OCULUS on current new york architecture

The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Volume 43, Number 7, April 1982

The South Street Seaport Area. page2 Oculus OCULUS SEAPORT REPORT

Volume 43, Number 7, April 1982

Oculus In early December 1981, several kilos of lease documents were Editor: C. Ray Smith Managing Editor: Marian Page signed by officials of the South Street Seaport Museum, the City Art Director: Abigail Sturges of New York, The Rouse Company of Maryland, and the State's Typesetting: Susan Schechter Urban Development Corporation. The ceremony was a rite of The New York Chapter of passage that was not unlike a birth at the end of a long, difficult, the American Institute of Architects and exhausting labor. The tangible result will be an active, The Urban Center, 457 Madison A venue, ongoing revitalization of the Seaport district located along New York, New York 10022 212-838-9670 downtown Manhattan's waterfront just below the Brooklyn Bridge. The December agreements took four years to complete. George S. Lewis, Executive Director They comprise, what some have called, "the most complex real Executive Committee 1981-82: estate development in the United States." The agreements, Joseph Wasserman, President nevertheless, still present questions about Preservation, Arthur I. Rosenblatt, First Vice President Community, Parking, Developing, and Profit, as representatives Tician Papachristou, Vice President Robert Siegel, Vice President of the various interested parties discuss in the Seaport Update Terrance Williams, Secretary that follows. Alan Schwartzman, Treasurer Frank Eliseo William Ellis Theodore Liebman Nancy A. Miao Stuart Pertz Mildred F. Schmertz

NYC/AIA Staff Cathanne Piesla Carol Jones Jeannette Manzo Eileen McGrath

© 1982 The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

John B. Hightower is President of the South Street Seaport Museum

Philip E. Aarons is President of New York City's Public Development Corporation.

Iris Alex, AIA, is a member of Community Board 1.

Laurin B. Askew, Jr., AIA, is Vice President and Director of Design for The Rouse Company.

Map of the South Street Seaport Area. Oculus page3

The Cost of Commerce and Culture at South Street

by John B. Hightower

It all began in the spring of 1977. At with a well intentioned bureaucratic the invitation of the South Street curse. It is New York's Uniform Land Seaport Museum, the legendary Jim Use Review Process, more commonly Rouse visited the Seaport district to known as ULURP-and always see if it were possible to establish a pronounced as a single word. The marketplace in the area that would process is just as dispeptic as it spin off enough income for the sounds, involving thousands of tedious Muse um to pay the staggering costs of technical steps before the Community The Spring Celebration Dinner/Dance restoring and maintaining its historic Planning Board, the City Planning on April 22nd to celebrate Romald~ ships and buildings. The question was Commission, the Landmarks Giurgola's Gold Medal and the Plazas not casually answered. For $250,000 Preservation Commission, and finally 15th Anniversary will also toast the cash from the Museum (provided by the Board of Estimate. ~ign-offs from il25th Anniversary of the founding ()t the Astor Foundation), the Rouse a myriad of other departments - Fire, the National AIA here in New York Company agreed to spend an equal Sanitation, Borough President, Ports amount to answer that $500,000 and Terminals, Transportation, question. Eighteen months later, the Housing, Environmental Protection­ answer was, in military parlance, guarantee costly delays. The only affirmative. At that point, the virtue of ULURP is that it contains complexities began. the process to a finite period of time.

