Thanks Charles...that sight cracks me up every time I approach the building. There's something so weird about that juxtaposition of Noah on one side of a wall and City Hall on the other.
City Hall is an interesting building, but this corner illustrates what is happening throughout the city. Sometimes restaurant/retail/sales does not add anything to a block. Thank you Charles for this example of a particularly mean corner of the city.
Please explain in detail how the rest of it is "a right mess". Throwing out random criticism with no explanation does not make you an expert in architecture or architural criticism.
Give me the old City Hall. And the old Public Safety Building. And the old City Light Building. And the old Central Library. Anyday.
Yes, i know they were all messes, and desparately needed upgrades. But they were also all street-accessable workhorses who, with the acceptable exception of the old Central Library, had no delusions of grandeur (and the library's delusions were strictly International Styled, which is fine with me)
It used to be that you could walk in off the street and pay your City Light bill (or take a cooking class, or buy an appliance) right there on the first floor of the City Light Building at Third & Madison. Now, you have to enter an ugly and imposing office tower, and ride an elevator to the 27th floor.
If you wanted to have a nice outdoor lunch, you could ride the elevator at the old City Hall up to the top floor and take your lunch bag out on the terrace of the mayor's office. Now, the Fourth Avenue side of the City Hall is a pretentious staircase, and you can't get anywhere near the Mayor.
It's a real pity that quest for pretentious "world class" architecture and corporate croneyism (the "municipal tower" failed as an AT&T office building and Key Bank Headquarters before Norm Rice dedcided to relieve his corporate buddies of the burden of that dog of a building) have so distanced the citizens from their government.
Looks like what a alumnus, made wealthy from some high tech gizmo, might built on his alma mater's campus, right next to the gothic style domitories.
Noah's bagels are better than that, but not by much.
When my poor mom visits Seattle I make her pack an extra bag filled with bagels, pizza, and Jamaican beef patties.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-bagel-deli-s…
What about the green roof?
Yes, i know they were all messes, and desparately needed upgrades. But they were also all street-accessable workhorses who, with the acceptable exception of the old Central Library, had no delusions of grandeur (and the library's delusions were strictly International Styled, which is fine with me)
It used to be that you could walk in off the street and pay your City Light bill (or take a cooking class, or buy an appliance) right there on the first floor of the City Light Building at Third & Madison. Now, you have to enter an ugly and imposing office tower, and ride an elevator to the 27th floor.
If you wanted to have a nice outdoor lunch, you could ride the elevator at the old City Hall up to the top floor and take your lunch bag out on the terrace of the mayor's office. Now, the Fourth Avenue side of the City Hall is a pretentious staircase, and you can't get anywhere near the Mayor.
It's a real pity that quest for pretentious "world class" architecture and corporate croneyism (the "municipal tower" failed as an AT&T office building and Key Bank Headquarters before Norm Rice dedcided to relieve his corporate buddies of the burden of that dog of a building) have so distanced the citizens from their government.