The New York Times reports that there may be some architectural issues with a proposed Apple store on lower Fifth Avenue.
Plunked amid a phalanx of ornate buildings on Fifth Avenue – structures with classic Greek columns, cast-iron arches, filigreed cresting and intricate friezes – is a two-story stub of a building that has preservationists gnashing their teeth at the Apple Computer Company.
The preservationists do not particularly want the decidedly unremarkable, 3,550-square-foot building at 136 Fifth Avenue, between 18th and 19th Streets, to be preserved. They are not demanding that its proposed replacement mirror the florid style of its environs.
But if Apple hopes to get its plans for a retail store approved by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, the preservationists at least want the building to bear some of the architectural basics of its neighbors. Plans for the site, in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District, are subject to commission approval.
The architect, Karl A. Backus, is with Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. Their site messes with deep links, like this one to the description of the Apple Store SoHo, whose facade you can see here.
The feedback from Community Board 5 is great. Art needs constraints. Do you recall the story of the dot and the line?