The result will become evident next In the Koch administration, self-styled itself as well as provide positive year. The Marketplace and the bureaucratic heroes lurk who want "to models for other American cities to Muse um on opening day in the cut the best deal for the City" often at follow. summer of 1983 will be a bonanza for the expense of what is in the City's the City of New York on several best interest. The delays these If the Seaport development does go different levels- financial, bureaucratic wunderkind created at through with the plans to reestablish a architectural, cultural, and political. the Seaport nearly cost the City the marketplace and fit it into the glove of And yet, the City of New York came project; they have also virtually the Museum's neighborhood, it will perilously close to losing it all. caused bankruptcy at the Seaport truly be one of the City's most Museum. The public approvals process exciting projects despite the City Every time a city official left his or her is bad enough. The compromises that government's interest in it only as an post, all bets were off and agreements public and bureaucratic review economic development project at the had to be renegotiated. The Museum's produce rarely create a product of expense of the Muse um. basic agreement with the City had to distinction. There are too many voices be renegotiated five times. The with varied versions of excellence Nevertheless, the South Street resulting delays grossly exaggerated predicated on the interest the agency Seaport Museum may also be the the costs of realizing the project and must defend to justify its existence. model for a new museum-one that put the precarious finances of the Too often, mediocrity results, which is exists within its original skin- not one Museum in distress. The legal bills usually seen in solutions that conform that can only be cloned from another alone are more than $400,000- over 20 to architectural formulae designed to culture. percent of the entire annual budget of allow building projects to crawl the museum. through the City's legal and The prospects for success at South bureaucratic hurdles, certainly not Street are excellent. They are also The City came close to losing an leap over them with any degree of challenging to a fault. Occasionally, extraordinary area, a special grace. one wonders if New York City has to institution, and an exciting project for be quite so devoid of boredom. Still at a series of apparently rightminded The plans for the South Street the Seaport the advantages are reasons that all together were Seaport Museum are not without compounded. _The past will be profoundly wrong. The reasons are inventive distinction. The spirit of the preserved. Buildings will be restored part and parcel of why New York City City will be improved in much the to full and active use not unlike the is simultaneously magnificent and same way that Boston's revival of its times of their busiest days a century mad. Its public and bureaucratic waterfront has uplifted that city. The ago when a market was the district's procedures may be democratic, but Seaport's contribution to lower central focus. And the South Street ultimately they are self destructive, Manhattan will provide the kind of Seaport Museum will receive a inconsistent, and arbitrary. public gathering place that downtown predictable stream of income to has lacked during this entire century. support its activities and to cover the In the name of preservation, the New York needs to be able to convince expensive requirements of defenders of the cause created an its cynical critics throughout the maintaining its buildings and ships. unwitting alliance in New York City country that it can both replenish page4 Oculus

The Role of New York City The Community View Rouse Company Statement on the Seaport

by Philip E. Aarons by Iris Alex by Laurin B. Askew, Jr., AIA

The concerns and objectives of New The South Street Seaport Museum The South Street Seaport project will York City with respect to the has lived fairly peacefully with its reflect some of the principles that development of the South Street neighbors for many years in the quiet guided the creation of The Rouse Seaport historic district have changed enclave where gulls feast on leftover Company's Faneuil Hall Marketplace many times during the project's fish in the morning, where Wall Street in Boston and Harborplace in fifteen-year history. Unlike the South workers bask on the peaceful piers at Baltimore. One essential principle is Street Museum, which wanted to noon, where local artists and old that these projects serve as festive provide financial security and an area seamen drink together in the public places, rather than places context for its museum activities, or neighborhood bars while uptowners merely to shop or eat. The Rouse Company, which, once dine at Sweet's and Sloppy Louie's in involved, wished to generate both the evening, where visitors come on The Seaport project will not be a profits and a flagship development for weekends to see the Muse um ships repetition of the Baltimore or Boston the company in the country's largest and listen to concerts on the piers. The experience, because it is by its very retail market, the City has not pattern of night-time fish market, day­ nature and location different from maintained a consistent rationale for time office worker recreation and both. Nor will the Seaport project be its involvement in the project. weekend tourists has "worked." There self-consciously a pretense at that have never been too many people or which is exclusively New York During the late 1960s, the reason for too much activity going on to destroy architecture, because the City does the City's initial involvement was the the fragile, shabby remnant of the old not have and never had a limited or desire to preserve a significant cluster seaport. defined scheme. The market building of 19th-century commercial buildings and the architectural preservation that had survived along the The community- which includes loft surrounding it, comprising the waterfront south of the Brooklyn and apartment dwellers, studio Seaport project, will speak and relate Bridge. As the downtown office boom artists, the Fulton Fish Market, local to its particular place at this of the late 1960s matured, substantial shops and restaurant owners, and the particular time with a clear pressure for new office development financial and insurance districts - understanding of the past and was generated at sites comprising the wants the Muse um to survive and accommodation for the future. Just as historic area. Since the South Street expand, wants the fish market to developer Peter Schermerhorn did not -Seaport Museum was or_ganized under remain, and wants the district to be intentionally mock grand buildings, the motto "To recreate in the heart of preserved. but built with integrity that which our City the old seaport of New York," would serve the purpose of his project the original request of the City was to We worry that the huge scale of the in 1811, so will The Rouse Company. designate the area a historic district proposed retail marketplace may with landmark preservation status. overwhelm the Museum, disrupt the As an urban project, set amidst The City's role was one of passive fish market, and destroy the authentic existing buildings, the Seaport project protector/facilitator of a privately character of this special place. We must relate to its environment and funded museum district. wish that preservation could have therefore must belong to the present been achieved with smaller scale urban fabric. The project's By 1972, the role of the South Street development. environmental edges have to be Seaport Museum and the City of New understood and appreciated. For the York had changed. The concept of a We're concerned about the artists, architects, these edges provide a point private preservation/cultural project businesses, and residences already of reference. had disappeared, and the City was occupying the old buildings. They've heavily involved in reviewing been there a long time and have In the case of the Seaport, the 1811 financing alternatives that would fought several attempts to evict them. commercial development called allow for the preservation of certain Schermerhorn Row provides such an properties and the redevelopment of We wonder where the millions of edge that answers questions of scale other properties. The City, through anticipated visitors to the new and texture. Schermerhorn Row use of its urban renewal powers and marketplace will park their cars-or, architecture is comprised of detailed, its capital budget, undertook a where they will walk, since the streets delicate buildings massed together in complex financial transaction that are narrow. a very human, unimposing scale. resulted in the acquisition by the City of a number of blocks in the area, a We hope that easy access to the public Phase I of building program lease-back to the South Street piers won't be cut off, and that people Where previous market buildings Muse um of most of the property, and can continue to relax and watch the have stood across Fulton Street from the creation of a substantial bank of river traffic go by. the Row, a new market building will development rights, which could be be of a similar height and constructed sold to neighboring developers. The We worry that the Fulton Fish Market with materials that can be seen in cont'd. p. 8, coL 1 cont'd. p. 8, coL 2 cont'd. p. 8, coL 9 Oculus page5

