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SOURCE: GREENPOINTNEWS.COM
TITLE: Beautiful Brooklyn: A Public Art Coalition Gets Rolling
DATE: Mar 05, 2009
AUTHOR: Adriane Quinlan
North Brooklyn may have a global reputation for its glut of artistic talent, but it is also known for not being the prettiest corner of the world—from unkempt curbs to elevated tracks above epic spans of underpass through which shiny cars, breezing to more beautiful places, so quickly pass.
This is the imbalance Councilmember David Yassky’s office was seeking to solve when it held the first meeting of the North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition last week. “We’re politicians,” said aide Rami Metal. “We’re not art organizations. It’s up to artists. It will come from you.”
In the audience were curators, artists and performers who had all come out to learn about existing opportunities outside of gallery walls. If they plant art for public eyes, would the city pay them instead of cuffing them into a cop car alongside a graffiti tagger? Was this a new, recession-inspired WPA ready to support artists through bleak times?
Perhaps, though the message delivered by civic art organizations last week could be frustrating: permits, insurance, proposals and a stack of grant applications must be waded through before the first brick might be laid. The room gasped when Director of the city program Art in the Parks acknowledged that every piece of artwork must be fully insured—a price that hovers between $300 and $500 dollars per month, the going rate of a Bushwick studio.
Still, most were excited that the city was doing something to engage with them. Tanda Francis was fine with lots of applications, as compared with a single gallery owner giving her stuff a glance. “The jury is larger,” she said. “It’s more democratic.” Though her portfolio is comprised of smaller pen and ink drawings, she found that overseeing a mural on a Con Ed building in the Bronx was completely rewarding. “Kids feel like they can’t paint on the walls at home, and here now they’re painting on the side of a building.”
That’s the type of engagement Zachary Barnett and Gabriela Alva, Directors of Eyelevel BQE on Leonard Street, love to see. Their windows look out to an ungainly concrete triangle skirting the BQE and they had come out to learn how to commission an artist to do something there. Barnett noted that it’s part of their goal to engage more with the community. In their windows, “Usually it’s just a bunch of homosexuals making hats,” he said, so the “rough street kids” en route home from school “just walk by.” But this month, a time lapse video of graffiti has really engaged them. “They stop, they watch it, they point it out.” They’d like to see more of that.
An additional source of frustration was that many examples of “public art” opportunities available were further from the category of “street art”—which seeks to engage with oppressive architecture and the passivity of passerby—and closer to the category of beautification. The grand majority of state-approved projects described were murals. Metal outlined one opportunity their office is happily accepting applications for: The painting of a wall on India Street. Loaned by developer D. Palin, the 300 foot swathe is currently in an industrial (and famously noxious) section of Greenpoint. But by next year, the developer hopes to turn the space residential. The irony, of course, is that by agreeing to beautify with a mural the artists may no longer be able to afford to live there. The reason for the seeming imbalance—of dull streets stocked with aesthetes—is that if it’s dull, it’s cheap, and thus artists can afford it.
The groups invited to speak delineated restrictive opportunities, but opportunities nonetheless, to install work on city buildings, city parks, and city streets.
Percent for Art, which allows artists to propose work for city buildings, owes its nascence to 1983 mayor Ed Koch, who passed into law that for every project built, 1% of funding should go toward art for that space. Director Sara Reisman noted that though since inception they have only done 220 projects, the group is currently at work on 66. “Because of the stimulus that we have more than ever,” Reisman said, noting the nearby McCarren Park Pool percent has been assigned to the California installation artist Pae White. The group identifies a work project and both accepts applications and hunts down artists that interest them, who will receive between $40,000 and $400,000, 80% of which goes toward construction. Representing Art in the Parks, Jonathan Kuhn clicked through 42 years of sculptures installed in various NYC parks from Christo’s well-known “Gates” to a smaller project in the Brooklyn Bridge Park of green stalks of fiber optic cables that sway like river reeds but light up at night. “You can do this on your own,” Kuhn said. “You don’t need a real estate developer or a gallery. Just sweat equity and your own ingenuity.” (Still, there was that $300 to $500 dollar insurance.) The most accessible opportunity was presented by the DOT’s Urban Art venture, which is less than a year old. Urban Adventure asks artists to team up with local nonprofit organizations and present proposals that use DOT space—streets, sidewalks, medians, bridges, etc. As New York pushes for bike paths, DOT is attempting to make the barriers less harsh, and many of the program’s past successes involved their decoration. Still, said Director Emily Colasacco, “If there’s a site right outside your door, anything interesting in street space,” she’s interested in receiving a proposal. When their January 30th deadline passed, she joked, “I’m not sure anybody even knew about it.”
