Wednesday, June 28, 2006

The Cult: Old Bricks and Big Windows

It’s all Federal Greek to me. I had a nice dinner with old friends, Kathy and John and their lovely daughters at a Japanese restaurant in the Village and afterward, I walked West on 11th Street. Come on. These Federal-Greek Revival buildings are frigging gorgeous. I stopped and stared at almost every one.

Okay, people in New York are insane and stupid over real estate. They obsess about it night and day. It’s the predominant subject you overhear in conversations on the streets. But last night, having been on the edge of Chelsea Square and tonight walking past all these four and five story buildings built in the West Village, I see the allure. Everyone gets their property addiction. I guess these beasts in this style would be mine.

Could it be because they, like my body, are shaped like refrigerator boxes?
Or, is it because of their super simplicity with their subtle ornamentation that reminds me of what exercising restraint might be like?
Or the huge, long windows, where everything can be seen, nothing hidden from view, the size of a full adult who can stand there and look out and feel they are not boxed in, at all?

Lovely buildings. You can imagine the Nineteenth century, what it must have been like. All those windows wide open. Girls in poofy dresses playing the piano. Men smoking. Horses walking by. Suffragettes. Anarchists. Carpet Baggers about to go South. More horses. And the sweaty noise in beautiful architecture!

As I walked up Eighth Avenue to get to the subway, I passed by a real estate storefront advertising their properties for sale. There were lofts and condos for 1-3 Million. But the picture that grabbed me, that struck me as a bargain, and a great beautiful one, was a completely renovated Federal-Greek Revival townhouse for 4.9 Million. Worth every penny.

1 comment:

Rebecca Waring said...

Your blogs are so rich when you are in New York.