A central market will be rebuilt on the site of the Phase I lost 1822, 1882, and 1954 Fulton Market buildings. The Fulton Marketplace of 1983-Phase I of the Rouse Company's building program-will be, as the previous 1882 market building was, a three­ story rectangle that opens to the street on four sides. It will be faced with brick and granite. Porchlike pediments or dormers will interrupt the hipped metal roof to identify major entrances. Flags will fly from the gabled peaks. Fulton Street will become a pedestrian street leading visitors to a waterfront pavilion of shops, restaurants, and promenades along the East River. This will be Phase II of the building program. The Museum's gallery, study, and storage space will quadruple. The State owns a critical block of structures known as the Schermerhorn Row. The buildings, which date back to the early 1800s, are among the area's most architecturally distinctive and historically important. The City owns evP.rything else in the Seaport area. The South Street Seaport Museum holds the lease not only for properties it gave to the City in the 60s but for several piers along South Street as well In effect, the Museum is subleasing spaces to The Rouse Company for a percentage of the economic per!ormance of the marketplace. The financial result for the Museum, says John Hightower, will mean that 75 percent of its income will be earned and only 25 percent will h1zve to be contributed. At present, 40 percent of

-,,..;_/,..;:;~ the Museum's income is earned and 60 percent has to be raised in contributions. Front Street looking south along Market Building on left to Schermerhorn Row.

Fulton Street looking east 1882-1952.

Fulton Street looking east: Market Building on left; Schermerhorn Row on right. Fulton Street looking east 1954-82. 'l

