Best architecture: Lower Manhattan

Woolworth building

When it comes to architecture, one neighborhood towers above the rest. Its pioneering skyscrapers, 18th-century low-rises and exciting new projects—not to mention a large-scale redevelopment plan you might have heard something about over the past seven years—make it an iconic snapshot of the city skyline. “Lower Manhattan is what people think about when they envision New York,” observes Cynthia Barton, director of the New York City chapter of Architecture for Humanity New York (AFHny).

Manhattan’s oldest nabe has long been at the vanguard of adventurous architecture, as local landmarks like McKim, Mead and White’s Manhattan Municipal Building and Cass Gilbert’s Woolworth Building and Custom House attest. And soon its bristling profile will be renewed by several big-deal new structures. One of the most anticipated is Frank Gehry’s 76-story residential Beekman Tower, a shimmery, undulating form in harmony with the historic skyline (see “Construction junction,” page 44). “It’s a remarkably interesting tower,” says Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for The New Yorker. “The facade will twist and change as it goes up.”

Opinion is divided, to say the least, on the project that currently dominates thinking about downtown architecture: the World Trade Center site. Goldberger is dismissive, branding it “a gargantuan disappointment and a failure to achieve what was hoped for.”

Unsurprisingly, Daniel Libeskind, architect of the linchpin Freedom Tower, is more upbeat. “It will no doubt become a center that weaves together the best that lower Manhattan has to offer,” he tells us by e-mail. “Seeing impeccably dressed Wall Street executives side by side with cool hipsters, not to mention the lost tourists, is a contrast that only lower Manhattan can offer.” (He adds: “My daughter Rachel considers everything above Canal Street to be like going to Switzerland.”)

Trendy new condos, such as William Beaver House, are further testament to lower Manhattan’s resurgence as a place to live as well as to visit and work. Dozens of residential constructions and office conversions are done or nearing completion. “For 20 years now, it’s been an up-and-coming residential district with its own character,” says Rick Bell, executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Of course, the survival of area veterans like Fraunces Tavern—built as a home in 1719—proves that lower Manhattan has been the place to be for several centuries now.

Currently there is more than $22 million invested in lower Manhattan construction projects.

RUNNERS-UP

Gehry building, West Chelsea

South Bronx
“The South Bronx is the place to watch. Architecture for Humanity has two projects there now, and because of the work that community activists have been doing over the past few decades—and the projects the city is supporting now—it’ll be a template for the sustainable redevelopment of places all around the country.”—AFHny’s Cynthia Barton

West Chelsea
“It’s the only thing that would be a competitor to lower Manhattan—a huge amount of stuff is happening, particularly around the High Line. There’s the Gehry building (pictured, right) and interesting stuff from Jean Nouvel, Neil Denari, and I believe Shigeru Ban is doing a building. In a way, the High Line—itself an important piece of architecture—ties this stuff together. As I think about it, maybe Chelsea is a better answer. I’m going to change my vote.”—Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for The New Yorker

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