Followers of this blog will know that I am a big fan of architecture (put it into my search box to see). New York has of course got heaps of fantastic buildings and every time I come I fully intend to visit the Empire State, the Chrysler Building and all those other wonderful edifices up in midtown but somehow I never get around to doing it. It’s the thought of the crowds that puts me off I think. However I did check out a few places in the Financial District on this visit.
The neo-Gothic Woolworth Building at 233 Broadway is one of my favourites. Sadly no tourists are allowed inside and it’s quite hard to get good shots of the outside so this first pic is of a poster, just to give you an idea of the fantastic decoration.
The entablature around the front door is particularly ornate.
I love Art Deco so I had to check out the office building at 116 John St which has a nice Deco lobby.
The nicest features are the lift doors…
… and the post boxes.
The Surrogate’s Court at 31 Chambers St
has a nice frontage too.
8 Spruce Street, designed by Frank Gehry (of Bilbao Guggenheim fame), is the tallest residential tower in the western hemisphere with seventy six floors. The design of the facade is intended to emulate ripples on water.
Although I’m not a fan of the One World Trade Center, the replacement for the Twin Towers. I’ve renamed it ‘The Finger’ because it’s so obviously flipping the bird.
If you’re down this way, I reccommend a shopping diversion to Century 21 www.c21stores.com at 21 Dey St. It’s like a department store version of TK Maxx.
There aren’t that many restaurants in this area but here are a couple of options. I wanted to eat at Ramen Co www.ramen.co at 100 Maiden Lane, but they didn’t open early enough for lunch. Alternatively you could try out Bourdain’s old place at Les Halles www.leshalles.net at 15 John St.