Don't Blame Landmarks--Just Get Some Viagra

Staten Island developer John Grossi is suing the city for $10MM on the grounds that its designation of the dilapidated 1869 Bedell House as a landmark--which he bought with the intention of demolishing and replacing with townhouses--has stuck him with a money pit that he can't sell, leaving him physically drained and unable to fulfill his husbandly duties.

Something tells me that he could fix that problem with Viagra; what a pill won't fix is the $5,500 a month mortgage payment he has on an 11% sub-prime loan. Unless, of course, it's a cyanide pill. His wife is seeking an additional $2MM.

Grossi, it's time to tighten. It's rough that your property value was yanked out from underneath you, but don't blame your plumbing problems on public policy.

original story at NYDaily news
more at gothamist

"War Between The States" no longer appropriate nomenclature

In the National Register of Historic Places nomination form for Leesburg, Virginia's historic district, it is stated that

"[t]he town grew significantly during its first several decades, but expansion slowed considerable from the War Between the States to the post-World War II era."

This document, an official record of the Department of the Interior dating from July 1969, is the basis of public policy, regulation of private property, and of federal tax credits. It should probably be amended to substitute "the Civil War" for "the War Between the States."

Department of the Interior, tighten that up.

Well executed artisanry.

I'm always impressed by well executed artisanry. This is a picture of the wall next to the passenger elevator in my lobby. This is not the building's original elevator, so at some point, an old one was taken out and a new one put in. Because the elevator is wider than the door, they had to take out a chunk of the wall, and the marble (I think it's marble...maybe Tuckahoe?) was cut away and probably destroyed.

For a long time, the panel was just blank. Recently, though, I came home, and there was this guy there with his materials spread out, faux-graining the blank panel!

Faux-graining is a very old decorative technique that has been used for centuries. It reached its apex in the united States between the Federal and lat romantic architectural movements when it was used to simulate wood or stone finishes in homes (picturesque, gothic revival, italianate, "victorian"--clear through the end of the 19th century), and hasn't been widely practiced in years...but some people still know how to do it, and do it well.

So the Columbia University Housing folks saw fit to spend the money to hire this guy to come and fill in the missing tooth in this mouth by faux-graining it, and I think it's a bang up damned job.

First, see, it would be really hard and expensive to match this stone, so getting an in-kind replacement would be tough. Although faux-graining would never have been used in a building like this, it's a beatiful and creative way to fix the problem. I'm particularly fond of the fact that there's a clear joint between the original stone and the new work--it's not so perfect that you're fooled, but it's good enough to make you look twice. Perfectly executed.

Columbia University subcontracted faux-grain painter, I salute you.