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Ellis Island preservation group desperate for donations
Save Ellis Island, the non-profit that’s been methodically stabilizing 30 abandoned buildings at the country’s most famous immigration center, is in dire need of $500,000 in donations by April 2 in order to keep its own doors open, Judith McAlpin, President of SAE, today told NewYorkology.
 The small group has already cut staff, delayed projects and put employees on furloughs. But if it’s unable to pay rent and salaries, unspent grants must be returned and no more buildings will open to the public.
Before Save Ellis Island started work a decade ago, two-thirds of the island was in serious disrepair, with crumbling staircases, broken windows and trees sprouting indoors. The deterioration has been on the public radar since 2005, when free hard-hart tours of the old hospital were first offered as part of the annual Open House New York event.
So far, 29 of the 30 abandoned buildings have been stabilized but only one has reopened as part of the museum. In 2007, SAE and the National Park Service opened the “new” ferry building, an art deco, WPA-era buidling used by immigrants who cleared customs and were waiting for the boat to Manhatttan. The renovation includes a functioning fan and bench both original to the room, as well as exhibits.
The one still-exposed building — the giant baggage and dormitory building that faces north to the Hudson River — last year received U.S. stimulus funds. The National Park Service, which runs Ellis and Liberty islands, is overseeing that project and the initial phase of stabilization has begun, NPS spokesman Darren Boch said .
While funds are available to prevent more damage to the baggage building, without Save Ellis Island, there would be no plans to reopen any more buildings.”It’s not going to happen in their absence,” Boch said in an interview this morning. “We have to work with a partner.”
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March 19, 2010 11:55 AM Comments (0)
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Manhattan Bridge time capsule date stamp: 2109
NewYorkology contributor Moses Gates is an urban planner, part-time tour guide, and full-time Gothamphile. He reports on the high up, the low down, and the out-of-the-way in New York City.
On the last day of the tenure of Mayor George B. McClellan the Manhattan Bridge opened for the very first time. One hundred years later (give or take a few months,) the bridge is in fantastic shape carrying bikes, pedestrians, four subway lines and almost 100,000 vehicles a day.
 This is due to the efforts of many people, not the least “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz, (pictured at left) former chief engineer/first deputy commissioner of the Department of Transportation. During his tenure in the 1980s, Schwartz and the DOT embarked on a major capital campaign to rehabilitate and stabilize the East River bridges, which were suffering after more than a decade of deferred maintenance. One of the bridges in the worst shape was the Manhattan.
“When I was chief engineer in 1986, I had to shut half the bridge. It was so dire we almost lost the entire bridge,” Schwartz told Streetfilms.
This past Friday, Schwartz joined DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn, along with Ironworkers, Engineers, Painters, Electricians, and other bridge workers and aficionados at the bridge’s Manhattan Colonnade to place a time capsule — to be opened on the 200th anniversary of the bridge - inside a small nook in the grand archway that crowns the entrance.
The time capsule includes newspapers from Dec. 31, 2009; DOT Bridges safety vest, hard hat and ironworker gloves; the NYC Transit Authority Subway Map; the DOT’s annual Bridge Report; present-day electronic devices (flash drive, CD, DVR;) and a program from the Bridge Centennial Commission event Oct. 4, 2009. The contents were compiled by members of the Bridges Division of the NYC DOT.
“We’re here to deliver a message to the people 100 years from now,” Schwartz said.”And that message is that we’re all links - that if we don’t continue to maintain our bridges we’re going to lose them.”
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March 10, 2010 12:57 PM Comments (0)
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Empire State Building lights up in Olympic Ring colors
The Empire State Building this weekend will pay tribute to the athletes of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games by lighting up in the colors of the Olympic Rings.
 The lighting schedule:
North side: blue and black
East side: yellow and black
South side: green and black
West side: red and black
The top tiers of the tower will be lit up in Olympic colors from Friday night through Sunday night.
The Olympic Rings represent the union of the continents and the meeting of athletes from around the world at the Olympic Games.
February 26, 2010 7:22 PM Comments (0)
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General Theological Seminary wall gets Lego fixxer-up
The western wall of Chelsea’s General Theological Seminary has a colorful new addition, and it looks a lot like the DispatchWork of artist Jan Vormann.
Vormann, who just happens to be one of the artists scheduled for the upcoming VOLTA NY exhibition, “fills in gaps, holes and clefts in walls and streets, public buildings and private houses with plastic bricks, mostly with Lego” according to his bio for the show.
VOLTA NY takes place March 4 through 7 at 7 W. 34th Street.
According to the map at the DispatchWork website, the Lego installations have popped up in Berlin, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Quito, Belgrade and other cities, but this may be the first U.S. appearance.
The Lego work pictured above was spotted Saturday evening on 10th Avenue between 20th and 21st streets.
Picture credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Earlier: Guggenheim Museum for sale, by Lego
February 22, 2010 10:30 AM Comments (1)
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Behind-the-scenes legal views with Access Restricted
Reservations open today at noon for the season’s first free behind-the-scenes lecture offered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
This year’s theme “Access Restricted: Law & Representation” will offer access to court rooms, law schools and council chambers not often available to the public.
Last year’s events, with a Capital of the World theme, provided access into the Bank of New York’s Red Room, the balconies of 14 Wall Street and the 60th floor of Chase-Manhattan.
Reservations often fill up quickly.
The schedule for 2010:
Wednesday, February 24, 6:30 p.m.
