silver towers:contextual exception

a building analysis by ivan gilkes

Silver Towers is a complex of three towers on a large block bounded by Bleecker Street, LaGuardia Place, Houston Street, and Mercer Street, designed by I. M. Pei in collaboration with James Ingo Freed. New York University had these three thirty-storey towers built, with the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and the Washington Square Southeast Authority, from 1964 to their completion in 1966.1 Two of these towers are owned and run by New York University and rented out to faculty and staff: Silver Tower I, located at 110 Bleecker Street, and Silver Tower II, at 100 Bleecker Street. The third tower, at 505 LaGuardia Place built under the Mitchell Lama Program, is a middle-income housing cooperative. The two NYU towers were previously known as University Village and University Plaza until their official name change on June 3, 1974 to Silver Towers.2 Included in the five-and-a-half acre superblock that Silver Towers sits on are the Coles Sports and Recreation Center and the Morton Williams Associated Supermarket, which are both very low buildings in comparison with Silver Towers.3

From street level Silver Towers has a strong influence on certain streets including: Houston Street, LaGuardia Place and later West Broadway, Wooster Street, Greene Street, Mercer Street, and Bleecker Street. Their presence changes depending on how far away one gets from the buildings, but because they are so tall it is strong, specifically on wider streets.

Silver Towers probably has the greatest influence on the streets to the south in the landmarked4 neighborhood of SoHo. This neighborhood consists of low-rise residential and commercial buildings5 averaging around six stories. Houston Street’s width allows for views of Silver Towers from very far away. Walking from west to east on Houston Street, one starts to see the buildings from as far west as Varick Street and upon reaching Sixth Avenue, the bulk of the towers can be seen. Continuing eastward the towers grow more and more massive, dwarfing the surrounding buildings until Silver Towers disappears from the viewer at street level where Houston meets Lafayette Street.

Wooster and Greene Streets offer constant views of Silver Towers from their beginning to their end. Because Silver Towers is a superblock that replaced three blocks of city land, it interrupted the existing streetscape. However, this development “reflects in a sensitive way the streets around it.”6 There was a replacement of sight lines and thoroughfares with the inclusion of a small but prominent pedestrian pathway that represents Greene Street and a vehicular plaza with a private through street that represents the space of the replaced Wooster Street. Though the block disrupts the historical streets, the complex still suggests their existence and therefore remains contextual to the historical development of the city’s streetscape. In this way, the development stays true to modernism and its more abstract definition of space while remaining sensitive to the pre-existing streetscape.7 However, that does not diminish the towers’ massiveness; they still exhibit a presence on the streetscape while looking like they are in line with the historical grid.

Silver Towers: Contextual Exceptionbu

ildin

g an

alys

is2

3

To the west of Silver Towers are other low-rise buildings sitting on streets that are close to each other, similar to the scale of buildings in SoHo. Though they are low rise, these buildings help to hide Silver Towers from the viewer. With their combined height and the narrowness of the streets, the buildings in this neighborhood obscure the sky and Silver Towers from the viewer. Additionally, because the towers are located towards the center of the superblock they sit on, they cannot really be seen while approaching the towers from west to east on Bleecker Street. If Bleecker Street were as wide as Houston Street, one would experience similar views of Silver Towers as experienced on Houston Street. Yet the towers’ presence from street level is only noticed when reaching somewhat between Thompson and Sullivan streets. At the corner of Bleecker Street and LaGuardia Place, Silver Towers is the dominant feature of the skyline, dwarfing the Morton Williams Supermarket.

Continuing eastward on Bleecker Street, one passes Silver Towers on the south and Washington Square Village on the north. Where Washington Square Village rises straight up from the street, Silver Towers distances itself from the pedestrian with an open space before rising upwards. Even though Silver Towers is taller than Washington Square Village, the fact that the latter is built this way makes it seem much more imposing. Further east on Bleecker Street, the viewer passes NYU’s Coles Gymnasium, which is also dwarfed by Silver towers. Silver Towers is no longer viewable from the street when the viewer reaches somewhat between Lafayette and Crosby Streets because of the generally tall buildings along Broadway.

Because of the height of Washington Square Village, and as well as Bobst, Shimkin Hall, Tisch Hall and Warren Weaver, Silver Towers is completely obscured from street level to the blocks that are north of the complex. Only slivers of it can be seen from Washington Square Park. Vegetation in the park does a particularly good job at hiding Silver Towers from the pedestrian. Due to the fact that only slivers can be seen, Silver Towers does not have a large impact on the southern sections of Washington Square Park and its surroundings. Continuing south on LaGuardia Place from the park, the size of Washington Square Village increases until reaching a point between Bleecker Street and West Third Street. It is here that the prominence of Washington Square Village decreases and Silver Towers increases, even though one is closer to Washington Square Village.

