There was a small walk-up building just west of Lexington and East 107th Street that looked like a stalled adaptive-reuse project and now it seems like the building has finally revived itself once more. The lower photo shows the abandoned structure about a year ago and we notice balconies on the facade at some point over the winter but not much else was going on. Last week, we saw that the building was suddenly transformed but did not look like its former self. Yes, the apartment complex has a new lease on life but all of the original ornaments on the exterior had been removed and a new yellow brick facade was introduced. There's some details in this reinvented complex but some of the ideas are a tiny bit off. Would it have been that more expensive to repoint the bricks, repaint the cornice, add larger doors and cast iron balconies? At least there would have been less demolition work involved. Anyways, they saved the building instead of tearing it down.
Oh dear. Looks rather, uh, Queens.
ReplyDeleteoof yeah, that's terrible
ReplyDeleteThird vote for terrible. Those weird platform things are balconies?
ReplyDeletediving boards?
ReplyDeleteI would rather they had torn it down then to turn it into this awful structure.
ReplyDeleteIt does look quite ugly. And what's up with that sun-glass motive on top...
ReplyDeleteYes, it is terribly ugly... but so is an empty lot full of trash and rodents. You people are completely divorced from reality. If YOU lived next door, which would you rather?
ReplyDeleteOnce the block has empty lots and old, decrepit buildings, "context" becomes a moot point. A luxury in which only someone who doesn't live nearby can indulge. Stop looking down your noses and be happy that someone invested their money, not just their words on a blog to make an improvement.
Looks to me like the empty lot is still there.
ReplyDeleteumm but that building wasnt an empty lot before...
ReplyDelete