Similarly the architects kept the grilles for heating vents and cloned new ones where needed. Although much of the coffered ceiling could be kept, it had to be repaired, and downlights and sprinklers inserted. But the latter two features BCJ and Apple decided to bring back: working with artisans, the design team not only recreated the pilasters and capitals but installed new wheel-shaped chandeliers mimicking the old. So were the pilasters with shallow basrelief Corinthian capitals on the walls, along with the original chandeliers. The tellers’ windows and low marble balustrade dividers on the banking floor were long gone. Throughout the years, the 1921 bank fittings and furnishings had been lost with various tenants that included a Chase branch, an antiques store, an art gallery, and most recently a luxury handbag and jewelry shop. The interior, however, needed to be completely overhauled. BCJ architects say they cannot comment because the case is in litigation. One property owner, Herbert Feinberg, filed a lawsuit that is still pending, arguing that, according to a fire protection consultant he hired, the new place may not be in compliance with fire codes. Residents signed a petition last spring protesting the hot dog carts and crowds that might camp in front of the store. While the Apple emporia have proved to be great boons to their respective New York neighborhoods, this locale did not throw open its Armani-jacketed arms to greet the new arrival. For 940 Madison Avenue, the company again enlisted Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ)-the San Francisco and Philadelphia offices-as it had with four out of the five previous Manhattan outposts. As is frequently Apple’s policy with new stores, not only in New York but internationally, such as in Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin, it seeks to retain the aura of an original structure while accommodating its famously future- oriented technological goods. The store is ensconced within a late English Renaissance-style two-story building designed in 1921 by Henry Otis Chapman of Barney & Chapman ( RECORD, February 1923, page 143) as a branch of the United States Mortgage & Trust Company.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |