Here’s a little bit of back story about OHNY. There are two kinds of architectural site visits—Open Access (free) and Reservations Required (which charge a $5.00 fee, each). Me being me, I don’t do the reservation sites. From everything I’ve heard, unless you jump on reservations the very moment they become available you have an extremely rough (to impossible) time getting them.
Oct. 12 was Factory Friday. I did not participate because every site required a reservation. I also did not participate on Sunday due to a previously scheduled volunteer gig (bad planning on my part, but the volunteering was for a good cause). Which left Saturday.
As always, I created a very full agenda for myself knowing that, due to possible changes and due to sometimes unpredictable subway service, I might have to change directions or just skip something on my list. My planning paid off this time, though. I made it to all eight of the sites I plotted out.
I began with the Manhattan Borough President’s Map Display at 1 Centre St. They opened at 10am and I was there a few minutes early (which is par for the course for me); alas, they were not ready on time. When I did get up to the second floor, the thirty or so 1820 surveyors’ maps laying out most of Manhattan were just being tidied up on a series of tables pushed together. It was interesting to see how the contour of Manhattan changed (and didn’t) over the years. (McKim Mead & White, 1914)
Next was Blue School at 156 William St. It was an easy walk (in the drizzle) even if I did get turned around a couple of times. I was part of a tour led by a representative from the architectural firm. This just-opened school took an existing building, gutted it and created classrooms, and furniture, to make spaces that were easily adaptable to different groups of students. Down on the basement floor, we saw dance studios and a small gymnasium. I never learned the ins and outs of it, but the architects had to figure out how to remove a load-bearing steel beam that was in the exact center of what ended up as the basketball court. Cool stuff. (Rockwell Group, 2018)
Retracing my steps to the Civic Center area, I visited City Hall (Broadway and Murray St.). While waiting in line there for a 12 noon start, it became apparent that not everyone in line was there for OHNY. There was also some sort of real estate protest scheduled for the exact same time. The two groups eventually got sorted out. No real tour here, just wandering through some of the areas that aren’t usually open to the public. The city volunteers on hand were very knowledgeable and helpful. (Joseph Francois Mangin and John McComb Jr., 1812)
Next, nearby, was the Hall of Records tour at Surrogate’s Courthouse, located at 31 Chambers St. This was the one minor blemish, as the tour (that was only added recently before the event) was limited to fifteen people—but that information was not made available to us until there were more than fifty of us in the holding area. So, no tour for me but I was able to wander parts of the building. (John Rochester Thomas, 1907; Renovated 2018; in fact, great portions of the center of the building were off limits due to the ongoing renovations)
Leaving the Civic Center area, I went uptown to Grace Church New York, at Broadway and 10th St. I’ve been in the church before but I had never had a tour. The parishioner giving the tour focused a lot on the stained glass windows. While not Tiffany, she did point out that almost all of them were crafted by women. Apparently there were a lot of women stained glass artists. She also explained some of the symbolism of the reredos (relief stone structure behind the altar, at the very front of the church). One interesting thing about the pews at Grace is that they have these wooden latches on the inside of the doors, which is how you enter and exit. There was also mention made of the brass plates on some of the pews—in the past, parishioners had to pay for their own special pew, and then they were reserved for them (and family and guests, I presume). Though the pews are no longer reserved/owned, some of the hardware remains. (James Renwick, Jr., 1846)
I went back downtown a bit to 25 Park Pl. and the Hercules Art Studio Program. There were works by six (if I’m remembering correctly) artists who had been chosen from a much larger group, through a juried process. Most of the artwork was interesting and there certainly was a variety, although I sort of just glanced at the video installations. One artist was on site, and he took a short break from his work to discuss it with a couple who had dropped in. I sort of tagged along for the conversation. It was fun to hear someone discussing their work while you could see some of it in the middle of the creative process. (Claire Weisz, 2016)
Another retrace, this time to Grace Church for an organ meditation. For my NY peeps, these occur on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 4pm with some regularity. Simply search Grace Church New York and you’ll probably find them pretty easily. I heard Präludium in D-dur (Dietrich Buxtehude), Largo from Xerxes (G.F. Handel), and Partite diverse sopra: Sei gegrüsset Jesu gütig, BWV 768 (J.S. Bach). Alas, due to time constraints, I missed the Widor and the Vierne. (Renwick, 1846)
I finished off the afternoon on the lower east side at 551 Grand St. and Paul Taylor American Modern Dance – The Taylor Studios. Located on the top floor of a three-story building, the space houses studios as well as in-house costume and lighting designing spaces. In my private tour with, I think, the Artistic Director (lucky me!), I was told that the requirements for finding this new space included ‘lots of natural light’ and ‘no columns’. When I recounted the ‘no columns’ feature that I had seen earlier in the day, my guide was duly impressed. Interestingly, the studios have just had mirrors installed; usually Mr. Taylor created his works on his dancers without them being able to see themselves. With this new space though, they sometimes rent it out to other companies, so mirrors were finally installed. The things you learn at OHNY! (James Dart, 2011)
Okay, I really finished off the afternoon (early evening at that point) with a cocktail at David Burke Kitchen (23 Grand St.). There’s not really an easy way to get from 551 to 23 on Grand St., so I hoofed it about fifteen to twenty minutes. After the long day and the long walk, a cocktail was definitely in order—and it benefited Chemo Comfort as part of their Cocktails for Comfort fundraising event. A win-win to cap off the day.
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