Wanted to share some really neat details I noticed while scouting in Chelsea the other day. This building, at the corner of 23rd & Ninth, is known as London Terrace Gardens and actually stretches all the way to 10th Ave. When it was built in 1931, it was considered the largest apartment building in the…
Next time you’re heading over the Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn, either driving or on the pedestrian walkway, be sure to check out the public school on the south side. PS 110 (the Florence Nightingale school) has one of my favorite school adornments in the city… …a roof covered in owls! They’re perched everywhere, from these…
I really dig the motif on this building, The Umbria, at 82nd St and West End Ave… …which I choose to describe as Evil Jester design. I like how the crooked nose sticks way out, and how it feels like you could actually put your hand in his mouth. Is that wolf part of his…
I was scouting around the West 70’s over by Riverside Drive when I saw this really, really interesting building ornamented in an incredible dragon motif (map link): It’s literally covered in dragons, starting with these lining the balcony, each with its own shield: These two look like they’re sharing a joke: Then, beautifully nestled in…
I’ve been scouting for something around Times Square/Hell’s Kitchen over the last week (as evidenced by some of my recent posts), and I noticed this great building on 9th Ave between 52nd and 53rd. Above each window on the second and third floor are these awesome busts of…well, I’m not really sure what. They sort…
It’s funny how you stumble on interesting bits in the unlikeliest of places. I was scouting Broadway in Brooklyn, which runs underneath the elevated JMZ train and is basically a series of greasy restaurants, dollar stores, and bodegas. If you look closely, partially covered up by the 99ยข store sign is this really great sculpture,…
I’m not sure how well you can see these from the ground, but adorning the corners of this building are some great pharaohs, complete with headdresses and wings: As a sidenote, if you look at the buildings to the left, you’ll see some bear heads keeping watch: -SCOUT
Way over on West 59th Street between 10th and 11th is this great little Parks Department rec center, dwarfed on all sides by ultra-modern glass-curtain highrises. Once a bath house, the rec center now houses a public pool. What I especially love about this building are the two aquatic sculptures in the upper corners. In…
One of my favorites bits in Times Square can be found on West 40th Street between Broadway and 6th. It’s two blocks from the main Times Square action, and you can feel the frantic energy vanish as soon as you turn onto the street. If you look closely at the building to the left, you’ll…
I was in midtown today scouting around East 48th Street, an area with a ton of archetypal New York hotels (The Waldorf-Astoria, The Intercontinental, The Benjamin, The Marriott East Side, etc., etc., etc.). I happened to notice something on the W Hotel at 541 Lexington that I haven’t ever before: elephants! They’re actually somewhat difficult…