« MAil KET RUIJ.IJlNG fRONT STREET EL~:VATION

Market Building: Front Street Elevation. Typical awnings over NYC market buildings. OCULUS NYC I AIA APR 82 CONTINUING EVENTS Oculus welcomes information/or the ROBERT ADAM AND HIS STYLE ROBERT GEDDES: ARCHITECTURAL FANTASY AND SHELTER: MODELS OF NATIVE calendar pertaining to public events about Exhibition of original drawings, THE FOREST EDGE REALITY INGENUITY architecture and the other design furniture, silver by Adam and his Exhibition. AIA Gallery, 117 South Exhibition of 17th and 18th century Exhibition of models, drawings, and professions. It is due by the 7th of the circle. Cooper-Hewitt Museum, 2 E. 17th St., Philadelphia. Closes Apr. 16. drawings- entries to competitions at photographs focusing on house forms month for the following month's issue. 91St.860-6868. Closes Apr. 11. National Academy of St. Luke in of indigenous builders, early Because of the time lag between NEW DRAWING IN AMERICA Rome. Cooper-Hewitt Museum, 2 E. American settlers, the energy­ information received and printed, final ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S: AN UPDATE Part II of exhibition celebrating the 91 St. 860-6868. Closes May 2. conscious architect. The Katonah details of events are likely to change. It is Exhibition. Sponsored by The Drawing Center's 5th anniversary Gallery, 28 Bedford Rd., Katonah. recommended, therefore, that events be Municipal Art Society at The Urban includes architectural drawings. 137 PAR~S/MAGNUM: 914-232-4988. Closes May 23. checked with the institutions before Center, 457 Madison Ave. 935-3960. Greene St. 982-5266. Closes May 1. PHOTOGRAPHS 1935-1981 attending. Closes Apr. 15. A portrait of Paris by the renowned photographic collective. Send Oculus Calendar information to: International Center of Photography, New York Chapter/AJA, 457 Madison 1130 Fifth Ave. (94th St.). 860-1783. Avenue, N. Y. 10022. Closes May 9. THURSDAY 1 FRIDAY2 TOWARD A MODERN ART OF THE BAUHAUS JERZY SOL TAN PRESERVATION IN PROGRESS: (RE)CONSTRUCTION OF THE Exhibition of works by the masters of Lecture by Harvard School of THE SEAPORT DISTRICT EUROPEAN CITY: FOUR HOUSING the Bauhaus. La Boetie, 9 E. 82 St. Architecture's former chairman in Exhibition and program highlighting PROJECTS 535-4865. Closes June 30. Pratt's spring series. Higgins Hall, the Seaport as a working Exhibition of recent projects by Rem St. James & Lafayette, Brooklyn. preservation site. Organized by the Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis. RADIANCE AND REFLECTION 6pm. South Street Seaport Museum, 203 Institute for Architecture and Urban Exhibition of masterpieces of stained Front St., 766-9020. Closes Dec. 26. Studies, 8 W. 40th St. 398-9474. glass and sculpture from the THE LESSONS OF ROME Closes May 28. Raymond Pitcairn collection, which Lecture by Jon Michael Schwarting. EAST COAST GLASS focuses on architectural arts of the The Open Atelier of Design, 12 W. 29 Exhibition of stained glass. 12th and 13th centuries. The St. 689-8698. $11. Glassmaker's Guild, 621 Avenue of Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park. 879-5500. the Americas at 19th St. 924-2868. Closes Sept. 15.

