LPC to Hear Modernist Bank Interior Tomorrow!
In mid-October, a coalition of concerned historic preservation groups joined together in a last-ditch effort to implore the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to act with haste to landmark the interior of one of 20th century Modernism’s most-perfectly-realized transparent buildings––Manufacturers Trust (a.k.a. Manufacturers Hanover Trust), designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore Owings and Merrill.
Coalition members also began to research ways that the magnificent site-specific Harry Bertoia sculptures ––which were suddenly removed from the building in October, preparatory to an interior remodeling for a new tenant––might be returned to the space they were designed for.
Together, we have successfully obtained a crucial interior designation hearing before the Commission ––which has been calendared for this coming Tuesday, February 1st at 9:30 AM. Obtaining the hearing, however, is only half the battle. We need to ensure that this ground-breaking and exquisite example of international style modernism actually receives the full interior designation it so richly deserves. Poised as we are on the verge of irrevocably losing the interior of MHT, your testimony is vital ––individually and/or institutionally.––That your voice is heard Tuesday by the Landmarks Preservation Commission is critical to ensuring the integral survival of this modernist masterpiece.
To reacquaint yourself visually with this civic treasure of New York, please take a moment to scroll through this stunning gallery of interior and exterior images taken by Ezra Stoller––one of mid-century’s seminal architectural photographer.
To get up to speed on the current situation before us, you may also want to read Ada Louise Huxtable’s masterfully scathing indictment of the status quo and her caution for those blind to this masterpiece of our recent past.
Your testimony can be as elegantly simple as a cherished memory of the iconic safe––visible from Fifth Avenue; or it can be as nuanced as you think this important architectural work rightly merits.
Lastly, and most importantly, gaining the interior designation of MHT is a critical first step for returning the Harry Bertoia sculptures where they belong––back to the interior locations for which they were specifically designed. Securing an integral, Landmarks-protected space for the Bertoias vastly strengthens the case for the return and reinstallation of these sculptures. At 70 feet long, by 30 feet tall, by 2 feet deep, the Bertoia screen alone is a vast ‘white elephant’ anywhere outside of its native setting. It is hard to imagine a place for it anywhere in New York but the auction block––if its original location cannot be secured. For example, here is a similar Bertoia work recently ripped out of its original architectural setting. It sold in November 2010 for $218,500.
New York City has numerous precedents for the preservation of significant work of modern art inside and outside of designated landmarks. One only need think of the Stuart Davis mural, Men Without Women moved from MOMA and reinstalled in its original location in the men’s lounge at Radio City Music Hall; the Richard Lippold rod sculpture above the bar and the Picasso theatre curtain at the entrance to the Four Seasons Restaurant within the Seagram Building; Isamu Noguchi’s Waterfall and Landscape of the Clouds ceiling sculpture inside the lobby of the former Tishman Building at 666 Fifth Avenue; or the plaza sculptures of Dubuffet and Noguchi at the Chase Manhattan Bank.
Each of the artworks mentioned has profoundly different legal and ownership mechanisms in place permitting them to remain in their original architectural settings. It is complicated––but it can be done.
Naysayers said a last minute preservation campaign couldn’t be effective––that it was too late to press the Commission for a hearing. Now, four months later––we’ve got a hearing. There’s more work ahead, and we’re getting closer to our goal. Won’t you please help secure these last-ditch efforts and ensure the integral survival of MHT?
Write to the Landmarks Commission by Monday here, or better yet––come to Tuesday’s hearing at 9:30 AM here:
Hon. Robert Tierney, Chair
The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1 Centre Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10007
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