All stories about "53 West 53rd Street"

When Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel dropped in on the Landmarks Preservation Commission to explain in detail his proposed 75-story mixed-use tower at 53 West 53rd Street—called the Tower Verre—his ulterior motive was obvious: blind the commissioners with so much starchitect power that they wouldn't even notice the ornery locals gathered to argue against the skyscraper. It worked! Yesterday, the LPC approved the transfer of air rights from the nearby University Club and St. Thomas Church to the Tower Verre site, clearing at least one major hurdle for the apartment building/Museum of Modern Art gallery. The proposal still has to wind its way through the City Planning Commission and the City Council, which gives the opponents who condemn the building's lack of "harmony" time to regroup. Still, that's one down.
· Nouvel Tower Gets the Nod Of City’s Landmarks Panel [Sun]
· MoMA Mia! Starring Jean Nouvel, David Childs & the Peanut Gallery [Curbed]
· Nouvel's 53 West 53rd Street in Gorgeous Detail [Curbed]

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As reported yesterday, Pritzker Prize-winning French starchitect Jean Nouvel was forced to defend his plan for a dazzling and momentous Midtown skyscraper in front of a crowd of ornery locals waiting to savage him and his work. Such is the state of development in New York in 2008, but Nouvel took it all in stride. His attendance at the Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing—which heard arguments for and against the transfer of air rights from a couple of local landmarks to the developers of Nouvel's 53 West 53rd Street—was not a surprise, given the mounting community opposition to the so-called MoMA Tower (which the Times reports is now called Tower Verre). What was a surprise, however, was Nouvel bringing in starchitecture frat brother David Childs to speak on his behalf. That's two starchitects for the price of none, people! Curbed had two correspondents seated in the crowd, and the combined report is after the jump.

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Right now—like, right now—the Landmarks Preservation Commission is holding a hearing on the transfer of air rights for architect Jean Nouvel's proposed skyscraper at 53 West 53rd Street. The local Community Board has already voted against the transfer, so to show that he means business, Jean Nouvel has sent in a Pritzker Prize-winning architect ... Jean Nouvel. That's him at the front of a packed hearing explaining why anyone who doubts him is a moron. Yes, we know it's blurry. More on this, eventually (this thing is going on forever).
· Jean Nouvel Wins Pritzker Prize [Curbed]
· Reader Rant: 'Commie Boards' & Bow Ties Ruining City [Curbed]
· Nouvel's 53 West 53rd Street in Gorgeous Detail [Curbed]

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Jean Nouvel has been awarded this year's Pritzker Prize, architecture's equivalent of a lifetime achievement award, and the announcement could not have come at a better time for the French starchitect—at least in terms of his New York career. The effect is threefold: 1) Soho's 40 Mercer, where cabanas go for $350,000 and Harry Potter rents out apartments for $20 Gs, now somehow becomes even more exclusive. Dare we say, world-class? 2) The Pritzker will provide a nice marketing bump for Nouvel's pricey Vision Mashine, 100 Eleventh Avenue, and now West Chelsea's Starchitect Row has a couple of Pritzker-winners in Frank Gehry and Jean Boy. 3) Most importantly, the Pritzker Prize should bolster the chances of Nouvel's real vision mashine, the 75-story MoMA tower at 53 West 53rd Street. The backlash of the locals has given way to backlash to the backlash, and if a Pritzker winner can't get a gorgeous skyscraper built in midtown Manhattan of all places, then we will bow to our new Dubai overlords.
· French Architect Wins Pritzker Prize [NYT]
· So You Want to Live in 40 Mercer [Curbed]
· Nouvel's 53 West 53rd Street in Gorgeous Detail [Curbed]

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There's a war a brewin' right now, and the battles are being fought not in the trenches, but in poorly-lit meeting rooms during marathon sessions of boring back-and-forth. On one side, you have the community boards and local activists who will stop at nothing to prevent that new restaurant next door or the 12-story building down the street. In the other camp, developers and entrepreneurs and citizens who aren't afraid of the occasional new skyscraper. The former have had their way for a while, but now the other side is striking back via some genuine community board backlash. Fans of Jean Nouvel's 75-story proposed skyscraper near the MoMA have even posted an online petition to gain support. And now, the latest barb, via the Curbed inbox:

First I saw that the Solow development on the East River, a location that was begging for a 21st-century icon, has officially been punched down into a Hartford-within-Midtown. Then I read on Curbed that Community Board 5 has unanimously (!) voted against a transfer of air rights to the MoMA Tower of Awesomeness.