MONDAY5 TUESDAY6 WEDNESDAY7 THURSDAYS FRIDAY9 WOMEN ARCHITECTS THE CITY TRANSFORMED II CENTENNIAL LECTURES REMINDER Exhibition Gallery, 100 Level, Avery Lecture by Barry Lewis on James Freed. Wood Auditorium, On Easter Sunday, April 11, St. Hall, Columbia Graduate School of "California Alternatives to the Fifth Avery Hall, Columbia Graduate Marks-in-the-Bowery, at 10th St. and Architecture and Urban Planning. Avenue Mansion." The Municipal Art School of Architecture & Planning. 6 Second Avenue, will unveil its 280-3414. Closes April 16. Society, 457 Madison Ave. 6-7:30 pm. pm. 280-3414. restoration (by The Edelman Partnership) after the fire of August FREE-STYLE CLASSICISM: EMERGING VOICES IN THE IMPACT OF FEMINISM ON 1978. The resplendent new Georgian THE NEW RULES ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURE church will be open from the 10:30 am Lecture by Charles Jencks sponsored Roger Ferri and Giuseppe Zambonini Panel discussion. Barnard Women's service to 8 pm. Phone: 67 4-6377. by The Architectural League. Asia in Architectural League series, 457 Center. The James Room, Barriard Happy Resurrection Sunday. Society Auditorium, 725 Park Ave. Madison Ave. 6:30. 753-1722. Hall, 7:30 pm. 280-3414. 6:30 pm. 753-1722. Nonmembers $5. FORUMS ON FORM STANLEY TI GERMAN Lecture by Peter Wolf on his book Exhibition of architectural drawings. Land in America: Its Value, Use, and Rosa Esman Gallery, 29 W. 57 St. Control 12:30 pm. Urban Center 421-9490. Books, 457 Madison Ave. 295-3595. ..LY.L'-T..L.. ..IJ..L1.I. .I.~ ~~DAr13 WEDNESDAY14 THURSDAY15 FRIDAY 16 ------NYC/AIA ARCHITECTURE THE CITY TRANSFORMED II FORUMS ON FORM ARCHITECTURAL SALARIES/ WALKING TOUR ON SUNDAY AWARDS Lecture by Barry Lewis on "Art Lecture by James Marston Fitch on COMPENSATION APRIL 18 Deadline (5 pm) for submission of Deco: The European Roots his book, Historical Preservation: Panel discussion on the Chapter's "An Architect's Guide­ entries. NYC/AIA, 457 Madison 1900-1910." The Municipal Art Curatorial Management of the Built Compensation Survey and on Architectural Preservation at the Ave. Society, 457 Madison Ave. 6-7:30 pm. World (McGraw Hill). Introduction by Seaport," led by Jan Hird Pokorny. Kent Barwick.12:30 pm. Urban architects' marketing and fee Depart from Seaport Museum EMERGING VOICES Center Books, 457 Madison Ave. negotiation. Frank Munzer, Gallery, 215 Water Street at 1:30. REVIEW OF REVIEWS Arquitectonica, Miami; Jon Michael 935-3595. Richard Hayden, Carmi Bee, Information and reservations: Panel discussion moderated by Schwarting, New York, in Eason Leonard, Barry LePatner; 766-9020. Gerald Allen on "the parameters of Architectural League series. 457 NEW BLOOD NEW YORK Joseph Wasserman, moderator. the journalist's role" -with Pilar Madison Ave., 6:30 pm. 753-1722. Lecture by Dakota Jackson on 6:00 pm. Wine. 457 Madison Ave. WALKING TOUR ON SUNDAY Viladas and Douglas Brenner. The Nonmembers $5. "Chairs and Tables and Light." 838-9670. APRIL 18 Architectural League, 457 Madison Sponsored by Express Newspaper The Museum of the City of New York Ave. 6:30 pm. 753-1722. GOTHIC REVIVAL IN FRANCE and the International Network for opens its 23rd season of Sunday Nonmembers $5. Matthews lectures by Neil Levine. Art and Architecture, 59 Greene ARNOLD W. BRUNNER GRANT Walking Tours at 1:30 pm with 6 pm. Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall. Street. 7-9 pm. 431-6560. $5. Deadline (5 pm) for submission of "Upper Fifth Avenue" Info: 534-1672. Columbia Graduate School of entries, NYC/AIA, 457 Madison Architecture & Planning, 280-3414. Ave. MONDAY19 TUESDAY20 WEDNESDAY 21 THURSDAY22 FRIDAY23 CONSTRUCTION COST EMERGING VOICES FORUMS ON FORM CHAPTER PARTY WALKING TOUR ON SUNDAY ESTIMATION & BIDDING Paul Segal (New York) and Stuart Lecture by Michael Graves on NYC/ AIA dress ball to honor AIA APRIL 25 TwArt Deco: 1925-1940: The book An Introduction to Urban Lecture by Legorreta in Pratt's Buildings." The Municipal Art Design (Harper & Row). 12:30 pm. spring series. Higgins Hall, St James

Society, 457 Madison Ave. 6-7:30 pm. Urban Center Books, 457 Madison & Lafayette, Brooklyn. 6 pm1 935-3960. Ave. 935-3595. ADVANCEMENT ISSUES FOR WOMEN IN ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE Panel discussion sponsored by Women's Caucus, NYC/AIA. 5:30 pm, wine. 457 Madison Ave. 838-9670. page8 Oculus

