission. The Sun says the plaintiffs will appeal the decision, but The Times says they're not so sure. Two other......

So what exactly is that a photo of? We're not really so sure (a Van Eyck reference?) but we can think we like it. In any event, it was certainly interesting enough to warrant us clicking on it when it popped into Contribute this morning. And now that we've clicked we're still a little confuzzed. It seems to be related to some sort of "Dueling Re-Enactments" event being put on by the Madagascar Institute,......

So maybe Bloomberg isn't running for President? Or is that just what he wants us to think? Either way, Hizzoner is reportedly about to buy an historic townhouse on 78th and Madison to house his philanthropic ambitions. The property, designed by Stanford White for old New York biggie Stuyvesant Fish (son of NY Governor, Senator and US Secretary of State Hamilton Fish) in 1897, is going for $50M according to the listing on Sotheby's......

Oh snap! Antique dealers, the Times reports, are in a huff over the fate of the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue and 66th Street. The Armory, which was built between 1877 and 1881, has rooms designed by Louis C. Tiffany and Stanford White and it's interiors have been described by the Landmarks Preservation Committee as "the single most important collection of 19th century interiors in one building." But in recent decades it has fallen......

Today, mystery writer M.J. Rose visits Gothamist as part of her Virtual Book Tour, to support her new book, The Halo Effect. The Virtual Book Tour typically has its authors take over a site, posting from there, but we decided not to subject MJ to the nuttiness that is our site, even if she can write a book about Manhattan sex therapist on the trail of a sadistic prostitute killer (which is the plot of......