The visual impact Silver Towers has at the level above the streets is greater than at the street level. Though not the tallest in the city, they can be seen from as far away as Brooklyn and New Jersey. The complex is a significant fixture along the skyline of Greenwich Village. Juxtaposition of the low-rise development of Greenwich Village with the modernist towers creates an interestingly balanced contrast.bu

ildin

g an

alys

is4

Contextually then, Silver Towers does not fit in with its surroundings, however, this fact was in accordance with its design. “The sheer size of the 534-apartment project precluded integration with low-rise Greenwich Village, and thus tall, slender shafts were designed in counterpoint.”8 Its urban context can generally be summed up in the fact that it is a complex from the modern era surrounded on the south, east, and west, by historically older buildings, which means that they have a different style all together. And Washington Square Village, to the north, does not relate to Silver Towers in style or form; the only similarities they may have are their sheer massiveness.

The complex in total contains 747,000 square feet, which is broken down into the three towers, each at 275 feet tall. All three towers are designed with an “impulse toward dynamic asymmetry based on a pinwheel-plan composition.”9 The façades of the towers alternate between windowed and un-windowed in order to create a

“sculpturally vigorous yet human-scaled design. The placements of the buildings on the site furthered the sense of active

composition by playing the long façade of one tower against the short façade of the other.”10 The two

New York University towers focus their entrances away from the street towards the internal plaza,

and the third tower focuses its entrance on the stairs and mews leading towards the plaza. “The landscaping of the site considerably softened the transitions between the housing precinct and the neighborhood to the south.”11 This landscaping includes trees and grassy

5

expanses, which gives focus to the towers and mitigates their harshness in comparison with their surroundings. The landscaping does this by providing mediation in scale between the height of the towers and the heights of the surrounding buildings.

Within the plaza is the centerpiece of the project, the Bust of Sylvette. It is a “36-foot-tall, 60-ton, concrete interpretation by the Swedish sculptor Carl Nesjar of the much smaller Picasso bronze.”12 The bust is made of sandblasted concrete and was a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Emil to the University. “The new Sylvette complements and contrasts with the thirty-storey towers that all but surround it. Set at a slightly rakish angle, the sculpture imparts just the right measure of relief to the severe rectilinear buildings and just the right degree of contrast to surrounds that are themselves almost aggressively sculptural.”13 This sculpture is often indicated as one of the things that make this development unique. It is “Picasso’s second major public work in the United States and the first work of its kind in the western hemisphere.”14 On the other hand Daily News criticized the Bust of Sylvette saying “For our part, we call “Bust of Sylvette” a caricature in concrete, and a not very good or amusing caricature at that.”15 This centerpiece helps to give a focus to what would be an empty plaza by tying the three towers together and create mediation between the gigantic scale of the buildings and a human scale.

The two NYU towers have 145,700 square feet of apartment space on floors two through twenty-nine, and then 55,000 square feet of underground parking space that can hold ninety cars for each of the towers. The co-op tower has 145,700 square feet of apartment space on floors two through twenty-nine and an additional 2,000 square feet of space for professional offices. There is also 25,000 square feet of underground parking for once again ninety cars. The buildings themselves are concrete construction that is a signature of I. M. Pei.16 “The outer surface of each tower consists of reinforced concrete, cast

in place and left exposed as the finishing surfacing material.”17 “Architectural concrete was poured in

place in reusable fiberglass forms to yield the greatest possibilities within the very low

budget mandated.”18 The concrete itself is a warm color, resembling

limestone.19

Each building contains 178 apartments that range

from studios to three bedroom apartments. The second to thirtieth floor have six apartments each, and the first floor has four apartments and the lobby. The apartments with two, three, or four bedrooms have two exposures, whereas the apartments with

build

ing

anal

ysis

6

one bedroom and the studios have a single exposure. There are a total of 534 apartments in the development, with a focus on the two and three bedroom apartments. Out of the whole development 356 of the apartments belong to NYU’s towers.

