Federal Reserve Bank of New York

York & Sawyer, Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1922)

W. Facade, Federal Reserve Bank

Varying rustication, Federal Reserve Bank

S. Facade, Federal Reserve Bank

S. Facade (roof), Federal Reserve Bank

Varying rustication, Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, Palazzo Medici, Florence (1445)*

Situated independently on its own block at 33 Liberty Street amid the Financial District of Manhattan, the facades of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (the Fed) remind one of the Palazzo Medici designed by Renaissance architect Michelozzo di Bartolomeo in 1445. The form of the block it sits on stays true to the irregular trapezoidal shape of the structure of the subject. The baseline of the Fed tilts perceptibly as it stands on a gently sloping site. Most prominently, while the Fed has a much taller design to accommodate higher storeys and wider needs than its Florentine predecessor, the South façade of the Fed and Palazzo Medici present three primary sections on the exterior, each decorated with varying stone textures.

Both portray a decreasing degree of rustication as the buildings ascend. The masonry on the ground level of Palazzo Medici appears rougher and rugged with the use of shorter stones as compared to the bulkier, smoother, longer and wider stones in the first section of the Fed. Noticeably, the very first layer of masonry in the Manhattan edifice has the chunkiest stones acting as the foundation, much like the stereobate or stylobate of the Parthenon. In place of the windows topped with triangular pediments and fixated within a large blind arch on the ground floor of Palazzo Medici, four short and narrow rectangular windows with metal mesh align the first level on the South façade of the Fed.

The two-dimensional brick-like stonework that covers the middle section of Palazzo Medici looks akin to Palazzo Ruccelai by Leon Battista Alberti as well as the third and vastest section of the Fed. The masonry on the second section of the Fed appears similar to that of its ground level with the subtle difference of thinner and shorter stones with shallower rustication. Between Palazzo Medici and the Fed, the latter has a taller second section that incorporates two rows of windows – small square windows in the upper row, and vertical-rectangular windows (A) and arch windows (B) in the lower row obeying a rational and regular rhythmic sequence of A_B_B_A in the lower row. The two larger arch windows in this lower row almost mirrors a combination between the ground floor and second floor of the former example: its lack of a triangular pediment, the application of arch windows instead of rectangular ones, blind arches, and apparent keystones and voussoirs serving more as a decorative rather than structural function.

The top section of Palazzo Medici shows a completely smooth stone-brick surface with barely any visible rustication whereas the third section of the Fed maintains the shallow rustication seen in Palazzo Ruccelai and the middle section of Palazzo Medici. The third section of the Fed occupies the majority of its façade. It contains a row of vertical-rectangular (A) windows and arch windows (B)—smaller than that in the second section—in a pattern of A_B B_B B_A, an additional six rows of the same vertical-rectangular glass windows above it that correspond to the same rhythm: A_A A_A A_A. (The fourth section of the Fed cannot be seen easily from the South street elevation, so this description will not elaborate on it.) Unlike Palazzo Medici, the Fed has two to three additional sections on top of the roof that assume more irregular forms. From the South, the highest levels almost emerge as the round towers of medieval castles.

Rather than using intricate stringcourses as dividers of the sections as at Palazzo Medici, the Fed uses a plain and even stringcourse between the first and second sections, and an elegantly simple balustrade that runs continuously around the building between the second and third sections. The roof of the Fed appears as a hybrid between blind arcades and the heavy, projecting cornices on the roof of Palazzo Medici. The implementation of glass windows in the blind arcades follows an irrational and irregular rhythm: (0 = no window, 1 = window) 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0, resulting in a peculiar Baroque-like contrast against the regular rhythm and systematic position of the windows in the rest of the building.

