An important disclaimer: Old Structures has nothing to do with the building and project described here. But we can can certainly recognize good work in our field regardless of personal interest.
Temple Court, an 1880s office building on Beekman Street is nearly unique. It was one of the first ten-story buildings in New York, it was one of the first speculative office buildings, and it was one of very few New York office buildings built on the European plan of perimeter offices around a central court. Its location near City Hall and several generations of courthouse made it attractive to lawyers for a long time.
The great amenity of an enclosed and skylighted interior court turned out, over time, to not be important to office tenants. That’s why later office buildings put their light courts on the outside, where they were cheaper to build and easier to maintain. When I visited the budding in the 1990s, the galleries that provided access to the offices were blocked by partitions to appear to be ordinary corridors rather than balconies facing the light court. And of course, the interior court was the ultimate sin against real-estate profit: it was “wasted” space. The original half of the building was gradually abandoned, and then the newer annex was abandoned as well. By 2000, the building’s interior counted as ruin porn.
Back to the axe I’ve been grinding lately, adaptive reuse. The open court doesn’t work any more for office space, but it makes for a nice set of public rooms for a hotel. And that’s what it now is, thanks to the construction of a high-rise hotel next door and a huge effort in restoration. And since the public rooms of a hotel are, ahem, open to the public, the interior is not just restored but accessible for people to enjoy.
Happy endings are nice. I’m enjoying this one.
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