Metal tried to get artists excited, encouraging them to go out in the neighborhood and identify potential sites, look to elected officials for funding: “It’s important to hit them up.” He might have said, we know you want to make the world a more beautiful place, but please start here.
Some time ago a crazy dream came to me,
I dreamt I was walkin' into World War Three,
I went to the doctor the very next day
To see what kinda words he could say.
He said it was a bad dream.
I wouldn't worry 'bout it none, though,
They were my own dreams and they're only in my head.
I said, "Hold it, Doc, a World War passed through my brain."
He said, "Nurse, get your pad, this boy's insane,"
He grabbed my arm, I said "Ouch!"
As I landed on the psychiatric couch,
He said, "Tell me about it."
Well, the whole thing started at 3 o'clock fast,
It was all over by quarter past.
I was down in the sewer with some little lover
When I peeked out from a manhole cover
Wondering who turned the lights on.
Well, I got up and walked around
And up and down the lonesome town.
I stood a-wondering which way to go,
I lit a cigarette on a parking meter
And walked on down the road.
It was a normal day.
Well, I rung the fallout shelter bell
And I leaned my head and I gave a yell,
"Give me a string bean, I'm a hungry man."
A shotgun fired and away I ran.
I don't blame them too much though,
I know I look funny.
Down at the corner by a hot-dog stand
I seen a man, I said, "Howdy friend,
I guess there's just us two."
He screamed a bit and away he flew.
Thought I was a Communist.
Well, I spied a girl and before she could leave,
"Let's go and play Adam and Eve."
I took her by the hand and my heart it was thumpin'
When she said, "Hey man, you crazy or sumpin',
You see what happened last time they started."
Well, I seen a Cadillac window uptown
And there was nobody aroun',
I got into the driver's seat
And I drove 42nd Street
In my Cadillac.
Good car to drive after a war.
Well, I remember seein' some ad,
So I turned on my Conelrad.
But I didn't pay my Con Ed bill,
So the radio didn't work so well.
Turned on my player-
It was Rock-A-Day, Johnny singin',
"Tell Your Ma, Tell Your Pa,
Our Loves Are Gonna Grow Ooh-wah, Ooh-wah."
I was feelin' kinda lonesome and blue,
I needed somebody to talk to.
So I called up the operator of time
Just to hear a voice of some kind.
"When you hear the beep
It will be three o'clock,"
She said that for over an hour
And I hung it up.
Well, the doctor interrupted me just about then,
Sayin, "Hey I've been havin' the same old dreams,
But mine was a little different you see.
I dreamt that the only person left after the war was me.
I didn't see you around."
Well, now time passed and now it seems
Everybody's having them dreams.
Everybody sees themselves walkin' around with no one else.
Half of the people can be part right all of the time,
Some of the people can be all right part of the time.
But all the people can't be all right all the time
I think Abraham Lincoln said that.
"I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours,"
I said that.
Copyright ©1963;
See Eddie Montalvo Playing congas here with Frankie Morales live here (EN VIvO)
DONDE ESTA MIGUEL www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvmXiJhji98
Yambrere www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p9Oraa1x0Q
RAN KAN KAN www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SlBAPDwxTA
VAMOS AVER QUIEN DA MAS www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KOqZLG2E1Y
Gandinga www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBwtfASnMQ
Que Locura www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_rkCC1QRV0&eurl=http://www.y...
MY SPACE www.myspace.com/eddiemontalvo
About Eddie Montalvo www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_rCA9qhLg&feature=player_em...