These apartments were modern for the time including many new features. When Silver Towers opened the apartments included aluminum sliding windows and individually controlled air conditioning and heating.20 “The heating and air-conditioning systems are incorporated in the structural façade. Each rectangular piece of window glass rests on a concrete sill, under which there is a pocket faced on the exterior side with a louver into which the heating and air-conditioning elements are fitted.”21 The apartments also had hardwood floors, fully equipped modern (once again for the time) kitchens, tiled bathrooms, and television service.22 They were also designed to mitigate the amount of noise heard from neighbors, “walls between apartments are insulated for a soundproofing rating–50 to 55 decibels–that is substantially higher than in most present-day apartment construction.”23 Included in the buildings were twenty-four-hour doorman service, automatic laundries, and lobby-to-apartment intercom systems.24

Each building has two seven-foot-wide elevators and two sets of stairs. The halls that the elevators open onto are short corridors, “avoiding the long hallways that characterize luxury and low-rent new construction alike.”25 This makes it easier for residents to move to and from their apartments while also increasing the usable amount of space within the apartments. The space within the apartments has also been increased by the elimination of balconies.26

Because of their innovative and progressive design in housing the towers garnered several awards. In 1966 it received the Concrete Industry Board Award, and later in 1967 it received the American Institute of Architects National Honor Award, and the City Club of New York Albert S. Bard Award.27

The reason for Silver Towers’ height is attributed to the fact that there was simply a need for a large amount of housing. Trends in modern hosing at the time contribute to the style in which Silver Towers was in addition to the fact that they needed to be tall. Le Corbusier’s thoughts on the planning of cities can best sum up this trend in modern urban planning. One tenant of his ideas was that “we must increase the open spaces and diminish the distances to be covered. Therefore the centre of the

7

city must be constructed vertically.”28 He believed that the density of the city should be increased and additionally the amount of streets and street crossings should be diminished.29 His ideas went on to influence modern city planning and in effect created the idea of “the skyscraper in the park.”30

Silver Towers is a synthesis of Le Corbusier’s ideas and reflects the main ideas of his plan for the development of a modern city. There is a high density of population because the buildings can provide the housing for a large amount of people by being tall. There has been a reduction in streets in order to direct and improve the flow of traffic with the closure of Greene and Wooster Streets. And thus, green space has been increased because most of the block has been left undeveloped and given over to plazas and open space. Pei’s design for Silver Towers is an example of Le Corbusier’s ideas for the proper development of a modern city within New York City

Silver Towers came into being as part of New York City’s Slum Clearance Plan under Title I of the Housing Act of 1949. It was part of a development plan called Washington Square Southeast. The basis of this plan was that if the City could clear slums for redevelopment a new and better neighborhood would be created. In each of the cases where this plan was carried out “the land [had] been acquired by the City and resold to responsible builders who [were] engaged in carrying out the relocation of tenants and the redevelopment plans.”31 Specifically in the Washington Square Southeast plan the area was considered “almost entirely occupied by old, inadequate loft buildings.”32 In this plan emphasis was put on the fact that much of the land was covered by low buildings that were being under-used, and of that land only 3.97% of it was being used for residential purposes (much of the land was used for manufacturing at the time). Additionally there was interest in giving this underutilized land over to residential and educational spaces.33

Most of the community resistance was aimed toward this plan, as opposed to the Silver Towers complex itself. This is because once this plan had been completed there was no reason to argue over buildings that would be destroyed if Silver Towers were built. “The opposition contended that many of the buildings proposed to be razed were not slums, that tenants forced to move would be ineligible for apartments in the proposed development, and that the city would lose some small Greenwich Village business concerns.”34 The fact that this area was also an industrial region and would be turned over to create housing angered some community members.

It is a crying shame to destroy a perfectly good industrial area, with over 1,100 manufacturing tenants, employing 15,000 people, and to use public funds to turn the area over to private development for high-cost housing, for which there is absolutely no shortage, and to give New York University valuable land at $5 per square foot, tax exempt.35 bu

ildin

g an

alys

is8

The exchange of a thriving industrial region for housing reserved for moderate and higher-income people seemed, to some members of the community, like a blow to the economy of Greenwich Village.

Additionally, there was an outcry against the fact that the area was determined to be a slum. Residential and commercial tenants in the area “protested that their premises were not slums but were called that to obtain public housing funds to help finance a project they declare has as its main purpose the provision, at taxpayers’ expense, of a campus for New York University, a privately owned but nontaxpaying institution.”36 Despite outcry from the residents of Greenwich Village the plan was carried out.

