2002-09-01: Little Italy

2002-09-01: Little Italy:

: PGK Art: Mulberry Street – Every September since 1926, in honor of the patron saint of Naples, the air in Little Italy becomes thick with the scents of smoky sausage-and-pepper sandos and fried dough. More than a million people come to stroll the strip of vendors, enjoying Italia in the form of crispy cannoli and zeppole during the Feast of San Gennaro.

: PGK Art: Police Station — the entire block between Grand and Broome) opened in 1910 after nearly five years of construction. From its great copper dome and rooftop observation deck to its basement pistol range, the five-story limestone structure was meant “to impress both the officer and the prisoner with the majesty of the law.” Designed by the firm of Hoppin & Koen in an exuberant Edwardian Baroque style. The NY Police Dept. moved out in 1973 and the building was converted to luxury condominiums in 1987.

: PGK Art: Skinny and Tall – Formerly, the Banco Di Sicilia headquarters, a grand Italianate skyscraper built in 1895 on the southwest corner of Broadway and Broome Street, made of a steel frame and masonry construction — notice the huge pillars that support the building. The top three stories are a baroque delight of pilasters and spandrel arches, crowned with a broad oxidized cornice. The “sliver building” at the southwest corner of Broome Street and Broadway is a skinny 12-story office building built by John T. Williams, an unorthodox architect-developer. The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s SoHo Cast-Iron Historic District report calls it an “extravaganza,” only 28 feet wide on Broadway, but stretching back 200 feet all the way to Mercer Street. In the early days of the steel frame, developers sometimes experimented with such narrow buildings even though such construction was relatively uneconomic. In 1897 The New-York Daily Tribune noted that in this case, the narrow floor area offered every office an outside window; natural light and air was a prime concern in office building design through the 1910’s. Williams also designed and built similar buildings, but this one is notable because the robust terra cotta ornament is concentrated over such a striking shape.

PGK photos