Eddie & Friends www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE6wf8mnnnU
content.congahead.com/galleries/eddielp/index.html
Eddie grew up on Jackson Avenue in the South Bronx. He was only five years old when he taught himself how to play the bongos by watching and listening to older, more knowledgeable guys play in the park. At the age of nine he began playing conga and was asked to jam with the older guys. At first he was only allowed to play tumbao. The "big guys" would never let him go to the quinto or solo drum "These guys would play for hours and if you couldn't hold that tumbao, you had to get up. You had to stay on tumbao until these guys were tired of playing quinto.
His joy and passion for music, rhythm, and drums compelled him to stay out late at night playing congas. He recalled an incident when the police confronted him and the older guys jamming on the roof. The cops reprimanded young Eddie for being up late on a school night and threatened to take him to jail. Running down the stairs with the officers he begged "Please don't take me to jail. My mother is going to hit me."
As a young kid, Eddie remembers working with small groups doing low-paid gigs such as weddings, clubs, and church affairs. When he was 17 years old, he played with Tony Pabon y La Protesta. Eddie's conga playing was recognized and he went on his first tour to Panama with Joey Pastrana.
While Eddie was playing with Joey Pastrana in Boston, Johnny Rodriguez, Jr. (Dandy) asked him to sit in with Ray Barretto's band. Johnny played tumbao, Eddie played secunda, Ray played quinto, and Orestes Vilato played clave with two sticks on top of the piano. It was a great group and from that moment on, the doors opened up for Eddie.
He loved to go to the Hunts Point Palace in the Bronx to look at all the big bands. Eddie dreamed of playing in these bands; reaching that status of stardom; and he did. In the beginning of his career he went to clubs and sat in with big bands like Pacheco and Willie Col..n and he was recognized for his conga playing. Eddie said that his most exciting moments on stage were playing with the big bands. One night Eddie got a call to play conga with Mario Ortiz's big band at the Village Gate."I didn't even want the money. It was an honor for me." I am happy to say that as a big fan of Mario Ortiz, I too was at the Village Gate that night.
Eddie is really a dance band drummer, who's style of playing is referred to as afinque or someone who plays the grooves. He thinks it is great to be versatile and play many new rhythms, but when you are playing the music that he has devoted his life to, it is for the dancers that you are performing. In contrast, there are several musicians who want to take a lot of solos, but they're not playing for the dancers. "If you really dance the right way, it's with the conga drum."
It's exciting when the rhythm section locks as one and the dancers are having a ball. "When you're playing tumbao, and you're playing strong, you lock. You lock when the timbale bell and the hand bell sound as one with conga. It's like the locomotive of a train. You are the engine of the train. "One person that Eddie says he shared these magical moments with is timbale great, Orestes Vilato.
Another one of Eddie's favorite bands is the Willie Rosario Band because the band locks. That is why they call Willie "Mr. Afinque." It is the lock. "The way they play it now," Eddie laments, "everybody takes a solo for the first tune." He believes that it is not about solos; it is about grooving. Willie Rosario learned a lot from Tito Rodriguez who came from that marcha (timekeeper) school.
Although Tito Rodriguez was a singer, he also played timbales. "Before you used to have a musician's market. You played an instrument and you were bandleader. It was very rare for a singer to be the bandleader." Eddie claims that the bandleaders today are not that demanding because it is a singer's market.
Unfortunately, you don't see the old bands anymore. Over the years the music changed from real fast salsa to "laid back" salsa. All those old timers, even though they were soloists, played tumbao, including Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, Armando Peraza, Ray Barretto, and Machito.
It's a new generation but salsa will never die out. The tradition of salsa music was born in Cuba though the Cubans didn't call it salsa. The bands that now come here from Cuba have incorporated some of the Puerto Rican style. On the other hand, the Puerto Ricans kept the tradition of the Cuban music alive. Now, if you hear Cuban bands, they sound like they adapted to what's happening out here. In Cuba they listen to all the stuff from Puerto Rico, just like in Puerto Rico they listen to all the stuff from Cuba. It is a symbiotic relationship. "Nobody has a birthright. Like Puente says, 'Salsa Is Salsa; it's not hot sauce but it's salsa.'"
