Stylistic Trends in Multifamily Housing

Stylistic Trends in Multifamily Housing Being modern means INMANHATTAN, the epitome of high-rise luxury living has long been the always having a choice. so-called prewar apartment building. These high-rises, located along Park Avenue and Central Park West and con- structed prior to the Second World War, are characterized by stone and brick façades, classical or Art Deco detailing inside and out, and formal apartment plans with entrance foyers, separate living and dining rooms, enclosed kitchens, and staff rooms. Though many apartment buildings were built in the ensuing decades, none achieved an equal measure MICHAELYTTERBERG of social status. 8 0 ZELL/LURIEREALESTATECENTER Figure 1: 173 and 176 Perry Street, 165 Figure 2: 15 Central Park West, NewYork Charles Street, NewYork City (Perry City (Zeckendorf Development; Robert A. Street Development Corporation and M. Stern Architects). Alexico Management; Richard Meier & Partners, architects). That changed in 1999, when Richard whether the heyday of the prewar apart- Meier, a Pritzker Prize-winning architect, ment building was over, now that its tradi- was commissioned to build two small tional design had been challenged by the glass, steel and concrete luxury apartment floor-to-ceiling walls of glass. buildings on the west side of Greenwich In the meantime, Robert A. M. Stern, Village facing the Hudson River (Figure another well-known New York architect, 1). 173 and 176 Perry Street (the buildings was designing a series of high-rise apart- were finished in 2002 and a third, 165 ment buildings in the city, taking as his Charles Street, was completed in 2005) model precisely the prewar buildings. were hailed as leading examples of Stern, who is dean of the Yale School of Modernist residential design and became Architecture, is practically alone among an instant hit, attracting a celebrity clien- the architectural elite in his continued tele including Calvin Klein and Martha championing of traditional architectural Stewart. Similar all-glass residential build- styles. His latest apartment project is 15 ings followed, many designed by brand- Central Park West, which takes its place name architects. Critics speculated beside some of the most spectacular pre- REVIEW 8 1 war residential buildings on the west side author, while Meier is somewhat of Central Park (Figure 2). The building is reserved; Stern has done a lot of work for totally clad in limestone, but in spite of developers, while the Perry Street build- having traditional masonry on the exterior, ings were among Meier’s first commer- with windows instead of glass walls, the cial projects—he is best known for quality of light and views are uncompro- museums, among them the Getty mised. Celebrities who have bought units Center in Los Angeles. However, the here include Citigroup creator Sandy Weill chief difference between the two archi- and rock star Sting. 15 Central Park West, tects is a matter of style. which began to be occupied in late 2007, To many architects, the word “style” has turned out to be one of the most suc- connotes a frivolous distraction. Yet archi- cessful residential projects in Manhattan’s tectural styles convey meanings that history; all the units were reportedly sold people truly value—and are willing to prior to completion of construction for a pay for—as the high prices of luxury total value of approximately two billion apartment buildings demonstrate. In this dollars. Buying in 15 Central Park West is respect buildings are similar to the many proving to be a sound investment, with other objects that consumers buy to some buyers already doubling their money enhance their lives. The importance of at resale by mid-2008. style—and of a variety of stylistic choic- Both Meier and Stern are designing es—is a major factor in recent economic other high-rise residential buildings in history, and has been closely studied over New York City. Meier has designed a the past ten years. Virginia Postrel, the project at Grand Army Plaza in author of the one of the most compelling Brooklyn, and, among other projects, of these studies, The Substance of Style, has Stern has designed 99 Church Street, the written that “the ‘variety revolution’ is first non-glass-walled building proposed one of the biggest business stories of the for the World Trade Center site. The past decade.” rivalry of the two architects is also play- It is no secret that architects and the ing out elsewhere. They have designed public frequently disagree on the issue of residential high-rises just blocks apart, at style; most architects think that every- the edge of Beverly Hills in Los Angeles: thing should be Modernist, while the 9900 Wilshire by Meier and The public puts a high value on tradition— Century by Stern. Stern and Meier differ and on choice. This difference is fre- in many respects: Stern has always quently characterized as a question of taught, Meier hasn’t; Stern is a prolific taste, but for architects it is not a question 8 2 