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Published: November 30th 2005
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Empire State Building by night
Lit a patriotic red-white-blue for veterans day, the Empire State Building just doesn't quite have the classiness that you'd expect. For all of the press it gets, the Empire State Building is an alright building. It's tall, it's more elegant than some of the 1960s monstrosity skyscrapers around the world and there's definitely an air of something special about it. The throngs of tourists alone are a little clue there. But you could quite easily miss it as you walk past. Well, if you can fumble your way though the queues. I've not been up it yet. I'm waiting for a cold winter's day that'll make my cheeks ruddy and raw, but also guarantees bright blue skies. Even if my hands match the colour of the sky, I still think it'll be worth it.
The Trump tower is a whole load of... well, trump. Frankly, people keep pointing it out to me and I keep forgetting which one it is. It's got a slanty roof, if that helps you there. I'm guessing the slanted part is either where he keeps the toupees or those two random people that show up and look moody on 'The Apprentice' - they spend the rest of the week skinning small animals to make more toupees. Who knows?
I've not been to see the
Grand Central & the Chrysler Building
You've got to admit, it does look pretty classy. The panthers are a niche... Flatiron building yet. Apparently there's scaffolding up at the moment, which is kind of expected. One of the rumours that surround it is that in the 1920s and 30s, policemen were posted outside the triangular building to move on the crowds of men who paused to watch as women walked past. Apparently the strange winds caused by the oddly shaped construction used to cause havoc with the ladies' skirts, blowing them well above their ankles. Now there's scaffolding up. And where there is scaffolding, there are builders. Think about it...
The Chrysler building definitely gets my vote as one of the most stunning buildings in Manhattan. The gleaming silver spire, complete with obligatory panther busts (you've got to have them), is just about as elegant and as showy as you can get. You don't fail to notice it as you walk past and its location on 42nd Street just along from Grand Central Terminal (and incidentally also the Mountbatten office) is certainly well considered. The sun bounces off the tip of it during the day and at night, there's none of this gaudy three colours crap that the Empire State goes in for. White lights and elegance all the
Grand Central Exterior
The Gods guarding the station. One of them is the God of thieves. You've got to admit they have a sense of humour... way. Morningside would be proud.
But there's another place that can beat them all hands down. In the elegance stakes it's only recently become a contender after years of neglect saw it become dingy and smoky in the extreme. It's not the Statue of Liberty (not been there yet, roll on tomorrow!). It's not the building that's entirely marble in its interior (is it all marble inside Simon, is it?!). It's Grand Central. And it's not a station, it's a terminal.
As part of the Programme over here, we have to take some classes on American History and Culture (nah, I'm still not convinced on the last one there either) and part of that constitutes an architectural tour. We had a number of tours to choose from, including Chinatown and Little Italy, Chelsea and Downtown. Grand Central has always held something for me - those smoky pictures from the 1920s with rays of light bursting through the windows always seemed so beautiful, so it was a fairly easy choice for me in where to choose. The terminal building has just undergone a massive renovation, after its use as a purely functional building for decades meant that the whole
Flatiron Building
Home to strange winds and builders, currently. place was enveloped in a nicotine-stained grubbiness. They've done an amazing job in cleaning it. There's no longer any sunbeams coming in through the windows. Neighbours like the Chrysler building and the Met Life tower have seem to that. But it's just so grand. If only King's Cross were half as nice.
The network of tunnels open up into small alcoves and chambers, where the coved ceilings create the legendary whispering corners. The arched tiled ceiling is hollow, which means that if you stand at opposite corners and whisper towards the wall, the person standing in the opposite corner can hear you perfectly. It works too, though to be fair, you do look a bit of a prat. Mobsters used to use it to convey secret information and there's still a network of secret passages that the Frank Sinatra boys used to use to avoid the cops as they leapt off the trains and into the throngs of passengers.
The ceiling in the main hall is a turquoise-green colour and shows the stars and solar system as seen from the heavens. The whole hall has the feel of a church, which is what the architects intended and they
Grand Central in the shadow of the Met Life building
One of the more elegant of the monstrosities I guess. were gutted when NYC state fund refused to grant them more cash to mirror the west balcony with one on the east side. The renovators changed that though and added the balcony of their dreams, so now the whole hall is symmetrical. It really is the most amazing place.
And it helps that I only work round the corner. Great spot for people-watching during lunch time. And also getting the train, which to be fair is what the whole thing is there for in the first place.
Cxx
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Simon
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MARBLE!
It is all marble inside. It is!! Have you guessed what it IS yeyt?