Eddie's life and career in salsa music was featured in City Arts on Public Television. It always amazed me the way Eddie was able to be a musician at night after working full-time during the day for the New York City power company, Con Edison. He started with Con Ed at age 21 in 1973 and continues doing this after 25 years. "It wasn't easy." Sometimes a musical gig ended 4:00 in the morning and at 7:00 in the morning that same day he would be in the Con Edison truck. In the old days there were more than 50 clubs for Eddie to play. He could play music seven nights a week, and he sometimes did just that, but he was moved to get a steady job because he was concerned with security and medical insurance. Eddie believes that if a person disciplines himself, he could do it. "I don't have bad habits and I can function on little sleep," he says.
Many musicians have moved into musical areas outside of Latin music to provide themselves with more work; however, Eddie always was a conga drummer in traditional Latin music. He neither compromised his music nor his excellence.
Eddie Montalvo plays
L.P. Accents,
Signature Series
Click this link;
To learn more about Eddie Montalvo, go to
2020 Cityscape night lights View from Hotel window New York City East Side South View - Friday the 13th 11/13/2020 Manhattan Murray Hill District
This building replaced the Variety Arts, a historic cinema and theater. The Con Ed Building is in the background.
Viaje a EEUU - Día 4
1 New York Plaza is an office building in New York City's Financial District, built in 1969 at the intersection of South and Whitehall Streets. It is the southernmost of all Manhattan skyscrapers.
The building is 640 feet (195 m) tall with 50 floors. The building was designed by William Lescaze & Assocs. and Kahn & Jacobs. The building has 2.556 million square feet of office space. There is a 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) retail concourse on the lower level.
The facade was designed by Nevio Maggiora, consisting of a boxlike "beehive" pattern with the windows recessed within, made of aluminum-clad wall elements resembling a type of thermally activated elevator button popular at the time of construction.
Notable former occupants of One New York Plaza include Salomon Brothers in its heyday, and Goldman Sachs, while current tenants are Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, Morgan Stanley, and Nature Publishing Group.
In 1959, the City of New York attempted to acquire through eminent domain the land under this development as part of the Battery Park Urban Renewal Area. The plan involved consolidating several blocks into a "superblock" for public housing. When that plan fell through, the city hoped to entice the New York Stock Exchange to relocate to the property. However, the owner of the property—the firm of Atlas McGrath—successfully sued to retain their land, claiming they were more than willing to develop the site privately.
On August 5, 1970, the building suffered a fire in which two people were killed and 35 injured. The deaths were caused after an occupied elevator was "summoned" to the burning floor when one of the thermally-activated call buttons—designed to react to a warm finger tapping it—reacted instead to the heat of the fire on that floor.
The building was renovated in 1994, and repainted from a dark Black/Grey Color scheme to a lighter White/Light Grey color. Today One New York Plaza stands as one of the more prominent buildings of Lower Manhattan, being the southernmost skyscraper on Manhattan.
One New York Plaza's air-conditioning chiller depends on Con Ed's New York City steam system. On August 11, 2001, a steam turbine failed in the basement, and the damage from the resulting explosion disrupted Goldman's market-making NASDAQ activities for the day.
In October 2012, the building was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy. An estimated 23 million gallons of water flooded the lower levels of the building. The retail concourse was completely submerged and needed to be completely gut-renovated. Office tenants were allowed to return starting November 17, 2012 and the retail concourse reopened in the winter of 2014.
Driver cited in hit and run crash that closed the intersection by knocking down Utility poles into the street and taken out the traffic control box. 3:10 PM. Wednesday Oct.17.
**CANNIBALISTIC HUMANOID UNDERGREOUND DWELLER**
..You will never know whats lurking under the streets of new york city!!!!!!!!!!!
on the Metro-North Hudson Line, this tower branched off lines to the old rotary converter DC sub in Tarrytown. Lines that are left hooked up to 60 Hz.Con Ed aerial cable as temporary feed to rectifier sub that replaced old sub in 1986.
Mayor de Blasio holds a media availability on the steam pipe explosion at the intersection of 23rd Street and 5th Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Thursday, July 19, 2018.
CREDIT: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office
January 13, 2013 This is a little different than my usual photos. I went to NYC today and it was so strange to see this steam vent in the middle of road. Apparently, this is part of Con-Ed's steam system in NYC, and they vent the steam into the streets.
Clearing fallen tree branches off the street
at 12 St. & Ave C.
