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Published: August 19th 2014
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Empire State Building as seen from Hoboken
Manhattan is home to some of the most famous skyscrapers in the world. Some iconic and some non-iconic buildings of New York
This summer we did something we have been talking about doing for several years, we went on a road trip in the USA. Actually it might be argued that we made two road trips, one in Florida and one in California.
But that is something we will write about in later blog entries because we started and finished the vacation in neither of those two states. For various reasons we decided to fly in and out via New York City. We have been to New York before, for instance in
2008 and in
2010, and we love that city a lot.
New York is one of our three favourite cities in the world. The other two being London, a city we both love, and the third being Tokyo for Emma and Paris for Ake.
We have said it before but it is worth repeating, one of the main reason we have this blog is to publish the photos we take when we travel. We have, in this first blog entry from our vacation in the US, therefore decided to mainly publish
One World Trade Center as seen from Hoboken
Recently a new skyscraper has been added to the Manhattan skyline - One World Trade Center. photos of buildings in New York and no photos of typical tourist attractions. The tourist attractions will follow in a separate blog entry.
The architecture is one of the many reasons we love New York. Manhattan is home to some of the most famous skyscrapers in the world. It is not a coincidence that the architecture of Manhattan has served as inspiration to the fictional cities Metropolis (in Superman) and Gotham City (Batman). The Manhattan skyline can without exaggeration be said to be the apotheosis of all skylines. To see the skyline in its full glory we can recommend you to go to Hoboken across the Hudson River. If possible go there in the evening and see the sunset and/or in the night when it is dark and you can see all the city lights.
Some of the iconic structures that can be seen in the Big Apple are
Empire State Building,
Chrysler Building and
Flatiron Building. These three are very different in style. Since we are not architects, and consequently can't properly use terms that are normally used to describe architecture such as Art Nouveau, Neoclassical etc, we have decided to describe them in a different way.
One World Trade Center
One World Trade Center is big, powerful but lacks a personality. One World Trade Centre reminds us of Arnold Schwarzenegger We are going to compare them with people in the entertainment business.
Empire State Building is slender, elegant and timeless. Empire State Building makes us think of
Greta Garbo or
Katharine Hepburn.
Chrysler Building is adorned to the point of almost being silly. In the entertainment business Chrysler Building is
Liberace.
Flatiron Building is much lower than the other two buildings and is famous for having a funny look, shaped like a wedge, and for being one of the oldest skyscrapers in Manhattan. Flatiron Building is to us
Charlie Chaplin.
Recently a new skyscraper has been added to the Manhattan skyline -
One World Trade Center. At 541 meters it is the tallest building in New York and also one of the tallest in the world. One World Trade Center is big, powerful but lacks a personality. One World Trade Centre reminds us of
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But what makes us love the architecture of New York is all the buildings that you
don't read about in the guidebooks. When you walk the streets of Manhattan you inevitably come across fabulous buildings. They are all over the city and they are easy to
One World Trade Center
At 541 meters it is the tallest building in New York and also one of the tallest in the world. Check out the helicopter find. Just walk and look around you.
When we went to see the Chrysler Building, where we were going to try to take photos of the gargoyles, we walked by 81 Irving Place. That building also has some wonderful gargoyles along the roof and also some interesting little stone gnomes in the facade. Buildings with interesting structural details such as gargoyles are quite common throughout Manhattan.
Another feature that you can find on many buildings in Manhattan is a clock tower. One wonderful building, that at the top has a four-faced clock tower, and gets surprisingly little attention in spite of its world famous location, Times Square which guarantees millions of people seeing it every year, is the
1501 Broadway aka the Paramount Building. In any other city it would be billed as "one of the most striking buildings in the city" and a "must-see for any visitor". In New York nobody knows about it simply because there are a hundred or so other buildings that are equally "striking".
Another building we found purely by luck is
Alwyn Court at the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 58th Street. It is noteworthy for
Empire State Building
Empire State Building is slender, elegant and timeless. Empire State Building makes us think of Greta Garbo or Katharine Hepburn. its highly decorated terracotta facade.
When we looked at the Manhattan Skyline from Hoboken a building at Christopher Street really stood out. It is the former United States Appraiser Store now known as the Archive. From Hoboken it looks big and in the evening rays of the sun it was shining red.
Another building that caught our attention was the Hoboken Ferry Terminal. A classic beauty from early 20th century.
These lesser known buildings that we have written about here have not been deliberately chosen. It is just those we decided to take photos of. We passed a hundred other buildings at least as interesting as these that we didn't take photos of. Just walking the streets of Manhattan is something we love doing because there are architectural gems everywhere.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
NYC
Great shot