The good folks over at Who Walk In Brooklyn were nice enough to mail me a preview copy of their book ‘New York Calling’ which is a compendium of essays and anecdotes relayed by some of New York’s best journalists. Not the most famous flatfoot scribes, but certainly some of the most entertaining.
‘New York Calling‘ is strong because it is primarily a look at New York City from life long New Yorkers. There’s some whimsy contained in the reminiscence, but there is always the lens of reality that the words are filtered through. I’m going to develop some interesting projects in the short term from some of the essays I’ve read in this book. Thanks again to the WWIB posse.
‘New York Calling’ makes me realize how much I take for granted every day regarding whats left of New York City that remains under my feet.
Peeking outside of the wire mesh fence you can see the venerable Bronx County Courthouse. This building is a fantastic example of the Beaux Arts design that was used to create some of New York City’s everlasting landmarks like the archways at Washington Square Park and Grand Army Plaza. Grand Central Station has one of the most beautiful Beaux Arts facades in the city, but who has ever seen the outside of Grand Central?
This building has always seemed to me to be more grandiose than anything it could have been used. A public building? Nahh, this was a mansion or a castle that the king of New York lived inside of. I was always enthralled with the statuary of these types of buldings. Were the carved limestone figures sentries that protected the sancticity of these building? Why else would they then have swords and shields if they weren’t placed there to back people the fuck down?
Those weren’t just the ruminations of a child passing through New York City with his head to the sky. I loved this building as an adult who passed by it very often on my way to working on other municipal projects in New York City’s most disenfranchised borough. If Staten Island was forgotten then the Bronx was outright ignored. Even during the go-go economic boom of the Clinton-era (error?) the Bronx still remained the step-child of the five boroughs.
Buildings like the courthouse were in woeful states of disrepair and negligence. Part of the thinking for administrators surely has to be the idea of fixing up buildings for a populace of the nation’s poorest per capita. Would the people even appreciate having a building like this one converted into a multi-use community center? The old courthouse sits at the intersection of 161st Street and Third Avenue. Slightly to the west of this landmark on 161st and River Ave sits a billion dollar cathedral to baseball.
As the Bronx slowly revitalizes itself Lady Justice patiently awaits her makeover.