East Village
NYC , NY
for more Sandy photos :
View No. On Columbus avenue...10:30pm-1:30am
UWS, NYC 10/29/12
Sandy's rage punished NYC while I uploaded images taken earlier in the day... all the time thinking we dodged a bullet. But no, while I sat at my desk, she wreaked havoc upon Breezy point, a small gated community on the Rockaway peninsula, burning down 50+ homes. At the same time on Rockaway, the ocean met the bay.
A Con ed transformer exploded at a power plant and "millions" lost power. NYU Hospital's generator failed while critically ill patients waited to be transported to hospitals whose generators were operating. With elevators out-of-service, the sick were carried down the steps to waiting ambulances... ambulances and staff from as far away as California.
Pockets of lower Manhattan are under water and earlier in the day, the facade of a four story building just dropped off, leaving the apartments inside exposed to the elements.
And still, that 6 ton crane dangles on a thread above the city...threatening the safety of all who pass nearby.
All mass transit, all airports, all bridges and all tunnels, but one (the Lincoln) are shut down.
Essentially the city is still on lock down.
My condolences to those who suffered losses. :-(
Correction above: Earlier I posted that the "Holland" tunnel was open. That was wrong; it was the "Lincoln" tunnel.
Driver cited in hit and run crash that closed the intersection by knocking down Utility poles into the street and taken out the traffic control box. 3:10 PM. Wednesday Oct.17.
L'albergo che abbiamo scelto è a pochi minuti dalla zona di transizione, fa caldo malgrado sia settembre e le finestre sono aperte, dai molti locali sottostanti si sente la gente festeggiare e le loro voci giungono chiarissime nella nostra stanza. Tenendomi sveglio sino a tardi.
Fisso il soffitto, la mia compagnia di avventura sembra non sentire la tensione del debutto e dorme profondamente, tra poche ore sarà ora di alzarsi e lanciarsi in mare. Ripasso mentalmente ogni oggetto ed ogni dettaglio preparato nei giorni precedenti per la gara di domani, ripenso all'ultimo allenamento lungo la Promenade Des Angles, il vento, il mare, le onde, le sensazioni che precedono ogni grande appuntamento. Certo le gambe girassero come oggi sarebbe una bella gara quella di domani...
Spengo la sveglia, poche ore di sonno, ma quelle che bastano per farti apprezzare il riposo della mente, fuori è ancora notte, usciamo nel silenzio con le nostre biciclette, zaino in spalla e caschetto in testa. Non siamo soli, da ogni parte della città ciclisti nella notte convergono verso la zona di partenza, allestisco la zona del cambio, la bici, il casco le scarpette per la corsa, qualche gel, mi circondano più di mille atleti che in un silenzio irreale cercano la concentrazione, alcuni cominciano ad indossare la muta, altri scaldano ed allungano i muscoli che tra poco li spingeranno tra le onde.
Un fischio e mille cuffie gialle si lanciano in un mare ancora nero e profondo, tutto diventa ovattato e lontano, in mare anche tra mille persone non puoi che sentirti solo, lotti contro la corrente, la fatica, le onde, alla ricerca delle concentrazione e delle tue sensazioni positive. Ogni fase della gara è caratterizzata da sensazioni contrastanti ed intensissime, il nuoto per me rappresenta l'inconscio, che in ognuno di noi si nasconde sotto la superficie della realtà, la superficie del mare.
La confusione è massima, dopo aver doppiato la prima boa si esce e rientra in acqua per un secondo tratto, nuoto contro la direzione degli altri atleti che mi seguono, le energie per evitare gli altri superano quelle destinate ad avanzare, lentamente prendo il largo e doppio la seconda boa, un centinaio di metri e sono fuori dall'acqua; correndo mi sfilo la muta e sono nella pancia del gruppo che pedala lento lungo la prima salita.
Questo è il mio terreno, salgo sui pedali e comincio a recuperare posizioni, forse anche cinquanta; la salita è lunga, il meteo peggiora e ci troviamo nella nebbia, la scia non è permessa ognuno è solo nella propria fatica.
Dopo lo scollinamento comincia la discesa, scendo molto veloce, pochi minuti ed il mare appare difronte a me, dopo alcune centinaia di metri lungo il mare sono di nuovo in zona cambio questa volta per lasciare la bici e cominciare l'ultima frazione.
