You won’t find this in any tour books. In fact, I doubt that you would find this in any books at all. There is also virtually nothing online. There is very little reason for most visitors or NYC residents to be in this immediate area across from 1 Police Plaza, circumscribed by various thoroughfares and ramps for the Brooklyn Bridge and FDR Drive. The streets around it are relatively unknown, even to residents: Pearl Street, Madison Street, Avenue of the Finest, and St. James Place. Why would I want to blog this and bore you, the reader?

For one, the hulking monolith at 375 Pearl Street, built in 1976 by Rose, Beaton, & Rose, has always intrigued me. And it has achieved a few distinctions – I have seen it on lists of the ugliest buildings in Manhattan. The huge, illuminated Verizon logo with its swoosh, visible for miles around from Brooklyn, parts of Manhattan, and other eastern approaches, is a point of contention with many who liken it to an enormous billboard that ruins views. The sign was installed in 2002, replacing the old bell logo from Bell Atlantic. Verizon was formed in 2000, the product of various mergers and acquisitions with GTE, Bell, and NYNEX. Efforts have been made to have the sign removed, but apparently it complies with the law. Frequently described as windowless, the building does appear to be so. However, closer examination reveals that the distinctive, dark vertical striations along its facade are actually created by columns of glass windows. The building was designed to be a switching hub, but there was difficulty in bringing the lines into the building, so it is used for administrative functions. For the wordsmiths among readers, Verizon is a portmanteau of the words veritas (the Roman goddess of truth) and horizon…

Gehry is an internationally known starchitect and this is his first (long awaited) commission in NYC (click here for photos of the entire building. A quick review of his work will immediately tell you what all the controversy is about (such as the concert hall for Disney or this Dancing House). The recently completed IAC building shown in the photo is located in Chelsea at 19th Street and 11th Avenue and serves as world headquarters for the media and internet empire of Barry Diller. This work is rather tame by comparison to Gehry’s other work, typically very sculptural and characterized by warped, curved surfaces. His most well known work is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

In spite of the critics, many do feel that works like Gehry’s are much needed in NYC, which has been plagued by essentially very conservative, bland, and utilitarian office buildings. I have written of a handful of other “starchitects” and their works in the city: Richard Meier and his residential towers in the West Village, David Rockwell and his renovation work at the W Hotel Union Square and at the Carlton, Philip Johnson and his Urban Glass House, and Charles Gwathmey and his 21-story glass residential condo at Astor Place. There are new projects by Santiago Calatrava and Jean Nouvel…

Please click here for more photos, since one photo does not do this building justice. With the plethora of street life, retailers, and other distractions in the Village, it is easy for the casual visitor or resident to miss this magnificent building. But it has not been missed by architects, architecture students, critics, or lovers of fine structures. The 13-story Bayard-Condict Bulding at 65 Bleecker Street has been designated both an official city landmark and a National Historic Landmark.

This was renowned visionary Chicago architect Louis Sullivan’s only work in New York City. Sullivan (1856-1924), father of the skyscraper and Modernism, was trained at MIT and the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. He was the leading designer of the Chicago school and employer and teacher of Frank Lloyd Wright. He is credited with coining the term “form follows function.” This is interesting, since the ornate nature of this building shows how Sullivan was not dogmatic about his design ideas. Note the the terra cotta facade and spectacular ornamental elements and friezes under the cornices. At the time of its construction in 1898, the structure was considered very advanced – a very large percentage of the building wall is glass window. The building definitely deserves a good look if you are in the neighborhood…

It’s hard to imagine that this area of lower Broadway, part of what now is called NoHo (north of Houston), was pioneering ground in the early 1980s. The area was dominated by industrial businesses – leather distributors like Marap Leather, who occupied an entire building at 678 Broadway, or Commercial Plastics at 630 Broadway. In 1980, Unique Clothing Warehouse opened at 718 Broadway at Waverly Place (president Richard Wolland closed it and filed bankruptcy in 1991 with over $2 million in debt), beginning a wave of transition. In 1983, Tower Records opened at 4th Street and Broadway (recently closed). A few months later, the elegant Blue Willow restaurant opened at 644 Broadway in the building shown in the photo. Click here for more photos.

This rock-cut brownstone, terra-cotta, and brick structure was built in 1889 for the Manhattan Savings Institution (hence the monogram “MSI” at the top) and designed by Stephen D. Hatch. The building was in serious disrepair after years of neglect, and in 1987, there was a complete restoration and conversion to residential loft apartments (known as the Bleecker Tower), already fetching millions of dollars in the late 1990s. It is alternately called the Atrium Building (not to be confused with The Atrium at 160 Bleecker), after clothing retailer Atrium, who now occupies the ground floor. When safe to do so in NYC, remember to look up…