After the City acquired the land it was given over to the private developer Washington Square Development Corporation who bought six blocks for $5.2 million. The other three north-most blocks were sold to New York University for educational purposes. After the Washington Square Development Corporation built Washington Square Village on three of its blocks, it chose to sell its remaining blocks to NYU in 1960. This went against the developer’s original plan to have a third slab building of housing on this site. “Local groups objected on the grounds [that] the site had originally been intended for middle income housing.”37 The sale angered the community because the goal of the Title I Housing Act was to primarily create housing, not university facilities.38

Thus after New York University unveiled its plan to build Silver Towers it was forced to include “at least 175 units of moderate-income housing” for the community.39 This requirement was a compromise determined by the Board of Estimate after hearing “widespread community opposition. Community leaders, including Anthony Dapolito, president of the Greenwich Village Association, and Assemblyman William Passante” were among the community members that made their case before the Board of Estimate.40 This compromise was seen to the University President at the time, James M. Hester, as “a successful example of community cooperation. But, to the Village residents the construction of the complex and the acquisition by the university of the adjacent Washington Square Village from its developers the previous year only fueled their anger and mistrust of NYU.”41 Also, as the buildings were nearing completion they were criticized along with other NYU buildings for being “out of keeping with the scale of Greenwich Village.”42

Today the opinions on Silver Towers have changed with some who have come to feel that it is an integral part of Greenwich Village, and others still feeling that it is out of scale with the region. With the recent acquisition by the university of the adjacent Morton Williams Supermarket site, there is a general sense of anxiety as to what is going to happen with the development and how that site will affect the Silver Towers superblock. This move by the university has created a push

9

led by Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation to landmark the whole superblock, Silver Towers, 505 LaGuardia, Coles Center for Recreation and Sports, and the supermarket. Berman’s push for landmarking of this site is because he and his organization consider it “an early gem by one of the late 20th century’s most important and celebrated architects.” Berman explains that the design of the towers on their block as tall buildings surrounded by horizontal development and open space “is a situation that should be preserved.”43

On the other hand there is some skepticism that this push for landmarking is a strategy to prevent NYU’s expansion. “The timing is driven by the [anticipated] building on the Morton Williams site.”44 David Greuber a Greenwich Village activist says that it is probably a ploy “to prevent NYU from building on Morton Williams.”45 The fact that Silver Towers is going to remain a fixture of Greenwich Village and New York City is not disputed. After forty years of existence, Silver Towers has become a great university and community resource now indispensable. On the other hand, whether or not they will exist in the context that they were designed to be in is a different story.

build

ing

anal

ysis

10

11

1. Frusciano, New York University and the City, p2122. Klein, New York University News Bureau, p13. “University Plaza, New York University,” Pei Cob Freed & Partners4. An area protected from development because it has been determined to be worthy of preservation by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.5. Nash, Manhattan Skyscrapers, p1196. Berman, Class Interview, 12 November 20077. ibid.8. “University Plaza, New York University,” Pei Cob Freed & Partners9. Stern, New York 1960, p23610. ibid., p23611. ibid., p23612. Nash, Manhattan Skyscrapers, p11913. New York State Council on the Arts, New York State Award/1969, p2014. “University Plaza, New York University,” Pei Cob Freed & Partners15. “Bust of Sylvette’–Whoops!” Daily News16. Berman, Class Interview, 12 November 200717. Fowler, “Controversial 30-Storey Towers Nearing Completion in ‘Village,” New York Times (1875- Current File), pR118. “University Plaza, New York University,” Pei Cob Freed & Partners19. Fowler, “Controversial 30-Storey Towers Nearing Completion in ‘Village,” pR120. New York University, University Plaza Apartments, p6 and Campus History 21. Fowler, “Controversial 30-Storey Towers Nearing Completion in ‘Village,” pR122. New York University, University Plaza Apartments, p623. Fowler, “Controversial 30-Storey Towers Nearing Completion in ‘Village,” pR124. New York University, University Plaza Apartments, p625. Fowler, “Controversial 30-Storey Towers Nearing Completion in ‘Village,” pR126. “N.Y.U. Is Preparing Project in ‘Village” New York Times (1875-Current File), pR127. “University Plaza, New York University,” Pei Cob Freed & Partners28. Le Corbusier, “A Contemporary City,” The City Reader, p320-32129. ibid., p320-32130. LeGates and Stout, The City Reader, p31731. Moses, Washington Square Southeast, p132. ibid., p233. ibid., p4234. “VILLAGERS ATTACK PROPOSED HOUSING…” New York Times (1875-Current File), p3535. Trebach, “Village’ Plans Criticized…” New York Times (1875-Current File), p1836. Asbury, “SLUM FIGHT BOILS IN WASHINGTON SQ…” New York Times (1875-Current File), p2337. “N.Y.U. Sets Plans to Build Housing on Houston Street.” New York Times (1875-Current File), p3138. Frusciano, New York University and the City, p209-21239. ibid., p21240. “N.Y.U. TO INCREASE UNITS IN ITS CO-OP…” New York Times (1875-Current File), p28 and Frusciano, New York University and the City, p21241. Frusciano, New York University and the City, p21242. Fowler, “Controversial 30-Storey Towers Nearing Completion in ‘Village,” pR143. Anderson, “Superblock, and supermarket proposed as historic landmarks.” The Villager, p244. ibid., p245. Greuber, Class Interview, 19 November 2007