Both Palazzo Medici and the Fed are associated to bankers, but the former was purposed for a private residential mansion while the latter is a high-security bank that safeguards national wealth. The descending intensity of rustication according to the ascension of the storeys—and not forgetting the metal meshes over the dark windows—allude to the impression of fierce protection, national defense and mighty strength that recall the Florentine civic towers on the lower levels towards a more private, corporate setting on the higher levels. The balustrade that is more ubiquitous in Georgian houses seems to imply the transition between public and private as the rustication changes from rougher and thicker to smoother and thinner. In the absence of Classical orders, columns and pilasters, the strict columns of glass windows take their place: the singular column of windows on the sides guards the wider column of double-windows in the middle. This verticality is balanced by the horizontality of the lower stringcourse, balustrade, and blind arcades at the top. On the whole, the layout of the façade is rational, symmetrical and proportional, and at the same time, creative in the rustication and playful in rhythmic patterns.

33 Liberty Street, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, S. facade (rough on-site sketch)

Original photography by Sophie G.
*Palazzo Medici Ricardi, StudyBlue Inc. Feb 10, 2013. Web. Oct 26, 2013.

Grace Church

Walking along a three-block radius towards Broadway and East Tenth Street in East Village, Manhattan, one approaches, almost inadvertently, a mystical grayish-brown Gothic Revival cathedral of considerable scale. Grace Church, an exquisitely elegant and historical masterpiece, stands silently, majestically and mysteriously at the corner of the intersection, as if attempting to integrate into the cityscape with its more contemporary neighbors. Unlike traditional Gothic cathedrals of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Grace Church today is situated not independently on its own: visitors can only perceive the West and South facades while surrounding buildings, rather obstructively, occupy the North and East.

 

Paving around the estate to examine the exterior, one forgets about New York City and the busy traffic directly behind. The Medieval grandeur with its complex patterns of pointed arches, waves of spires cascading down flying buttresses, the geometric perfection of the large rose window, and the colorful magnificence of stained glass windows, altogether gradually disorient the audience and lure him inside the edifice. In the absence of a porch, little separates the entrance of the church from the street pavement. At the front door, one confronts a tympanum embedded deeply within the archivolt, and looking further upward, catches barely a glimpse of the pinnacle. The vertical magnitude of the colossal front tower reduces the human individual and quietens the heart and mind in preparation for something greater ahead. Crossing the narrow narthex, suspension heightens to a climax. Opening the doors to the nave, the chancel at the East end suddenly bursts gloriously into view as natural light pours through an immense colorful stained glass canvas topped with a rose window. Already at the beginning of the nave, one becomes awestruck by the intricacies of the sculptural, architectural and artistic handicraft at the altar.

The layout of this church best resembles the Latin Cross plan, but with wider transepts filled with pews and a rectangular choir and apse. As one proceeds carefully down the mosaic aisle, the haphazard, irregular and irrational exterior sheds away to reveal the symmetrical and axial plan of the interior: on the lower zone, pews in the sanctuary occupy either sides of the aisle, and an arcade of tall and wide pointed arches divide the two side aisles from the nave; on the upper zone, an equal number of stained glass windows depicting different stories adorn the clerestory on both sides of the plan. The North and South transepts each contain a monumental piece of stained glass window, as well. Just as the keystone acts as a central support of an arch, so too the grand altar at the chancel appears to orchestrate the interior architecture to point to itself with the highest honor and awe. Feelings of disorientation become re-orientated towards the altar, the sacred place for instruction. The dazzling lights there, like the lights from Heaven and of Christ, seem to purify the light that enters from the outside world each time it receives a visitor. The verticality of space contributes to the aura of otherworldliness and spiritual atmosphere, diminishing the Self and amplifying the Holy Spirit, while the spatial vastness within creates a lightness to counterbalance the weightiness and convolution of the exterior. The rib vaulting of Grace Church, unlike the crazy vaults of the Decorated Style, employs a graceful geometric web pattern punctuated by meticulously carved keystones. It beautifully transfers loads down to the piers along the arcade and between pointed arches in the form of slender colonnettes wrapped together by a slim, floral capital, and erected on a base that disappears among the pews. The elegant simplicity of the church interior results partly from the removal of the triforium for a thin Gothic frieze that runs continuously around the perimeter of the nave, further acting as the base of the clerestory, which leads down to the pointed arch in the arcades. Complementing the frieze, the pointed arch, too, is rimmed by a similar pattern. Such arrangement creates both a logical flow to the eye and an organic yet disciplined dynamic in the otherwise inert-looking mural. The regular and consistent rhythm of the arches and the clerestory also enhances the solidity of the structure, and alludes to a sense of steadfastness, structurally, axially and spiritually. 