La seconda transizione e quella che più emoziona, la gente si dispone lungo il percorso cittadino, oggi non esiste corridore senza tifo, le gambe girano veloci, ad ogni giro di boa rilancio la corsa, recupero altre posizioni aumento ancora il ritmo. Il ritmo nella corsa è la cosa che più aiuta a non pensare alla fatica, faccio uno slalom continuo tra i coni ed altri atleti che stanno rallentando dopo più di due ore di fatica.
Il sole é alto e scalda l'asfalto del lungomare, corro troppo forte per riuscire a bere, non mi resta che cercare refrigerio con qualche spugnaggio, in fondo pochi chilometri e sarò all'arrivo; tutta la fatica fatta sin ora si impasta in un'unica sensazione che sa di sale polvere e leggerezza, quella leggerezza che solo il raggiungimento del traguardo, qualunque esso sia, ti sa trasmettere.
7 World Trade Center is a building in New York City located across from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. The name "7 World Trade Center" has referred to two buildings: the original structure, completed in 1987, and the current structure. The original building was destroyed on September 11, 2001, and replaced with the new 7 World Trade Center, which opened in 2006. Both buildings were developed by Larry Silverstein, who holds a ground lease for the site from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The destruction of Building 7 is a focus of September 11 conspiracy theories.
The original 7 World Trade Center was 47 stories tall, clad in red exterior masonry, and occupied a trapezoidal footprint. An elevated walkway connected the building to the World Trade Center plaza. The building was situated above a Consolidated Edison (Con Ed) power substation, which imposed unique structural design constraints. When the building opened in 1987, Silverstein had difficulties attracting tenants. In 1988, Salomon Brothers signed a long-term lease, and became the main tenants of the building. On September 11, 2001, 7 WTC was damaged by debris when the nearby North Tower of the WTC collapsed. The debris also ignited fires, which continued to burn throughout the afternoon on lower floors of the building. The building's internal fire suppression system lacked water pressure to fight the fires, and the building collapsed completely at 5:21:10 p.m.[1] The collapse began when a critical column on the 13th floor buckled and triggered structural failure throughout, causing at first the crumble of the east mechanical penthouse at 5:20:33 p.m.
The new 7 World Trade Center construction began in 2002 and was completed in 2006. It is 52 stories tall and still situated above the Con Ed power substation. Built on a smaller footprint than the original to allow Greenwich Street to be restored from TriBeCa through the World Trade Center site and south to Battery Park, the new building is bounded by Greenwich, Vesey, Washington, and Barclay streets. A small park across Greenwich Street occupies space that was part of the original building's footprint. The current 7 World Trade Center's design places emphasis on safety, with a reinforced concrete core, wider stairways, and thicker fireproofing of steel columns. It also incorporates numerous environmentally friendly features.
Like a scene straight out of a Silent Hill game. Con Ed have cut off power to lower Manhattan. Hopefully will be back in a day... Until then, with a candle as my light and a tablet as my book, I shall go to bed.
Astoria Gas Turbines at Astoria Generating Station being converted into a offshore wind electric converter station owned by Beacon Wind aerial view - © 2023 David Oppenheimer - Performance Impressions aerial photography archives performanceimpressions.com
43 Peck Slip, NYC
by navema
Richard Haas' 1978 mural, Trompe l'oeil, on the blank side wall of a Consolidated Edison building on Peck Slip depicts a classical colonnade, complete with an illusory view through the brick wall to the Brooklyn Bridge, and a Federal Style store and arcade. This is the north side of Peck Slip, between Front and South Streets. 257 Front Street and 43 Peck Slip are part of a Con Ed substation designed by Edward L. Barnes, built in 1974.
Peck Slip is named for Benjamin Peck, who had an active ship-fitting business here in the mid-1700s. The actual slip was created in 1755. In 1763, he built the Slip Market at this location, one of the many predecessors of the Fulton Market.
Thomas Edison located his first electric generating station near her at 255 Pearl Street in 1882. It was the first commercial generating system for incandescent service in the country. He selected this area because the financial community was nearby (the first light were turned on at 23 Wall Street), were the newspapers. ConEd still maintains this electrical substation on the north side of Peck Slip.
