Friday, December 22, 2006

Rego Park Travesty

The photo on the right is starkly illustrative of the contrasting ideals of the developers of the 1920s and the ones polluting NYC streetscapes today. The Tudor shown on the right has tasteful, engaging touches designed to catch the admiring eye of not only the people who live in this house, but also visitors, vendors and businesspeople who are passing through. The house on the left was built from a template. The grassy lawn of the Tudor has been replaced by concrete ramps leading to basement garages. Air conditioning units, water meters, and cheap metal balconies that rust almost from their installation highlight the exterior instead of the life-affirming touches that marked our architecture in previous decades.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The house on the left is ok because the politicians say its ok and the press says its ok and city planning says its ok and ....

I guess thats whats happens when developers campaign contributions hijack city government.

Anonymous said...

The older building was built to stand forever, the new one is built to be easily knocked down (and cheep construction will be worn out within a generation anyway) - ready to makeway for tomorrow's city of 11/12/13 million!!

verdi said...

Councilmember Melinda Katz, chair of the Land Use Committee (no, make that..." land abuse") & "courtesan" for NYC's building industry, also overwhelmingly approves! Check out the huge amounts of campaign contributions that she gets from developers! (Hope that you've got enough ink for the "printout" or the time to view that long list on your screen)! So who do you think that she really represents....you or her developer "co-respondents"? Don't take my word for this. Go into the NYC Board of Elections and input her name, then decide for yourself!

Anonymous said...

The house on the right has a soul. The house on the left, despite its 'modern amenities' is a flimsy, empty shell.

As someone already said, at least that makes it easy to tear down.. hopefully when people come to their senses.

Anonymous said...

I live in forest Hills and grew up not far from where these disgusting homes were built.They are cheap construction and ugly as well.The people that buy these kinds of houses can't really think they will get thier monies worth.They are small inside like cubicles.I can't believe goverment likes such cheap construction.Is this safe?