We went to my favorite neighborhood in Manhattan: East village and Soho districts. Personally, I liked this field trip the most because we talked about buildings that I have always passed by without giving much thought to. It was so much fun to know the stories behind all these buildings.
The first building we started with was the Cooper Union building located by Cooper Square and Astor Place. This building has a mixture of Victorian architecture from the 1800s and the 1900s. It has a classical style with Roman arches. This building was designed by Peter Cooperson in 1858 who was one of the richest men in American history. On February 27, 1860, the school's great hall became a place of history after Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that shared his view about federal power to regulate and limit the spread of slavery. Not many New Yorkers knew about Lincoln before this speech as he was not yet the President, but many people say his road to presidency began with this speech.
In the Southeast corner from the Cooper Union building is a modern and fancy looking building. There is some controversy around this building as it is the only modern looking building in the area and doesn't match architecture of the area. I totally agree that that building shouldn't have built there. It ruins the unique feeling of the East village.
A block away from Cooper Union building, there is a new Cooper Union academic building which was designed by Thom Mayne and opened in the Spring of 2009. I am not a big fan of this building. I looks a little weird to me. This new Cooper Union academic building is supposed to be "Green", allowing for up to 75% of lighting to be natural. It has double layers and those that open up individually in order to regulate interior light and temperature.
The next stop was a beautiful building on Bleaker street and Crosby street, Bayard condo from Chicago. In 1898, New York and Chicago competed to build the best building. This building is almost an American version of a French building. Angel's arms are stretch out on the top of the building and it has long columns. Every single detail make this building so beautiful. I used to pass by this building all the time since I lived two blocks away, but I never noticed how beautiful it was until today.
We stopped by University Plaza on West Houston Street which reminded me of buildings in Asia. I was surprised to find out that NYU owns it and that it was designed by the famous architect, I.M. Pei. These buildings are not my favorite as I don't like the color of the buildings or the overall look. In Asia, they have to have these types of buildings because of the lack of land, but I totally cannot see the connection between New York history and architecture to the University Plaza. After long walk, we took a break at the Washington Square Park which is located in Greenwich village. The area was built in 1832 after Washington passed away and remains as a pubic park for the city. Every single building around the park now belongs to NYU except Judson Memorial Baptist church. Now I know where NYU spent all the money it got from tuition!
It was a long trip, but the most fun so far. I realized once more that NYC has so many interesting stories everywhere in the city.
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