For more than three decades as a trompe-l’oeil architectural muralist, Richard John Haas (born August 29, 1936 in Spring Green, Wisconsin), has opened panoramas where there were none, created facades that never before existed, enlivened flat walls with domes and arcades of his own invention and even recreated lost landmarks; at least in two dimensions.
"The Peck Slip Arcade," one of his most renowned works, couples both his artistic genius with his architectural background.
His murals have been commissioned as decoration for numerous public buildings in the United States. These include the Robert C. Byrd Federal Building & Courthouse in Beckley, West Virginia (1999); the main branch of the New York Public Library (1972), the Lakewood Public Library in Ohio (2007), the Sarasota County, Florida Judicial Center (1998), and The Smithsonian Institute (1986), amongst many others in the U.S. The only European mural by Richard Haas is in Munich between Rumfordstr and Frauenstr. is one of his earliest works, realized in 1978 in occasion of his Munich exhibition. His earliest murals date from 1975, and include: 112 Prince Street, Brooklyn Gas & Electric, and Barney’s Department Store.
For more info, visit: www.richardhaas.com/
... the 14 St Con Ed building is in the upper right.
This is just before the explosions,.. and "lights out" !
12 St & Ave C,...minutes before the explosions,.. and the power going off !
....from my apartment window at the courner of 12 St & Ave C.
This was taken a few minutes before the three super bright FLASHs
turned night into day !!.
..and then all of the power went off !.
..plunging us into blackness,
,,, and no more photographing.
(the Con Ed 14 Street Power Station is two blocks"upstream" ,.. to the left.)
The lights at the C-Town supermarket ,
and in the apartments in the Projects accross the avenue,
are still glowing brightly
,..just before the total blackout.
I wish they'd turned the power off SOONER !!
East Village
NYC , NY
for more Sandy photos :
The rooftops are Baruch Houses (NYCHA) and Lillian Wald Houses (NYCHA). The stacks are Consolidated Edison (Con Ed) at E. 14th & Ave C
[T3i-0783 acr(J)cs5]
Flatbush Avenue and Duryea Street. Flatbush Savings Bank.
Creator
Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.)
Accession number
X2010.7.1.6591
Unique identifier
MNY240146
Dated
7/8/1928
Object Type
negative (photographic)
Medium
acetate negative
Signif Assoc
Halsey, McCormack & Helmer, Indiana Limestone Company (Bedford, Ind.)
Physical dimensions
Width: 10 in
Height: 8 in
File dimensions
21.5 in × 17.3 in at 300dpi
54.8 cm × 44.0 cm at 300dpi
Wurts Bros. New York City Photography X2010_7_1_12414 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) Rockefeller Center. Ca. 1931. Museum of the City of new York. X2010.7.1.12414 Many photographers have captured New York City architecture over the years, but few have been so prolific, nor have they documented the construction of so many iconic New York City landmarks as the Wurts Brothers. In 1894 Lionel and Norman Wurts established one of the first architectural photography studios in New York City. Over the next 85 years the two brothers, and later Lionel’s son, Richard, gained recognition and many prominent clients including Cass Gilbert (The Woolworth Building), Consolidated Gas Company (now known as Con Ed) , and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (the firm now building One World Trade Center). X2010_7_1_2507_117477 001 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) Wurts Brothers Signs. Ca. 1919. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.2507 The Wurts Bros. worked alongside architects, engineers, and rental agents to record major New York City landmarks under construction during some of the city’s most dynamic years of expansion. Their images are widely recognizable and have been reproduced in many architectural and general interest magazines over the years. The Museum of the City of New York retains the firm’s archives of over 45,000 prints and negatives. Over the last four years our Collections team has worked on cataloging, rehousing, and digitizing this collection, supported by two generous grants from the Leon Levy Foundation. A good example of the historic record contained within the Wurts Bros. photographs is the construction of the Woolworth Building. On April 24, 1913, nearly 100 years ago, construction was completed on the 792-foot skyscraper. The Woolworth Building was the tallest building in the world until 1930, when the Chrysler Building would overtake it. woolworths Clockwise from upper left hand corner: Wurts Bros. Woolworth Building, exterior from S.E Corner. February 3, 1912. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.3857. Wurts Bros. Woolworth Building, exterior from S.E. April 4, 1912. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.3875. Wurts Bros. Broadway and Barclay Street. Woolworth Building, general view from S.E. April 8, 1913. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.4390. Wurts Bros. Woolworth Building, general exterior from S.E. June 7, 1912. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.3886 The Wurts Bros. captured the majority of their beautiful images utilizing a large format view camera and glass plate negatives, which render the images incredibly sharp, striking, and detailed. They shot with wide angle lenses and bellows that allowed them to twist and turn the camera for spectacular views that are otherwise impossible to see. To a viewer standing at ground level looking up, buildings appear tall and skinny like a needle. To correct for this misleading perspective, Lionel Wurts crafted a technique of shooting from the upper floors of an adjacent building while skillfully working with the camera bellows and lenses to create perfectly even and square portraits of skyscrapers and buildings. The majority of the Wurts Bros. collection was captured on these large, heavily detailed glass plate negatives, but as acetate film became more ubiquitous they began to shoot with smaller format film as well. Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) Broadway and Exchange Place. Norman Wurts making photos from 4th-story ledge on Exchange Court Building, 1937. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.8427 Wurts Bros. Broadway and Exchange Place. Norman Wurts making photos from 4th-story ledge on Exchange Court Building, 1937. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.8427 Here are some fabulous examples of the type of documentary style the Wurts Bros. are best known for: X2010_7_1_730 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) 5th Avenue West 58th Street. Central Park South. Plaza Hotel. Ca. 1905 Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.730 X2010_7_1_1948 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) Broadway and 34th Street. R.H. Macy Co. Ca. 1915. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.1948 The Wurts Bros. were also contracted to photograph facades and interiors of luxurious New York residences like this one from 40 West 57th Street, giving viewers a glimpse inside spectacular upper class residences they could only before imagine. Wurts Bros. 40 West 57th Street. H.B. Gilbert residence, front. Ca. 1910. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.11 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) 40 West 57th Street. H.B. Gilbert residence, front. Ca. 1910. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.1185 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) 40 West 57th Street. H.B. Gilbert residence, parlor at windows. Ca. 1910. Museum of the City of new York. X2010.7.1.1196 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) 40 West 57th Street. H.B. Gilbert residence, parlor at windows. Ca. 1910. Museum of the City of new York. X2010.7.1.1196 The Wurts Bros. name is also synonymous with the New York World’s Fair Exhibition of 1939. Richard Wurts, the son of Lionel, documented the construction and grandeur of the fair grounds. In the winter of 1939 he had a one man show of these photos at the Museum of the City of New York called “Building the 1939 New York World’s Fair.” Here are some photos from the exhibition: 39_567_1_031-copy Richard Wurts. Supreme (Food and Sports Building, dome). 1938. Museum of the City of New York. 39.567.1.31 39_567_1_011-copy Richard Wurts. See My Shadow (Perisphere from top Trylon). 1938. Museum of the City of New York. 39.567.1.11 X2010_7_1 030 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) ca. 1939. View of World’s Fair from a subdivision. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.15559 X2010_7_1 1398 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) ca. 1939. Richard Wurts with his photograph of World’s Fair. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.15437 Operating as a commercial studio through several generations of New York City history, the Wurts Bros. had a broad spectrum of clientele. They chronicled everything from skyscrapers to houses; office buildings to schools; tools to artwork. They documented so much of New York City that it’s hard to find something they didn’t photograph. X2010.7.1.304 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) Madison Avenue at the corner of 129th Street. All Saints Roman Catholic Church, interior view looking at organ. Ca. 1905. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.304. wurts_G0810_808019 001 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) 31st Street and 6th Avenue, N.W. corner. Greeley Square Building, men’s urinal partitions. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.6250 X2010_7_2_07577 Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.) Master plumber with lead windmill model made up of lead wiped joints, lead pipe, 1931. Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.2.7577 Wurts Bros. (New York, NY) Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.5505 Wurts Bros. (New York, NY) 40th Street and 5th Avenue. Murphy Door Bed Co., interior, Ca. 1921. Museum of the City of New York, X2010.7.1.5505