Will the late Philip Johnson's final design soon rise posthumously in SoHo's western reaches? That's the question raised by the status of a vacant lot on Spring Street
next door to the much loved Ear Inn.
Developer Nino Vendome has long planned to build condos on the site and has unveiled a number of different Johnson-designed plans in recent years. The original plan was rejected by the City's Board of Standards and Appeals for being way too tall--and indeed it was at 36-stories. The latest design released by Vendome last year was for an eleven story "urban glass house" clearly meant to invoke Johnson's New Canaan masterpiece. The adjacent James Brown House, fragile home of the Ear Inn, would have to be carefully preserved during any construction. We know the block well (Ear Inn's burger comes with nicely roasted potatoes), and have noticed that although the site has been cleared and a new fence was recently put up, there's been no sign of ground breaking as of yet. Has Vendome run into some unforeseen roadblock or is he waiting for the area to get even hotter than it already is?
The idea of living in Philip Johnson's final work will be enough to make the apartments much coveted by design-conscious buyers. The sure-to-be breathless marketing materials practically write themselves. So stay tuned all you MoMA junior committee members, Triple Mint will keep you updated as circumstances warrant...
This post has been updated HERE.
We inaugurate our books feature by taking note of the latest volume in the Rizzoli series chronicling the work of architect Richard Meier. The books are lavish affairs, designed by Massimo Vignelli, with hardcovers bound in full cloth and wrapped in double-fold dust jackets. Volume 4 includes much detail on the three West Village towers designed by Meier--the two on Perry Street and the third now almost finished at 165 Charles Street. The stunning visualizations of 165 Charles in this book were done for the developer by the talented team at 
We may have been in a minority among our dinner companions of late, but we sorta like the new Charles Gwathmey designed apartment house on Astor Place. Maybe part of it is how we remember growing up for a time in the neighborhood during the '80's, when the East Village skaz collided everyday into the gridlocked commerce of lower Broadway via Astor Place, resulting in a sometimes out-of-control mix of street vendors, saxophone players, panhandlers, and boom boxes. Everyone's ambition was to be either Jean-Michel Basquiat, Run DMC, or Gordon Gecko. While that seems like ancient history now, Gwathmey's reflective glass gives us a chance to stop, look in the mirror, and understand just how far we've come.
We don't normally devote space to hotel projects (dedicated as we are to the new urban home), but we couldn't help noticing this radical design by Gluckman Mayner Architects for Andre Balazs' new Standard hotel now rising in Manhattan's Meatpacking District. This site, once slated for a tower by Jean Nouvel, straddles the High Line, and employs a perforated concrete wall. Click through to the Gluckman Mayner site to see a view of the High Line as it passes through the hotel.
New Yorkers look around their city and think they are in the midst of a development boom. The truth, however, is that compared to the number of new units being built or planned in Miami, the activity in New York is barely a blip on the radar. While the numbers are staggering and there doesn't seem to be a corner of waterfront that isn't being transformed, we only have one question: is any of it at all interesting from a design point of view? The answer is a qualified yes. There are indeed pockets of cool among the huge dull boxes that tend to go up down there.
