A Bespoke tip came in mentioning that the building replacing the historic Lafayette Theatre on 7th Avenue had bricks going up on the facade but the tipster mentioned they were disappointed with the appearance. Our only take on this is that it would really be hard to build anything more glorious than the cultural landmark formerly known as the
House Beautiful once it was completely torn down. If this was a more high end development, they would have restored the building and placed apartments on top for bragging rights but otherwise one usually just expects the typical bland box when moderate residential units arrive in the neighborhood. A church which owned the property
sold contracted the former theatre out over a year ago to a developer and will also be part of the complex when finished. Check out the final rendering of the new construction in our past post:
LINK
So sad, yes it would have cost more to keep the theater and build on top, but so worth it.
ReplyDeleteTo this old New Yorker, it reminds of the lost opportunity when NYU torn down the Palladium for the bland at best (really ugly) dorm on 14th street.
I always noted that the club owners - Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell - actually kept the integrity of the old Palladium theater when converting it to a nightclub.
Leave it to NYU to just destroy the whole thing.
working with the Landmarks is very challenging and filled with red tape, but what else can you do when they just destroy the great buildings instead of working with them.
next up is the Renny on 7th avenue.....