Endnotes: Silver Towersen

dnot

es &

bib

liogr

aphy

12

Anderson, Lincoln. “Superblock, and supermarket, proposed as historic landmarks.” The Villager. 10-16 Mar. 2004: 1-5. The Villager Website. 13 Nov. 2007 <www.thevillager.com>Asbury, Edith Evans. “SLUM FIGHT BOILS IN WASHINGTON SQ: Tenants Attack Mayor, N.Y.U., Moses and Estimate Board on Housing Project.” New York Times (1857-Current File) 29 Jan. 1954: 23. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. New York University, New York. 24 Nov. 2007 <http://www.proquest.com>.Berman, Andrew. Class Interview. 12 Nov. 2007Frusciano, Thomas J., and Marilyn H. Pettit. New York University and the City. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1997. 208-213.Glenn, Fowler. “Controversial 30-Story Towers Nearing Completion in ‘Village’: 30-Story Towers for the ‘Village’.” New York Times (1857-Current File) 20 Feb. 1966: R1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. New York University, New York. 24 Nov. 2007 <http://www.proquest.com>.Greuber, David. Class Interview. 19 Nov. 2007Klein, Walter J. “Mr. Silver.” Washington Square News. 28 May 1974. New York: New York University News Bureau.Lecorbusier. “A Contemporary City.” The City Reader. Comp. Richard T. Legates and Frederic Stout. New York: Routledge, 2003. 317-321.Legates, Richard T. “Introduction to ‘a Contemporary City’.” The City Reader. Comp. Richard T. Legates and Frederic Stout. New York: Routeledge, 2003. 317.Moses, Robert. New York City. Committee on Slum Clearance. Slum Clearance Plan Under Title I of the Housing Act of 1949. New York.Nash, Eric P. Manhattan Skyscrapers. New York: Princeton Architectural P, 1999. 119.New York State Council on the Arts: New York State Award 1969. New York: New York State Council on the Arts, 1969.“N.Y.U. Is Preparing Project in ‘Village’.” New York Times (1857-Current File) 29 Mar. 1964: R1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. New York University, New York. 24 Nov. 2007 <http://www.proquest.com>.“N.Y.U. TO INCREASE UNITS IN ITS CO-OP: Yields to ‘Village’: 30-Story Towers for the ‘Village’.” New York Times (1857-Current File) 31 Mar. 1961: 28. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. New York University, New York. 24 Nov. 2007 <http://www.proquest.com>.“N.Y.U. Sets Plan to Build Housing on Houston Street.” New York Times (1857-Current File) 13 Jan. 1961: 31. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. New York University, New York. 24 Nov. 2007 <http://www.proquest.com>.Stern, Robert A. M. New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial. New York: The Monacelli P, Inc., 1995. 234-236.Trebach, Alan G. “‘Village’ Plans Criticized: Destruction of Good Industrial Area to Provide Housing Protested.” New York Times (1857-Current File) 25 Jan. 1954: 18. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. New York University, New York. 24 Nov. 2007 <http://www.proquest.com>.University Plaza Apartments. New York: New York University, 1966.“University Plaza, New York University.” Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. 24 Nov. 2007 <http://www.pcfandp.com/a/p/6032/s.html>.“‘VILLAGERS’ ATTACK PROPOSED HOUSING: At Hearing They Term Project in Washington Square Area ‘Government by Stampede’ CHARGE ‘TRICK’ BY N.Y.U., Moses and Estimate Board on Housing Project.” New York Times (1857-Current File) 15 Oct. 1953: 35. ProQuest Historical Newspapers

Bibliography: Silver Towers

13