ZELL/LURIEREALESTATECENTER of equally valid personal choices, but an teaching, encouraged a state of false con- objective matter with important profes- sciousness, and distracted people from the sional overtones. realities of the modern world with nostal- Schools of architecture everywhere in gic images from the past. the world teach that Modernism is not a This academic argument came up style but the only authentic way of build- short, however, when a Modernist archi- ing. The key assumption is the value of tect was confronted by clients—rich or being “truthful,” which originated with poor—who wanted gabled roofs and win- the International Style architecture of the dow shutters. As we have seen, even in the 1920s. For the architects of that time, case of multifamily dwellings, where indi- blank white walls and Cubist forms were vidual apartments are subordinated to a intended both as a sign of purity and as a collective exterior expression, buyers fre- repudiation of the applied ornament that quently demand traditional architecture. had characterized the architecture of the Are there objective, persuasive points that preceding century. In their view, “truth” an architect can make to counter the was the irreducible core that was left when desire for traditional forms? Or is everything extraneous was removed. In Modernism a quasi-religious dogma theory, only forms with a purpose, forms rather than a rational and empirically that arose out of the functional circum- based system of professional knowledge? stances of the building, were allowed. The Are the criteria that are commonly used to use of style for its own sake was considered judge architectural production really copying, and in the context of creative objective and incontrovertible? work, was thought to be a lie. Some of this 1920s architecture was low-income, multifamily housing, and THEORIES notwithstanding the fact that it has always been easier to experiment on the poor To understand the antipathy of Modernist rather than on the rich, this involvement architects to historical styles, it is necessary with housing was taken as proof of to briefly examine two fundamental Modernism’s commitment to social beliefs, each of which addresses aspects of progress. But beyond simply providing truthfulness in architecture. The first con- better built and sanitary housing for the cerns the Zeitgeist, or the spirit of the time, masses, the aesthetic aim was to avoid and refers to the notion that every period building in a traditional manner, since tra- in history has a particular way of building ditional building, according to Modernist that is uniquely appropriate (conversely, REVIEW 8 3 any other way of building must be false). The notion that there are truths that This belief depends on the assumption reside in the use of particular materials has that every great period in history is dom- gained many adherents over the last two inated by a homogenous society whose hundred years, notably influential figures material culture expressed a unity of aes- such as John Ruskin and Frank Lloyd thetic vision. This principle of cultural Wright. Yet as early as the nineteenth cen- identity suggests that modern architects, tury, the German architect and theorist too, must have a unique way of building. Gottfried Semper, who studied the history But the cultural identity of traditional of architecture from an anthropological societies had a “home town team spirit” perspective, realized that a very different quality that suppressed individual phenomenon had played a decisive role expression in favor of the group. In eth- throughout history. He called it stoffwech- nic societies the difference between “us” sel, or material change. According to and “them” was felt acutely. Yet if the Semper, when certain architectural forms word “modernity” has any meaning, it attain important cultural meanings, for a surely includes the freedom of the indi- variety of reasons—permanence, econo- vidual to live his or her life as he or she my, simply availability—they are often sees fit, to construct an identity freely reproduced in other materials. Thus archi- through the expression of personal tecture could be said to have begun when choice—and consumption. the forms of reed huts were carved into The second Modernist belief assumes monumental stone in ancient Egypt. that the correct use of building materials There was nothing “dishonest” about this, produces a self-evident sense of honesty, according to Semper; the forms had often referred to as the “nature of materials.” important meanings and were being hon- This means that what was originally made ored by being reproduced in a new, per- in a given material owes its form to the con- manent material. Similarly, over the cen- straints and possibilities inherent in the use turies, Classical forms that were perfected of that material and cannot be duplicated in in marble temples have been reproduced another material without being falsified.

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