Category Archives: Architecture
NYC Opens Stonewall House LGBT Senior Housing
Stonewall House in Brooklyn, NY is the city’s first LGBT-welcoming senior housing opened recently. Its population will be roughly 50 per cent LGBT and 50 per cent straight.
Occupying the prominent corner of Myrtle Avenue and St. Edwards Street in Fort Greene, Stonewall House is the largest LGBT-welcoming elder housing development in the country. The 17-story mixed-use building will consist of 124,000 SF containing 145 apartments and a 6,800 SF SAGE community facility space on the ground floor.
The massing of the building, using brick as a design feature, abuts the existing St. Edwards and St. Michael’s church rectory to the north and steps down from the corner of Myrtle and St. Edwards with three setbacks that provide common outdoor roof terraces. A cantilevered canopy marks the entry to the SAGE space off Myrtle Avenue and the residential entry off St. Edwards Street. ISR reconnects the Stonewall House campus and holds the corner, creating a safer and friendlier sidewalk experience.
New York LGBT Memorial
From the governor’s office:
“This stunning design complements the landscape and communicates a timeless message of inclusion, and this monument will serve as an enduring symbol of the role New Yorkers play in building a fairer, more just world,” Governor Cuomo said. “From Stonewall to marriage equality, New York has always been a beacon for justice and we will never waiver in our commitment to the LGBT community and to creating a more just and inclusive society. This new monument will stand up for those values for generations to come.”
Following the tragic shooting in Orlando, Florida on June 12, 2016, Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order No. 158, establishing the LGBT Memorial Commission, with the mission to design and build a new memorial in honor of the LGBT community and the victims of the Orlando shooting. The Commission issued a request for proposals in October 2016, and all submissions were judged on their interpretation and clarity of the theme, creativity and originality of depicted theme, quality of artistic composition, site compatibility, and constructability, among other factors.
The site specific design works in harmony with the existing attributes of Hudson River Park and promotes thought and reflection while encouraging people to unite in a communal environment. It will feature nine modified boulders, some of which are bisected with a clear, laminated, borosilicate-glass with refractory components that act as a prism to create subtle rainbow patterns on the surrounding lawn and nearby objects.
Said Goicolea:
“I am honored to join Governor Cuomo and the LGBT Memorial Commission on this important project to remember those who have been victims of hate, violence, and intolerance, while celebrating the beauty of the LGBT community. This monument will serve as a communal space filled with light, color, and hope where the visitors can sit, mourn, love, and remember for years to come. I am grateful to the Governor and his administration for the opportunity to be a part of this historic moment.”
StoneWall Inn to be come National Gay Monument
New York’s iconic Stonewall Inn, where the modern gay rights movement took root, will become the first national monument honoring the history of gays and lesbians in the U.S. under a proposal President Barack Obama is preparing to approve.
Designating the small swath of land will mark a major act of national recognition for gay rights advocates and their struggles over the last half-century. Since the 1969 uprising in Greenwich Village, the U.S. has enacted anti-discrimination protections, allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military and legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Though land must still be transferred to the federal government and other details worked out, the president is expected to move quickly to greenlight the monument following a public meeting Monday in Manhattan, according to two individuals familiar with the administration’s plans. The individuals weren’t authorized to discuss the plans publicly and requested anonymity. More at CBS LOCAL.
Stonewall Inn gets Landmark Status
The Stonewall Inn, the Greenwich Village bar where resistance to a police raid sparked the modern gay rights movement, was made a city landmark Tuesday, the first time a site has been named primarily because of its significance to the LGBT history.
“New York City’s greatness lies in its inclusivity and diversity,” Meenakshi Srinivasan, chairwoman of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, said before the unanimous vote. “The events at Stonewall were a turning point in the LGBT rights movement and in the history of our nation.”
Patrons fought back against a police raid on the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969, and the street protests that followed for several days are credited with galvanizing gay activism in New York and globally. The rebellion is commemorated with annual gay pride parades in hundreds of cities. (JUDY GARLAND had died June 22nd that same week. So the queens were in no mood that week!)
