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Paul Rudolph's modernist Modulightor Building may become NYC landmark

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Paul Rudolph’s modernist Modulightor Building may become NYC landmarkNewsletter Sign UpSharePhoto © Joe Polowczuk, Archives of the Paul Rudolph Heritage FoundationThe Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday voted to calendar an iconic building in Midtown East designed by renowned modernist architect Paul Rudolph. Located at 246 East 58th Street, the Modulightor Building was built between 1989 and 1993 to house the lighting company of the same name Rudolph founded with German physicist Ernst Wagner. Rudolph designed the duplex apartment on floors three and four, which is the only Rudolph-designed space regularly open to the public.After purchasing the building in 1989, Rudolph and Wagner came up with a plan to rebuild the structure as a sales showroom for Modulightor and as a residential space. Located on a 20 by 100-foot lot, the building replaced an 1860s row house that had been remodeled into a commercial structure by the early 1960s.Rudolph acted as his own contractor during the first phase of construction, and in 1990 he and Wagner moved their offices into the unfinished building. In May 1993, the city’s Department of Buildings issued a certificate of occupancy for the structure’s cellar, first floor, and mezzanine.Following Rudolph’s death in 1997, Mark Squeo, who worked with the architect during the 1990s, led the second phase of the project, which followed Rudolph’s design by adding a fifth and sixth story. The final phase of construction was completed in 2018.Because the duplex does not meet the LPC’s age criteria for interior landmarks (30 years since the original certificate of occupancy), the apartment interiors are yet not eligible for landmark status.The Modulightor Building is best known for its striking front and rear elevations, which are composed of intersecting and overlapping horizontal and vertical rectangles of varying projection and size, according to the LPC. The painted steel I-beams and glass panels form jigsaw-like screens that reference the De Stijl movement, Russian Constructivism, the style of architect Mies van der Rohe, and Rudolph’s famous Milam Residence of 1959 from 1961.The structure includes ground-floor retail space and the duplex apartment, currently owned and owned and occupied by the Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture. Founded in 2015, the Institute hosts monthly tours, making it the only publicly accessible Rudolph building. More information on the tours can be found here.Other architectural features include a multi-level roof terrace and four cantilevered steel balconies that overlook a rear patio.“I toured the apartment interior with the owners. A, they are immensely proud of this space and B, it is completely untouched. It is a perfect integration of inside and outside, and a perfect expression of Rudolph’s ethos,” Michael Goldblum, LPC Commissioner said. “It’s really just a very amazing place.”Born in Kentucky, Rudolph studied at Auburn University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design where he developed his signature modern sculptural aesthetic using industrial materials like concrete and steel, according to the LPC. In the mid-1960s at the height of his career, while he was serving as chair of the Yale School of Architecture, Rudolph moved his practice to Manhattan.During this period, Rudolph designed many prominent buildings, including the Jewett Art Center, the Tuskegee University Chapel, and the Yale School of Art &amp; Architecture, which is now known as Rudolph Hall.Two Rudolph buildings are already New York City landmarks. The first is the Paul Rudolph Penthouse &amp; Apartment, located at 23 Beekman Place, where Rudolph lived for a large portion of his life. The other is the Halston House, located at 101 East 63rd Street on the Upper East Side.The LPC on Tuesday also voted to calendar the Barkin, Levin &amp; Company Office Pavilion in Long Island City, Queens, a single-story industrial building that was constructed from 1957 to 1958 and designed by architect Ulrich Franzen in the modern style.Located on the corner of 13th Street and 33rd Avenue, the building is considered an architectural gem in western Queens. The pavilion stands out for its unusual structure system, which consists of nine concrete pillars that support umbrella-like ceiling vaults projecting beyond glass walls shading the brick paths and interiors, according to the LPC.RELATED:More: Architecture And DesignTags: Landmarks Preservation Commission, Modulightor Building, Paul Rudolph Location: Midtown EastYour email address will not be published.Renderings have been revealed for a sprawling light installation coming to the site of a proposed casino in Midtown East. Designed by Bruce Munro, Field of Light at Freedom Plaza will include 17,000 low-light, fiber-optic stemmed spheres that change hues and create a dreamlike landscape across six acres near the United Nations headquarters. Debuting this winter, the installation will be free and open to the public. The display is financed by the Soloviev Group, which owns the vacant land and has proposed it become home to a mixed-use development called Freedom Plaza, anchored by a casino.learn more about the installationThe new public garden at Philip Johnson's 550 Madison Avenue building opened this week, the final component of the postmodern landmark's renovation led by the Olayan Group. Designed by Snøhetta, the lush privately-owned public space (POPS) is located adjacent to 550 Madison in a formerly enclosed mid-block passageway. Increasing the public space at the site by 50 percent, the half-acre garden is now the largest in Midtown East.See more hereThe Morgan Library and Museum will unveil the recently restored exterior of the Morgan Library and the new Morgan Garden to the public this month. The six-year-long, $13 million project marks the first-ever comprehensive restoration of the historic 115-year-old library’s exterior. Designed by architect Charles Follen McKim for J.Pierpont Morgan, the library was completed in 1906 and later became a public institution. The&nbsp;project restores one of the nation's finest examples of Neoclassical architecture, enhances the surrounding grounds, improves the building's lighting, and enables public access to the grounds of the 36th street site for the first time ever.Stroll the garden, this wayIn January, 6sqft reported&nbsp;the $100&nbsp;million renovation of the landmarked Midtown Lever House skyscraper, led by the building's original architects Skidmore, Owings &amp; Merrill (SOM), had begun.