I went to a few CB6 meetings about the Solow development back when it still could've been a slice of Dubai in New York (pathetic we're reduced to saying that, ain't it?). I was the only person under the age of 80 and not in a cruise-ship blazer and bow-tie, and the old-timers lambasted me when I gave one of two speeches in favor of the project. (The other was an architecture professor's speech.)

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The public approval process is strangling the economic development of New York. Or not. Everyone has their own take on this hot topic, but what can't be argued is that community boards and the citizenry are truly flexing their muscles this week. On a plot of land begging for something iconic, developer Sheldon Solow was forced to dramatically scale back his East River waterfront plan because local residents were worried about shadows. He was able to fight to keep the one office building planned, even though locals said it didn't belong in a residential neighborhood. By the way, the plot of land is a stone's throw from the UN, which apparently is an apartment building of some sort? Then, Community Board 5 unanimously voted to deny the air rights transfers needed for Jean Nouvel's dazzling 75-story MoMA skyscraper, with one neighbor calling the building "inappropriate in a low-rise area." Midtown, apparently, being the "low-rise area" discussed. The restaurant scene is also suffering under the grip of community boards, as our friends at Eater have taken the time to point out. Now, though, it may be going too far.

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After French starchitect Jean Nouvel's design for a new 75-story mixed-use skyscraper next to the Museum of Modern Art first exploded onto the scene via a celebratory announcement penned by New York Times archicritic Nicolai Ouroussoff, silence reigned. It's almost as if a nuclear bomb went off at 53 West 53rd Street, and now, months later, the survivors are regrouping. And those survivors aren't necessarily happy about the attack. The Observer's Eliot Brown reports that a Community Board 5 subcommittee unanimously voted against the air rights transfers last week, with a full board vote to come on Thursday. These votes are essentially meaningless, because it will be the Landmarks Preservation Commission, City Planning Commission and City Council that will ultimately make the call. But dudes, c'mon. "The scale is just totally inappropriate in a low-rise area," argued the vice president of the block association by the site. Um hello, it's Midtown! A world-class architect wants to drop an instant landmark onto 53rd Street, and people fight it. Yeesh, no wonder Dubai has supplanted New York as the skyscraper capital of the world.
· Residents Rail Against Current MoMA Skyscraper Plans [NYO]
· Nouvel's 53 West 53rd Street in Gorgeous Detail [Curbed]

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Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

Simply put, a luxury development is not a luxury development without a swimming pool. Condo buyers may not use them, and the pools may drive monthly maintenance fees to ridiculous levels, but developers know that a private pool is an important marketing hook in the current high-stakes game of real estate development. These "lap pools" are supposed to be an exercise amenity, but for the most part they're sold as sexy playgrounds or relaxing getaways. The trend is so popular that it seems like every week we're posting renderings of a new development's private pool. And it got us thinking about which of these swimming holes cuts through the chlorine clutter and rises to the top. So, above is a photo gallery of our favorite new pools, ranked from 10 to 1. Many of the entries are renderings, which is why we're not calling these the "best." Who knows how these things will turn out? Instead, they are—for one reason or another—our favorites. Check it out, and let us know which ones we missed.

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While we were busy wallowing in the trenches of Red Hook, French starchitect Jean Nouvel was busy changing the Midtown skyline forever. His design for a 75-story skyscraper next to the Museum of Modern Art at 53 West 53rd Street was unveiled by Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff, and the plans for the massive building call for more MoMA gallery space, a 100-room hotel and 120 luxury apartments. Ouroussoff, already comparing the tower to the Woolworth and Chrysler Buildings, wrote: "Its faceted exterior, tapering to a series of crystalline peaks, suggests an atavistic preoccupation with celestial heights." Got that? So what do others think of the future pied-a-terres for status-seeking foreigners:

1) "It's difficult to believe, but after Jean Nouvel's sensitive-yet-stunning 40 Mercer, his sparkly-yet-stunning 100 Eleventh Avenue, Jean Nouvel comes through with another groundbreaking design for Manhattan." [Tropolism]

2) "Isn't it kind of ironicly sad that the developer proposing one of the most exciting projects for New York City in decades is from Houston." [Wired New York/Stern]

3) "Just another stupid 75 story box. But if it's anywhere near as cool as the Quai Branly, Ourousoff's hyperbolic enthusiasm may well be deserved." [Curbed comments]

4) "damn, that's a fine lattice. it seems to play off the tombasil pretty well." [Archinect/holz.box]

Unanswered: Is this thing as-of-right, or what?
· Next to MoMA, a Tower Will Reach for the Stars [NYT]