FOG in NYC

Frank Gehry's Beekman Tower at 8 Spruce Street in Lower Manhattan is coming along nicely. The tower has topped out and interiors are being constructed. Its curvaceous exterior has caused many New Yorkers to stop and look at this different arrival to the skyline.

Mr. Gehry has gone on the record to say that Lorenzo Bernini was the inspiration for the tower. This may be true, but its similarities are much closer to both an earlier piece of Renaissance theory and also to a 20th century masterpiece completed in New York by a different Frank.

When Frank Lloyd Wright completed his Guggenheim Museum off of Central Park, critics did not know whether to categorize it as being "of the city" or "of the park." Its soft curves and gentile circulation led to a dialectical admiration which continues today.

Like Mr. Wright before him, Gehry has created piece of architecture that challenges an urban status quo. While other towers rise unadorned in their urban context, Gehry's has more in common with surrounding nature than the monoliths of recent skyscrapers. Even the venerable Woolworth Building seems clunky in its detail when the two are compared.

To create this smoothness, the Beekman oscillates along its 76 stories. Each titanium facade panel is carefully placed in location with software optimization. Its southern face, chopped like a tree in section, rises uninterrupted in a single plane. The effect is that its shimmering facade catches light in a fashion that is of closer resemblance to the trees of City Hall park or the water of the East River than to the stoicism of carved masonry and monolithic glass which dominate they skyline. It is a piece of graceful mimesis set into a stoic neighborhood.

At the street level, Gehry has created a distinctly separate base for the tower. In a move that reads of the Palazzo Vecchio, the tower is set within an orthogonal brick perimeter. This perimeter is punctured by crisp, rectangular windows and will be filled with public facilities such as a school, shops, and gyms.

Mr. Gehry has created a great piece of architecture late in his career, one that deals with many issues in a sensitive and mature manner. He may claim that this is one last look at Bernini, but given how unique this tower is to his body of work, it may be better to cast it as the last great Gehry.

Beekman Tower from City Hall Park

The Tower and Base

Brick base as seen from Park Place

Beekman Tower set against the Woolworth Building

From Brooklyn the Beekman is distinctively of the East River
which forms a sharp contrast against the orthogonal city.

All pictures by W. Grey, 2010.