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- The most dangerous fire escape I've ever seen
- Out of Place
- Sir Bedevere
- Witch way to the fire?
- Proud to be an old Coot
- That old scale
- Bowled Over
- Cat years?
- 'Why' Wyoming?
- His Master's Voice
- What! No dish under the skewer?
- Only in Hollywood?
- What's Up Doc?
- Destination?
- I'm pretty sure this was a voluntary program
- When I see chicken wire rabbit cages I think of three things
- The War Ears
- Eating the bunnies? Really?
- A love affair with a machine
- Hasenpfeffer
- Back support
- Hot type!
- Can you smell ... the news?
- Looking across the street and Flong
- Memories of my elderly hoarder neighbor
- Linotype in the Twilight Zone
- By Memory?
- Quiet place
- Line Of Type
- And no hearing protection
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Yes, Bananas: 1904
1904. "Produce Exchange, New York, N.Y." George Post's commodity exchange on Broadway, completed in 1884 and last seen here 11 years ago when it was the subject of this article in the New York Times, which recalled 19th-century criticism of the building's "preposterously projecting cornices” on "a very thin and stupid looking box." Note the ladders and scaffolds being used by a swarm of workers who seem to be cleaning its windows and brick facade. And, appropriately for a produce exchange, banana vendor pushcarts lined up out front. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.
Perpster, I bow to your linguistic prow-ess
The NYT’s article settles bow vs prow, but I had to look up callithumpian.
Beaver Street
The buildings to the left of the Produce Exchange (near where the window washer is cleaning) still survive. They are located at Nos. 16, 18 and 20 Beaver Street.
Green Bananas
That's Bowling Green in the foreground (still there).
That's the under-construction (1902-1907) US Custom House on the right. Still there, but no longer a custom house. It's partially the National Museum of the American Indian, and a US Bankruptcy Court. The building is in the Beaux-Arts style, designed by Cass Gilbert.
The "very thin and stupid looking box" comment cracked me up, too. I wonder if the NYT article (paywall) commented on the double prows on every corner near the top floor.
[I "unlocked" that article so you should be able to read it now. - Dave]
ETA: Thanks, Dave. The article does say "Post covered the building with inventive ornament, ships’ prows at the corners, medallions of corn, cows and pigs elsewhere, although it was lost in its huge scale," but no mention of any prow criticisms, positive or negative. I will say that I agonized in writing my original comment over whether to say "prow" or "bow". I think either is correct/acceptable, but seeing "prow" in the unlocked NYT article makes me feel like I saved a line in NYT's Wordle.
Preposterous!
"a very thin and stupid looking box."
LOLOL!!
I must find a way to incorporate that critique into my life today.
A good reminder that comedy = tragedy + time.
Architectural endoscopy
I'll not comment on either the cleaning or the cornice(s), but rather note -- as one MichaelR did 11 years ago -- that it was the interior of the building that was more memorable. But he failed to provide a view of it ... a deficit now to be corrected
Condo developers are weeping
Yes, it was demolished in the 1950s in favor of a skyscraper; but can you imagine the breathless salivation by condo developers if it hadn't been? A hundred units at $10M each ... hmm ... carry the 10 ... that's a metric boatload of cash. That tiny floor second from the top? Another hundred efficiency apartments, 200 square feet each, with $10,000/mo rents. A lotta lettuce!
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