CUNY to destroy mural by famous black artist

From the Daily News:

A sprawling mosaic that has long been a symbol of City Tech in downtown Brooklyn will be destroyed when the Klitgord Auditorium gets torn down sometime this summer.

The massive mural, built on the Jay St. theater in 1962 by famed African-American sculptor Nathaniel Choate, will make way for a $400 million educational complex expected to open in 2016.

School officials said only part of the mural — the school crests flanking the main artwork, but not the six figurines celebrating sports, recreation, health, competition, drama and music — could be salvaged.

“This is a loss of history and contact with the founders of this institution,” said English teacher Mary Nilles, one of several teachers who spoke against destroying the artwork.
Construction on the 400,000-square-foot college building will start as soon as the aging auditorium - including Choate’s 33 foot by 17 foot mosaic - is razed.

Choate’s work is on display at several other locations including Harvard University and the National Academy of Design in New York.


If CUNY doesn't appreciate Mr. Choate's artwork, can't they at least donate it to an institution that will? Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society, etc.?

It's embarrassing to be a CUNY alumnus these days. Sheesh.

Queens Plaza getting another tower

From Crains:

The two-story, neon Eagle Electric sign, a long-time landmark in Long Island City, that was replaced by a regular billboard over a decade ago, is slated to get a high-profile successor—a 40-story, 400-plus-unit rental tower.

Early this month a consortium of Property Markets Group, the Hakim Organization and Vector Group paid $37 million for 23-10 Queens Plaza South, a prewar Art Deco-style loft building that was once home to Eagle Electric's production facilities, and a neighboring building at 23-01 42nd Road. The plan is to demolish the latter building and, with the considerable air rights afforded by the adjacent factory, construct a brand new apartment tower.

Long Island City has seen a boom in residential development in recent years, but much of the building has been focused along the waterfront. What drew the investors to the Eagle Electric site was a shift in development away from the river—where most properties have been snapped up, if not built up, already—towards Queens Plaza.

Flushing Art Deco building to become hotel?

I snapped this from a car passing east bound on the south side of Northern Blv'd. just off Union St. (west side) in Flushing yesterday.

There is this great old art deco building that was originally. I believe, the headquarters of the North Shore (Daily?) Journal.

It looks like a hotel is going to replace it judging from the advertising banner on the side of that building.

I'll try to find out more.

- The Flushing Phantom

Another one bites the dust

Dear Colleague:

Jay Dee Bakery (98-92 Queens Blvd, Forest Hills) closed its doors after nearly 60 years. It stood as a well-known NY Art Deco landmark since the early 1950s (with features of an earlier bakery dating back to the early 1940s), and has been dear to locals and preservationists. Citywide, there are very few such surviving Art Deco style commercial buildings. On Aug 10th, my colleague and I met with the owner, and tried to convince him to preserve and adaptively reuse the property, making him eligible for grants, positive media, & awards. It will be transformed into a Russian restaurant, and the owner decided that he is not interested in preserving its historic Art Deco features.

The news is unfortunate, but the owner said he will give away any salvagable Art Deco features for free, if an individual, organization, or museum is interested. Rego-Forest Preservation Council is hoping that several features will live on elsewhere and showcased or creatively and adaptively reused, which has been done countrywide. We would be saddened if these unique businesses' Art Deco attributes are demolished forever.

The distinctive Art Deco and decorative features include the following (some are evidently more salvageable than others. Mosaics are salvageable):

- The classic reverse channel neon sign reading Jay Dee Bakery;
- Ravenna green mosaic columns surrounding the window, which features a classic Art Deco orange and red vertical swirl pattern that resembles jewels;
- Art Deco Lucite door and steel handle with "Pull" etched vertically;
- Window featuring a variety of vintage tiered wedding and birthday cake models;
- Exterior green terrazzo exterior floor (which likely continues inside underneath current floor tile);
- Circular Art Deco recessed ceiling & indented cake displays built into upper walls (silhouettes); and
- Any original counters & the brass cake tie devices hanging from the ceiling.

Please contact unlockthevault@hotmail.com if you are interested in an opportunity to own rare Art Deco attributes for free from the last known Jay Dee Bakery, know of someone who may be interested, or would like to offer any suggestions. Please spread the word. Time is of the essence! Thank you!

Sincerely,
Michael Perlman