John Donohue III, Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law, Yale Law School on “Rethinking America’s Drug Policy”
The New York City Council Chamber, New York City Hall
250 Broadway
Reservations: Feb.16 at noon
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February 16, 2010 11:14 AM Comments (0)
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Abandoned subway stop, bus depot on transit tours list
The New York Transit Museum today publicly opened its list of tours for the winter of 2010, including visits to a bus depot and the city’s oldest subway station.
The unused Old City Hall Station — which can be glimpsed through the dark if you stay on the 6 train as it loops from the end of the downtown run to the start of the uptown route — is an architectural gem with arching Guastavino tiles, a skylight and chandeliers. The tour offers a view, and the history of the 1904 station, that you can’t get from the 6 train.
The full list of transit tours may disappoint as it’s already been picked over by museum members, who get first dibs by mail. Five tours already sold out, including the Westchester Yard maintenance shop tour, the Linden Shop subway tour and a Staten Island food tour.
Update: Tours filled up exceptionally fast. Only the East New York Bus Depot and Corona Maintenance Facility still have openings.
Membership — $40 at the friend level; $30 for seniors or students — is also required if you want to take the tour of the Old City Hall Station.
Transit tours with availability:
The Jewel in the Crown: Old City Hall Station - Jan. 16 at noon, 1, 2 and 3 p.m.
Buses in the Brooklyn Division: East New York Bus Depot - Feb. 13 at 11 a.m.
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January 6, 2010 11:49 AM Comments (0)
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Empire State Building January 2010 lighting schedule
 If you’re using the Empire State Building as your measurement stick, the holidays aren’t over yet. The top three tiers of the city’s tallest sky scraper will remain lit red and green through Wednesday night.
(They’re not alone in the extended festivities, as Wednesday’s also the Three Kings Day Parade.)
The top tiers are currently scheduled for all-white lights most of the month, except for two special events.
The top of the tower will go all blue Jan. 7 for the 10th anniversary of NASDAQ at Times Square. Remember 10 years ago? NASDAQ sure does, as the tech bubble hadn’t yet burst. Good times.
The only other lighting event scheduled thus far for January is the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The top tiers will light up red black and green from Jan. 15 through Jan. 18 to honor the civil rights leader.
Update: The schedule has changed. It’s now green and white from Jan. 15 through 17 for the “New York Jets, Divisional Playoff Game Against the San Diego Chargers. ” MLK Jr. gets Jan. 18.
Picture credit: File photo from Edelman Public Relations.
Earlier: NightSeeing Map illuminates NYC’s light makers
January 5, 2010 10:42 AM Comments (0)
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Tours of abandoned Ellis Island on sale for holidays
Save Ellis Island, the non-profit that’s helping the National Park Service preserve and restore the still-empty buildings at the historic immigration center, will offer a limited number of tours of the abandoned hospital as part of a holiday gift membership special.
 “With a donation of $100 or more, the recipient will receive a very special gift, one that cannot be purchased at the Mall - a tour of the unrestored portion of Ellis Island for two,” Save Ellis Island announced in its membership e-mail on Tuesday.
The memberships must be purchased in December. The hard-hat tours will be scheduled in the spring and summer of 2010.
The abandoned portions of the island have been open to tours on a very limited basis since the 2005 OpenHouse NY event. (Pictures.) Tours will begin the Ferry Building, (which was the first abandoned building restored and opened to the public in 2007) and proceed to the still-shuttered hospital side of the island.
Picture credits: Ellis Island hospital tour in 2006, including a hallway, surgery room and broken window. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Earlier: Ellis Island gets fed funds to save abandoned building
Inside Ellis Island’s restoration; next up: laundry
Ellis Island to open historic ferry building in winter
December 16, 2009 9:16 AM Comments (0)
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NY architecture roundup: lost landmarks, new ones rise
Fans of decaying industrial architecture will be happy to learn a fence has come down at Red Hook Park, allowing views of the waterfront and the 1922 Grain Elevator.
Luckily it has not yet earned a place on Lost City’s 2009 Roundup of Lost NY Landmarks.
The High Line park, which opened in June is making progress on its next section, according to new pictures on the official blog for the abandoned rail tracks. Meanwhile, they’re still working to acquire rights to the northernmost section of the tracks next to the Javits Center.
Check out the not-so-permissible view from the top of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank in Brooklyn.
The Curbed real estate blog has come up with a list of the best new buildings of the decade, which overlaps slightly with the list of important new NYC buildings Francis Morrone compiled for NewYorkology in 2008.
Coming up in May, the Oxford University Press will publish a new edition of one of the city’s most essential architecture reference books, the AIA Guide to New York City. The specs: paperback, 1056 pages, $39.95. For a preview see co-author Fran Leadon’s AIA book updates at eOculus.
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December 15, 2009 9:36 AM Comments (0)
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Empire State lighting schedule for December 2009
 The Empire State Building’s top three tiers will light up for the holidays, according to the skyscraper’s official lighting schedule.
From Dec. 4 through 6, the to will shine all blue for the Cambridge in America’s celebration of Cambridge University’s 800th Anniversary.
Starting Dec. 11, the top will shine blue and white through Dec. 20 for Chanukah.
The Empire State will light up red and green for Christmas from Dec. 23 through Jan. 6.
All other nights during December the top is schedule to light up with regular white lights.
Picture credit: File photo from Edelman Public Relations.
Earlier: Empire State’s new ’20s-era murals, wind anemometer
NightSeeing Map illuminates NYC’s light makers
November 30, 2009 4:20 PM Comments (0)
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