Skyscrapers and the Wertheim Study by Jay BarksdaleDecember 13, 2011

P165 -- Building a Skyscraper -- Putting Steel Beams in Place, Metropolitan Tower, N. Y. City.,Building a Skyscraper, Placing Steel Beams, Metropolitan Tower, New York City., Digital ID G91F204_027F, New York Public LibraryWho doesn't like a skyscraper? Acrophobists. But who else can resist those clean (usually) lines, impressive (always) feats of engineering, massive symbols of power (the jury's out on that one)?  New Yorkers are lucky that we have, still have, so very many admirable ones about. Perhaps my favorite is one close to the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building — the Springs Building.

It's deceptively simple, with as clean a line as Lever House.  It also has those two enclosed gardens at street level, which I always think of as Bonsai in Chains (alas, they are undergoing a change at the moment).  Have a look sometime — it's at 104 West 40th Street, just west of Sixth Avenue. 

There's going to be an illustrated lecture here at SASB tomorrow, Wednesday evening at 6 o'clock in the South Court Auditorium, of course free and open to the public, by Seth Gopin, a writer in residence in the Wertheim Study.  He's a great guy, very smart, very personable, and quite knowledgeable about a great many things, including these critters. More details here. More lectures from the Wertheim Study.

Mention this blog at the lecture and I'll give you a completely inconsequential, but fun, prize.

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Comments

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that is also one of my favorite buildings!

Submitted by John Bacon (not verified) on June 20, 2012 - 11:40am

Hope that the new building to the east does not overwhelm it, but fear it might. A Library donor who worked at Harrison & Abramowitz when the building was designed says it was the work of Charles Howson Abbe of that office, whom she worked with on the campus of the Educational Testing Service in Princeton and other projects, including the Corning Glass Building on Fifth Avenue. The official LPC designation for the Springs Mills Building (http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/SpringsMills.pdf) confirms all this and more and is an interesting read. Just wish the new owners would let us fans into the lobby to admire the art and architecture firsthand....