The two buildings that comprised the Stonewall Inn were originally built in the 1840s as stables, and in 1930 were merged at the first story and given a unified facade. Their combined ground floor commercial space originally housed a bakery, and in 1934 it was taken over by the Stonewall Inn Restaurant. The property reopened in 1967 as a gay club, retaining the name Stonewall Inn
To read The REAL History of the Stonewall Riots CLICK HERE
Everard Baths Fire of 1977
Today on Back to Stonewall, they ran a piece about the 1977 fire at the Everard Baths. 38 years ago, nine patrons (ages 17 to 40) were killed in a fire: seven from smoke inhalation, one from respiratory burns, and one who had jumped from an upper floor.
A sprinkler system had been installed at the baths but was not hooked up to a water supply. The bathhouse had been ordered to install the sprinkler system a year ago, but the deadline for its operation was not until the coming July 27.
Despite total destruction of the top two floors, the two floors were rebuilt and The Everard Baths baths would reopen and stay open for another nine years until April of 1986 when it was closed by New York City mayor Ed Koch during the city’s campaign to close gay sec venues during the AIDS epidemic.
Read more (plus VIDEO) at Back to Stonewall.
New York Pier 55 Project
GOTHAMIST has the scoop on Pier 55 this week!
A crumbling old Hudson River pier once used by ocean liners like the Lusitania will be torn down and replaced by a 2.7 acre park on the water featuring rolling hills and an outdoor amphitheater. Mayor de Blasio is expected to reveal further details about the park at a press conference this morning, but the Hudson River Park Trust has revealed that the park will be largely financed by a foundation formed by the billionaire couple Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg.
“New York has always reminded me of Venice, so I am happy the time has come to properly honor its waterways,” Diane von Furstenberg said in a statement. “What better than a park on the city’s western bank to rest, watch a sunset or a performance?” The talented producer Scott Rudin, theater directors George Wolfe and Stephen Daldry, and British theater executive Kate Horton will oversee the performance spaces, with Diller pledging to fund cultural events there for 20 years.
Read more and see all the cool pictures!
***UPDATE 2015 – THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN! The project has won unanimous approval from the Hudson River Park Trust on Wednesday and is moving forward! The next step in Pier55’s development is for the developers to apply for permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Construction is expected to begin in 2016.
Concept Design Photo for New York Citys High Line
the Rail Yards includes an immersive bowl-shaped structure on the Spur, a
wide section of the High Line that extends over 10th Avenue at West
30th Street. Image by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio +
Renfro, courtesy of the City of New York
Neighbors, supporters, members, and friends gathered for a presentation this week of renderings of the Spur by the High Line Design Team’s James Corner of
James Corner Field Operations and Ric Scofidio of Diller Scofidio +
Renfro, as well as an update on the progress on construction and the
project timeline by Friends of the High Line Co-Founder Robert Hammond.
Keep up to date at The High Line
The Future of New York City
This week the Huffington Post ran an awesome series of photos showing what New York City may look like in the coming 20 years!
The new Penn Station – above. This summer a multibillion dollar plan will finally get underway to
brighten up the dank rail station and better accommodate the 600,000
people that pass through it each day. But it’ll be a while before the
much-maligned space looks fresh and tidy. Madison Square Garden, which
sits on top of the transit hub, was given 10 years to relocate.
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The world’s largest ferris wheel will come to Staten Island in 2016. At 625 feet, the New York Wheel is predicted to draw millions of visitors to the borough.
After more than a decade of controversy — including scrapped Olympic
and Jets stadium plans — developers have crafted an ambitious plan to
convert 26 acres of rail facilities into the largest private real estate
development in city history. Hudson Yards is “a $15 billion
15-structure mini-city on Manhattan’s West Side that will create more office space than exists in Portland, Ore.,” according to the New York Daily News.
SEE THE REST AT HUFFINGTON POST!