The present City-Seaport Museum­ Brooklyn and the Seaport, a hydrofoil The Role of New York City Rouse Company agreement was traveling up and down the East River, concluded last December on the basis a swimming pool in a barge, an cont'd. from p. 4 of these principles. The importance of expanded cultural center to bring City's increased role in the project City control over the new together the downtown arts came about for several reasons: development, and the need for community. guarantees that the commercial First, the Museum was unsuccessful in project would be a compatible-and its attempt to manage and develop the not overwhelming- part of the Rouse Company Statement property on its own. district's historical nature became critical issues in the final stages of the cont'd. from p. 4 And, second, the development of a negotiations. Fortunately, these surrounding historic buildings. Forms, 24-hour relatively low-density area protections were provided in the final materials, and techniques that have featuring a mix of retail, residential, documents. been comfortably and successfully and cultural activities was responsive used in this environment before-such to public policy concerns. These were What started as an attempt by a few as brick, granite-trimmed windows, generated by the completion of a individuals to save a group of historic metal roofing, and canopies suspended number of major office buildings near and architecturally distinguished by cables-will be incorporated into Wall Street, which threatened to turn buildings, turned into a massive the new market building. the entire downtown into a 9 to 5 commercial development project community. seeking to satisfy the City's plans for Flagpoles will be affixed via metal the lower Manhattan area and the fastenings to granite blocks inset into With this approach, the City became generation of much needed revenues. the brick skin of the building, a the financing vehicle for the technique similar to that used in the acquisition of the buildings in the late 1800s. It is in such ornamentation historic area and the Muse um took on The Community View and detailing that the structure's the responsibility for its own antecedents are revealed and development and for the development cont'd. from p. 4 acknowledged. However, "ye olde" of the commercial areas surrounding may not survive. The ages-old, and "post-modern" architecture will the Museum. intricate system of night-time truck not be the limit, definition, or content parking is in jeopardy because of of the building's form. It will respond By 1977, it appeared that this strategy proposed street closings. New parking in direct, honest fashion to the was also failing. The City, once again, space is to be provided. We hope it intended contemporary uses. determined that it must take a more works. Some fish dealers have to be active role in the development of the relocated. If new quarters aren't In order to achieve authenticity, our South Street Seaport district. By this suitable, they may go out of business. design considerations have been time, the concept of economic activity integration, honesty, and development- with its potential for We're nervous about the complex directness. Barriers between shops adding new jobs and new tax revenues lease and management arrangements, and people will be minimized. With for a City strapped for income­ involving State, City, Museum, ~nd restraints placed on counters dividing suggested the possibility of a major The Rouse Company. We hope the and defining vendors and customers, commercial development at the South Museum will be able to hold up its end the social roles will become fluid and Street Seaport district. The Rouse and manage the huge enterprise. interaction will become primary. In Company, the preeminent inner-city the Seaport context, people as well as mall operator, was selected by the We wonder what the impact of the goods and offerings of the shops will Seaport Museum as developer and new marketplace will be on nearby flow and connect. negotiations were begun on a $230 shopping districts-the Nassau Street million construction project involving Mall and the World Trade Center Merchant goods will speak clearly and a new pier in the East River and Concourse. simply for themselves in a setting that 240,000 square feet of retail space accommodates and welcomes the spread among the historic _buildings. We are looking forward to new distinctive ethnic cultures by which This focus on large-scale development restaurants overlooking the river, and the goods were created. Perhaps this also reflected the City's desire to put more evening activity and liveliness will provide what is characteristic of those cultural institutions that downtown. New York most of all-people remained dependent on City funds on honestly and frankly showing who and a self-sufficient basis through the Maybe some of the wonderful projects what they have been and are. dedication of income from new that have had to be abandoned will commercial development. come to life again- a ferry boat plying Human activity based on the exchange the river between Fulton Ferry in cont'd. p. 11, col 1 Oculus page9

The Pier Pavilion-Phase II of the Rouse In approaching the design of these two new Phase II Company building program-will be a three­ structures, according to the architect, "Benjamin story shed, modified by arcades, crossings, and Thompson & Associates was presented with open porches to facilitate the placement of retail more restraints than freedoms. Givens: exact and restaurant areas for maximum waterfront boundaries of the site, height and FAR limits, exposure. The architects believe "it will recall detailed historic requirements and review the 19th century recreation piers that once procedures, exacting functiona~ code and cost provided New Yorkers with large park-like requirements. And, in the case of the Market spaces on upper levels of East River docks. Block, the need to plan and build around existing "These were," they say, "the public roof gardens fish stalls now occupying half the black so the of the city." purveyors could stay in their original locations during and after construction." The Fulton Fish Market adjacent to the Pier Pavilion, will stay in place and receive improvements for the first time in more than 25 years.

