The Queens Museum of Art let the New York Sun go behind the scenes to watch their conservator restore miniature models of the city used by Robert Moses for many of his proposed projects: Small Models For a Towering Builder
An exhibit of these models opens at QMA later this month, along with 2 other exhibits at Columbia University's Wallach Gallery and the Museum of the City of New York.
Interestingly, this cache was recently discovered in a vault under the Triboro Bridge on Randall's Island. (Photo from NY Sun)
3 comments:
Somebody told me , at a meeting (?) which they had attended, that they saw (was it somewhere in the office of a development company) in downtown Flushing a similarly scaled model . It was what the downtown Flushing area was supposed to look like I guess, when everybody was finished "having their way with it"! Does anyone know about this futuristic vision of what the take-over-of- Flushing is supposed to look like ? Is it being kept "under wraps"? I hope that this model (if it exists) is donated to a museum someday. Modelmaking is quite an art in itself. This should be preserved for posterity even though once the formerly beautiful Flushing has been already destroyed by some of the developers, whose buildings , perhaps, might appear in this model.
Hell, a lot of the ideas floating around for Queens were discussed 80 years or more years ago.
Also, a lot of the problems, as lack of parks, over crowded schools, etc, were discussed 80 or more years ago, too.
The difference? Back then homes were built of quality and so was the community leadership.
While preserving the model is nice, it does harken back to the days of "The Power Broker" Robert Moses (my way or the highway) reign over New York.
Post a Comment