While the story usually ends at the altar, few turn around to study the retrofacade. At Grace Church, the door of the nave not only marks the line of symmetry towards the altar in front in the interior and the spire at the top in the exterior, but also balances the two shorter tracery screens on the sides of the door. The screens are color-opaque to maximize lighting from natural light outside. Above the door and screens lies a band of pointed dentils, atop which sits a row of detailed miniature arcades (that would usually be seen in the exterior) with five sculpted pointed arches to one two-dimensional pointed arch in the screen below. The perfect geometric shapes in the tracery of the screens and in the design of the large rose window above coexist seamlessly in fluid harmony with the organic, free-running patterns of the frieze, pointed arch frame and the rib-vaulting pattern. 

Perhaps the electrical hanging lights in the nave were only included for modern-day requirements. Regardless, the warm hanging lights that imitate chandeliers of candles improve luminosity and intensify the colors of the stained glass windows. The unpredictable juxtaposition of this Gothic interior and exterior makes Grace Church a hidden gem in the city.

Grace Church, Broadway/East 10th St, retrofacade (rough on-site sketch)

Original photography by Sophie G.

New York Supreme Court

60 Centre Street, New York Supreme Court (facade)

60 Centre Street, New York Supreme Court (side view)

Located at 60 Centre Street, the New York Supreme Court stands majestically on its own across Foley Square in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. At the first sweeping glance, the subject appears similar to its surrounding buildings in terms of color, scale, windows and texture. Unique from its relatively modern-looking neighbors, however, this whitish-gray marble edifice takes on a voluminous hexagonal layout with its prostyle-decastyle Corinthian temple façade being the most prominent and captivating in its rich architectural and sculptural intricacies.

Raised up on two extensive flights of stairs that recede into what seems like the stylobate and stereobate from the side-view, ten notable Corinthian columns stretch across the width of the cella, each erected on Attic bases with shafts more slender than that of the Ionic column. The effect, accompanied with the entasis of the shafts, results in the frontage to look proudly tall and upright, befitting the spirit and motif of the Supreme Court. Two additional Corinthian columns and a pilaster align the two sides of the portico behind the first and last columns. A pronaos of such a substantial area suggests the rest of the interior to be promisingly immense. Studied as a whole, the following pattern describes the arrangement of the frontal colonnade: 3 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 3, a symmetrical and innovatively advanced rhythm that thrills both the eye and the mind. As expected of a Corinthian entablature, the architrave consists of three fasciae that rest comfortably atop the capitals and carries a frieze that displays a conspicuous engraving of English words: “The True Administration Of Justice Is The Firmest Pillar Of Good Government”, which indicates the purpose and commitment of the architecture. Upon the frieze sits the cornice underlined by dentils and beneath it egg-and-dart moldings. Within the triangular crown of the cornice, an elaborately sculpted pediment reminds of a typical Greek temple embellished with figurines and cultural ideas of the Hellenistic period, angels and symbols of nature. Acroteria on the roof include a larger, dominating male sculpture set above the center and a smaller, more elegant female piece each at the two lower corners of the pediment. Like the existing remains of Greek temples, the dynamic elegance of the handicraft on the roof, pediment and capital, in particular, sufficiently compensates for the austerity of the color used around the premises.

While the vast hexagonal mass of the New York Supreme Court comes across as stolid, heavy, dull and masculine, the femininity, gentleness and refined sophistication of the Corinthian temple façade creates a balance and harmony for the entire exterior. The hexagonal shape of the building cleverly emphasizes the impressive frontage as the diagonal faces on either side of it extend inwards, like a bird at flight with its wings tucked towards its body.