Pier Pavilion seen from the south. Looking east toward the Pier Pavilion.

View west along Fulton Street with Pier Pavilion right, Schermerhorn Row left. Aerial view of Boston's Quincy Market. page 10 Oculus

IHl.l!:lHtlHH HEHi!i!IJHIHI lllllHHI HllllHllll llllllHHll lllllHIHH lllHIHHll llllHlllHll IHIE~81HHHI lllHIHHH llllllHllHI llllHHHH llHllllHH 111111111111 IHllHI II llUI

175 Water Street 199 Water Street, Seaport Plaza, iormerly Telco: Front Street Elevation. At 175 Water Street-one block south of 199 Water, and bounded by Water, John, Front, and Fletcher-a 90-story, 400 ft high office building will be developed by HRO International and designed by Fox and Fowle. At 199 Water Street-on the next block west of Schermerhorn Row, and bounded by Water, Fulton, Front, and John- the 95-story, 444-ft. high Seaport Plaza Building (formerly Telco) will be developed by owner Jack Resnick & Sons, Inc. Swanke, Hayden, Connell & Partners are the architects. Plans show the preliminary design with proposed "bustle," which was disapproved (see Oculus Dec 81, page 2), and accepted design. Sidewalk has been , tapered out into Fulton Street at the northwest ... .(j corner to provide what the preliminary design Seaport Plaza: preliminary plan with "bustle." had omitted. Now, the approach to the Seaport's pedestrian mall is to be encroached on-rather than widened to accommodate the anticipated multitudes. r . . - . . . . ------.- The Front Street elevation of the Seaport Plaza (note contradictory nomenclature really means Seaport No-Plaza) indicates the wall of skyscrapers that the city has approved as a means of financially supporting the Seaport area. Projecting bustle was to have been on right of elevation. Looking south across the site of the now demolished Fulton Market of 1954-82, the Continental Center tower rises as the eastern turret of the canyon wall surrounding the Seaport Area. Swanke, Hayden, Connell & Partners are the architects of that one also. Se.aport Plaza: approved plan Oculus page 11

Editorial Names and News

After the experts on the Seaport have The Spring Celebration Dinner/Dance been heard from, we must conclude on April 22nd to celebrate Romaldo that, when all is said and done, there Giurgola's Gold Medal and the Plaza's is, as usual, more said than done. 75th Anniversary will also toast the 125th Anniversary of the founding of Still, on the plus side we will have a the National AIA here in New York preserved remnant of the city's 19th •... An edited version of the Chapter's century waterfront, shipping, fishing Overseas Practice exhibit is being business, and architecture. The city shown at the National AIA has gained financially through thumb­ headquarters through the end of April screw tactics again. The Seaport .... Arthur Rosenblatt is planning a Museum will gain enough revenue fall series of lectures that the Chapter from the Rouse shopping-eating will co-sponsor with the Metropolitan center to feel secure. And Museum. Watch for flyer .... preservationists, historians, and Fellowship guidelines for the 1982 educators will feel, to some degree, Architectural Fellowships administered that the Rouse enterprise will be a by Educational Facilities Laboratories sugar-coated pill of sufficient lure to are now available. Deadline for expose more of our citizens to the applications is June 1. For info: EFL/ merits and pleasures of the Seaport AED, 680 Fifth Avenue, 10019 .... area. The following Chapter members have been elected Fellows of AIA: Jonathan On the other side, however, as John Barnett, William N. Breger, Charles Hightower points out, we must Hughes, Leonard Jacobson, Frank W. lament how much has been lost. Munzer, Arthur Rosenblatt, and Paul Although grateful for Philip Aarons' Silver .... Richard Meier & Partners honest confession of the city's financial has appointed the following new expediency, we must lament it is not associates: Philip H. Babb, Susan M. much comfort: The concrete cavern Berman, Steven Forman, Michael J. Continental Center over demolished Market has closed in on the fragile little Palladino, and Gunter R. Standke .... and preserved Schermerhorn Row. remnant in a gross and regrettable Martin Bloom is the designer of the way. We must appreciate Laurin Theater Museum, a satellite of the cont'd. from p. 8 Askew's good intentions but still be Museum of the City of New York's of goods will be the focus, not the apprehensive that the Seaport Theater Collection, which opened last building itself. Therefore the building Marketplace will be more of a safe­ month in the Minskoff Theater must be a comfortable and forgiving and-sanitized Disneyland Main Street Arcade, 1515 Broadway between 44th building, not precious or fussy, than anything the Seaport area ever and 45th Streets .... Keith Kroeger capable of graciously coping with saw before-or needs to see. And we has joined Ulrich Franzen and frailties of human behavior or the must be cautioned by Iris Alex's Associates as a partner. The firm's occasional speck on the floor. gentle- but serious - questions about new address is Ulrich Franzen/Keith what more will be lost. Kroeger and Associates, 228 E. 45th The treatment of the three-story Street .... An advance planning note: market building's relationship to the Who can serve as gadfly and monitor The Richard Neutra Retrospective will ground plane is important since street to ensure saving the rest? Is it too open at the Museum of Modern Art on activity will integrate the several late? The spirit of the place, the scale, July 17 .... Weiss Whelan Edelbaum components of the Seaport project. the genial hustle and bustle-can they Webster has been commissioned to The streetscape will be inviting and be preserved for our edification and design an 88-unit condominium, foster a sense of festivity. Because the pleasure? Or must we be content with "Chappaqua Mews," in Chappaqua; a Seaport district is one of the few the preservationists' old 101 housing unit for the elderly, remaining enclaves of low-rise reconciliatory proverb: Things aren't "Maple Terrace," in New Rochelle; and buildings in lower Manhattan, it has what they were- and they never have a 100-bed skilled nursing home light, air, and a feeling of been. conversion in the Bronx for the Jewish expansiveness not seen elsewhere in Home and Hospital for the Aged .... the Wall Street area. Stores will be CRS The theme of the International Design entered from the street in both the Conference in Aspen (June 13-18) is to be restored Schermerhorn Row and "The Prepared Professional." . . . . The Water Street blocks, allowing access National Trust for Historic Preservation from both indoors and outdoors and has launched a bimonthly publication reinforcing streetscape activity. cont'd. p. 12, col. 1 page 12 Oculus