&nbsp;On Monday it was announced the redeveloped Manhattan icon will be home to Lever Club, an exclusive restaurant and lounge for tenants. The new venue will span the building's entire third floor and have 15,000 square feet of outdoor terrace space.Find out morePark Avenue's iconic Lever House tower&nbsp;is being&nbsp;redeveloped under the architectural guidance of Skidmore, Owings &amp; Merrill (SOM), the building's original architects,&nbsp;according to an announcement by the building's owners, WatermanClark and Brookfield Properties. The Midtown architectural landmark was completed in 1952 as soap company Lever Brothers' U.S. headquarters. SOM will be helming the restoration seven decades after they first designed the building at 390 Park Avenue.Find out moreNew York City Council Member Keith Powers announced&nbsp;this week the next steps in a plan to bring new life to&nbsp;Midtown's Park Avenue traffic medians. The newly-revealed plan will transform the avenue's current malls into "new, world-class, active open space," according to a press release. A landscape architect will be hired by the Department of Transportation to create a master plan according to a request for proposal, to be issued in the spring.New life for Midtown streets, this wayNo Worries. We Don’t Spam.By providing your email address, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.VIEW ALLThe New York City Council&nbsp;voted on Wednesday to allow&nbsp;the proposed development at the site currently occupied by the Grand Hyatt Hotel at&nbsp;175 Park Avenue. New Greater East Midtown zoning rules permit developers to construct supersized towers if they are accompanied by hefty contributions to transit and public amenities. In addition to the construction of a 2.1-million-square-foot, 1,575-foot-high&nbsp;building with retail and office space, a new 500-room hotel, a sky lobby, a lounge, and a restaurant,&nbsp;the site will include&nbsp;25,000 square feet of elevated, publicly accessible terraces&nbsp;that will host cultural and arts events. The project also promises to bring&nbsp;hundreds of millions of dollars in transit improvements.Find out moreMidtown's tallest office tower opened its observation deck this week, adding to the city's ever-growing list of sky-high, for-sale spectacles. Designed by Snøhetta, One Vanderbilt's Summit stretches across&nbsp;floors 91 through 93 at the 1,401-foot-tall tower and offers incredible views across a 65,000-square-foot multi-level entertainment venue about 1,000 feet in the air. Tickets start at $39 for general admission and climb to $83 for evening admission that comes with a cocktail.Find out moreA massive blue spherical stone now hangs in the lobby of the landmarked office building 550 Madison Avenue, part of a broader project to revitalize Philip Johnson's postmodern gem. The Olayan Group on Wednesday unveiled the renovated space, a project which included preserving the 110-foot&nbsp;arched entry, adding a multi-story window across from the entrance&nbsp;with views through to the new garden, still under construction, and the centerpiece art commission.&nbsp;Designed by artist Alicja Kwade, who had a&nbsp;solo exhibition&nbsp;at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's roof garden in 2019,&nbsp;the art installation&nbsp;includes a 24-ton Azul&nbsp;Macaubas stone sphere hanging from ten polished stainless steel chains only 12 feet above the floor.Learn moreTickets officially go on sale today for&nbsp;Summit One Vanderbilt, the Midtown East tower's 1,000+ foot observation deck. Previously, we&nbsp;got a look at the&nbsp;two&nbsp;skyboxes that allow guests to stand on&nbsp;completely&nbsp;transparent glass 1,063 feet above Madison Avenue, and now developer SL Green has revealed even more of the sky-high attractions, including an&nbsp;all-glass outdoor elevator (yes, even the floor!) that&nbsp;travels up the side of the building to over 1,200 feet. But perhaps most mesmerizing is an art installation called Air created by Kenzo Digital.&nbsp;Covered on three sides, along with the floor and ceiling, in mirrors, the&nbsp;multisensory experience challenges one's perception of space and immerses the guest within the fabric of the skyline.&nbsp;See it all hereThe developers behind the&nbsp;huge tower&nbsp;that will replace the existing Grand Hyatt New York announced last week plans to open up its elevated terraces to the public for events.&nbsp;The Public Art Fund and Lord Cultural Resources will develop a cultural program that will&nbsp;bring art installations, community events, and other programs to 175 Park Avenue, the 83-story mixed-use&nbsp;building proposed by TF Cornerstone and RXR Realty.Find out moreIn February, we got our&nbsp;first look&nbsp;at the 1,646-foot tower proposed for the Grand Hyatt site next to Grand Central. Designed by Skidmore, Owings &amp; Merrill (SOM), the sustainable mixed-use building would rise 83 stories and become the second-tallest tower in NYC behind One World Trade Center. Though 175 Park Avenue takes advantage of the Midtown East Rezoning, developers RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone are still seeking several special zoning permits, including those for hotel use and added height in exchange for transit and infrastructure improvements. To obtain these variances, the project has now entered the city's Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP), and with it, has revealed several new renderings.All the details hereBrooklyn Point138 Willoughby StreetDowntown BrooklynAmerica's highest infinity pool + 25-year tax abatementLearn MoreWe love to hear from you!"" indicates required fieldsIt’s free, with no obligation."" indicates required fieldsor Call (212) 755-5544It’s free, with no obligation."" indicates required fieldsor Call (212) 755-5544No Worries. 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Paul Rudolph’s modernist Modulightor Building may become NYC landmarkNewsletter Sign UpSharePhoto © Joe Polowczuk, Archives of the Paul Rudolph Heritage FoundationThe Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday voted to calendar an iconic building in Midtown East designed by renowned modernist architect Paul Rudolph. Located at 246 East 58th Street, the Modulightor Building was built between 1989 and 1993 to house the lighting company of the same name Rudolph founded with German physicist Ernst Wagner. Rudolph designed the duplex apartment on floors three and four, which is the only...

Paul Rudolph's modernist Modulightor Building may become NYC landmark

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