Despite the imitation of a Hellenistic temple, the need to accommodate modern-day requirements calls for the wise installation of window frames, minimal hanging lights and a huge glass door. Electrical lighting in the massive front porch and ventilation for the naos play particularly significant roles for safety and health reasons, since the architecture serves as a workplace to many. The choice of glass and modest-looking hanging lights maximizes their integrity to the architectural style, minimizing visual obstruction and excessive attention to the modern programs.

The door lies on the line of symmetry aligned by the apex of the pediment with two mirroring semi-arch-vaults sinking shallowly into the front wall next to the pilasters at the two ends. While the arches and vaults as formal structures arose from the Romans, the arch forms in this Greco-style scenario function purely as aesthetic device. The complexity of the masterpiece undeniably demonstrates a mature appreciation of and respect for the architectural methods and ideals of antiquity.

60 Centre Street, New York Supreme Court (rough on-site sketch)

Original photography by Sophie G.

Sketch of a Chinese antique chair found in an antique shop at Duxton Hill

Aesop | Unbreakable

Sketch, Aesop | Unbreakable, Donovan Soon (WOHA)

Aesop | Unbreakable. Design by Donovan Soon (WOHA).

I spent the day sketching my favorite bench at the “Bench” exhibition at URA. Architect Donovan Soon cleverly uses Aesop’s fable to emphasize that while the former local landmark no longer exists, the united strength of Singapore remains. The old passes to welcome the new so that we as one nation can grow together from glory to glory.

Aesop is inspired by the children’s classic fable of how single sticks are easily broken but when put together become strong and unbreakable. This parallels the Singapore story as a small but strong nation, garnering strength from unity. The National Stadium was an emblem of that unity as Singaporeans of all walks of life gathered in celebration and common purpose. The timber planks of the stadium are bundled together to create the bench. At each end of the bench the individuality of each plank is revealed, cantilevering out at different lengths to create a unique expression that celebrates multiplicity. The planks come together in the center to form a solid, strong core. They are cinched together by steel bands inscribed with the National Pledge, symbolically and physically forming the binding rings that hold the core together.

(Description by Bench Exhibition @ URA)

Tiong Bahru 中峇鲁

The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) homes in Tiong Bahru are the precursors of ubiquitous modern-day Housing Development Board flats. Heavily inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, the purely functional and machine-like design interestingly alludes to nautical elements, such as the circular windows in the stairwell. In fact, the concept of an open-air stairwell invites nature indoors, a key aim that was shared by Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright. In spite of Western influences, the five-foot way and a height of three-to-four storeys remain reminiscent of local shophouses in attempt to maintain a national architectural identity.

The Tiong Bahru Market & Food Center consists of a wet market, dry provision stores, floral shops, and numerous hawker stalls, most of which have been in the business for over three decades. This is the central point for surrounding residents to buy their daily essential and necessary materials.

The food booths beyond the Market & Food Center along Moh Guan Terrace, Tiong Poh Road, Yong Siak Street, Eng Hoon Street, to name a few, have also been around as early as the 1940s. As this estate has the highest concentration of the most authentic and historic hawker foods, locals and foreigners of all ages from all over Singapore would flock to Tiong Bahru for them.

The footpaths, five-foot ways, public courtyards and spacious back alleys welcome pedestrians to stroll under shelter and the shade of tropical trees as they enjoy the atmosphere of the neighborhood and the unique historical architecture. The quaint, residential charm of the area attracts local yuppies and expatriates to make Tiong Bahru their home and frequent destination. The recent introduction of western cafes, bakeries and restaurants also revive the austere kampong into a warm, picturesque, cosy village.

Open spaces, like Seng Poh Garden, provide surrounding residents and visitors with a safe, healthy and relaxing environment to delight in nature and fresh air. The relatively scarce road traffic contributes to an easy, comfortable and pleasurable walking experience around the estate.