As someone who has known New York only distantly, and who thinks of the city like it’s some kind of wildly photogenic, stylized friend of a friend I have met a couple of times, it has been interesting getting up close and personal with it over the past few weeks. In the past, I have known New York through its crush of commerce, the flash and bang of Midtown, some communal (pillow fight-induced) feathery madness in Union Square, a clutch of tenements on the Lower East Side, the frenzied charm of lunch hour at Bryant park, and a boyfriend (now husband) who sealed the deal with me at City Hall itself. Of course much of this happened long before architecture school stole any semblance of a life that I once had. That said, after the sleepy and vacant funk of Ithaca, it is refreshingly cool to find myself in a city that refuses to be ignored – no matter how busy you might be. It is also a real treat to find that we have an in-house New York devotee in the guise of Robert Balder, the executive director of the AAP NYC program, who has a yen for exposing us to the city that never sleeps as only a true insider can.
Last Wednesday, for instance, he organized one of his popular walking tours of the city – this time taking us through the Union Square, Gramercy, and historic Flatiron districts. As usual, we found onlookers casually sloping into our midst to enjoy the pleasure of a free guided tour of the city by an informed New Yorker. As we paused outside the elaborately ornamented entrance to the home of former New York City Mayor James Harper (1844-1845), a woman walked over to our huddle to ask Bob if he was giving a tour of Gramercy. Bob, who by this time was rushing to get us back to studio, courteously declined, telling her that the tour was over. She looked bemused and suggested that we should take a peek inside the building because it is a rare treat, before walking off. Skeptical as we might have been of being allowed to enter the building, we nevertheless attempted, unsuccessfully, to go inside. A few moments later, the same woman rushed back over to let us into the mayor’s home – which it turned out, she now occupies. The historic home is replete with its grandiose triumvirate of linearly interconnected parlors looking out onto the famous “Mayor’s lamps” and the private park beyond, which was also frequented by Bob Dylan. Incidentally, Dylan had his picture taken on the front stoop of the mayor’s home, and that picture was featured on the cover of his highly acclaimed album, Highway 61 Revisited.
Unexpected and serendipitous as this whole episode had been, I think the biggest curve ball that was thrown at us was the discovery that the gracious woman, who had let us into her fabulous home, had chanced upon this apartment not through some high-end realtor, but rather, she found it through Craigslist. Something to chew on, I thought, as I made my way home; looking forward to the prospect of what other surprises might lie in store for us as we work our way through the city – and, incidentally, Craigslist – over the next few months…