Consultants to New York State Urban Consultants to The Rouse Company Development Corporation for the Market Block and Pier Pavilion: for Schermerhorn Row Restoration: Benjamin Thompson & Associates, Inc.; Jan Hird Pokorny. The Eggers Group Consulting architects for storefronts: Consultants to the New York City Cabrera/Barricklo Architects Department of General Services for pier and street construction, Consultants to the Seaport Museum and fish market renovation: for the Water Street Block renovation: The Eggers Group; Beyer, Blinder, Belle for street reconstruction design: Benjamin Thompson & Associates

\ Names and News ( ' ' cont'd. from p. 11 Preservation Law Reporter . ... Belated congratulations to architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, who celebrated his 80th birthday on January 30th .... Berthold Lubetkin, founder of England's Tecton partnership, which became recognized for the design of zoos, is the winner of this year's Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. The Royal Institute for British Architects cites Lubetkin for pioneering "modern architecture in Britain" and for designing "a sequence of buildings the beauty and brilliance of which has never been surpassed in this country." .... A dedication ceremony held on the MIT campus last month marked completion of the $29 million two-building complex -The Whitaker College of Health Science, Technology and Management and The Health Services Building-designed in a joint venture by The Gruzen Partnership and Mitchell/Giurgola .... Liebman Liebman Associates has been named architects for the master plan of "Unity House," a resort in Pennsylvania; for "Whitewood at North Hills," a residential condominium in Nassau County; and for a 22-story residential highrise at 233 East 86th Street .... Ezra Ehrenkrantz is the moderator of a symposium-Designing for Tommorow: Connecting with the Past -on Saturday, April 3 (10 am-4 pm) at The Katonah Gallery, 28 Bedford Rd., Katonah. For more information: 914-232-4988 .... The Long Island Chapter/AIA has published its 1982 Reference/Directory of the Design & Build Professions, which includes the New York State Energy Conservation Construction Code Check Sheet, a listing of zoning board officials in New York State, New York City, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, as well as names and addresses of Long Island chapter members .... "Space Structures" is the theme of a summer program being offered by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Palais de Fontainbleau, France, July 1-August 27. For information: 41 Fifth Avenue, New York, or-228 BD Raspail, 75014 Paris. Photo: Stan Ries